Met via conference call. Minutes include items covered in Email discussions since the last meeting.
Meeting called to order at 7:31pm
Present:
Gay Adams, Kathy Christensen, Martha Woodland, Karen Breckenridge, Erin Silver, Leanne Roth, Diane Pixlee and John Shaver
Not Present:
Nancy Eidam, David Silver
Quorum Present
Review & Approval of Minutes for 5/16/18
& 6/27/18 - Martha Woodland
Correction was made to the 6/27/18 minutes. Karen made a motion to approve the minutes for 5/16/18 as submitted & 6/30/18 as corrected, seconded by Kathy. Approved.
Financial report as of 6/30/2018 - Karen Breckenridge
$13,872 general checking account
$25,488 Savings account
$4,504 futurity account
.$14,265 Nancy Falk Trust Donation – Restricted Funds
$38,490 OMC account
Total after reconciliations $99,304
Net income to date is $40,786 for the fiscal year, but we have several show expenses yet to be posted.
OMC Preliminary Financial Report – Karen Breckenridge
Karen provided a preliminary P&L for the show via email. Profit after applying almost all expenses looks like around $1,670. We will look for ways to maintain the quality of the show while reducing expenses. Joan is already looking at ways to do this.
Discussion followed as to what type of show we want to put on going forward. Consensus was a down home friendly show like this year’s OMC. Gay said she & Peter Morrison are trying to put a meeting together between BC, FarWest, MHCWS & MHAO leadership &/or show committees to talk over the Northwest show schedule. We are waiting for FarWest to have their own Board meeting, then will see what can be coordinated. MHAO Board does not think there are too many shows, rather that shows are grouped in a way that causes problems for people who would really like to have one show per month to go to. Concern was expressed with only one show in Oregon (OMC) this year. Board would like to see another show in the State.
There was discussion about what MHAO should do if FarWest did not continue. Discussion was tabled until we hear from FarWest.
Board Update – Gay Adams
Gay advised that Erica Trager and Carol Dombrowsky have resigned from the Board. Erin Silver will take over the High Point Program. John Shaver agreed to take over the Open Incentive Program.
Gay voiced concern about losing Board members and is open to whatever she can do to make things easier. The time length of Board Meetings was mentioned. Discussion took place on how to make meetings shorter. Suggestion from Board was that everyone needs to make sure we stay on topic. Gay suggested that Committee Chairs get their committee reports into whoever is President prior to the meeting so they can be sent out to Board members to read prior to the meeting. Board members need to be committed to reading all handouts before the meeting so only questions need to be answered during the meeting or things brought up that need discussion. This works for another group Gay belongs to and might help us. But it requires a commitment from the full Board to make it happen. It was suggested that emails be used more between meetings to keep Board members up-to-date. The vote to approve meeting minutes can be done that way as well. Request was made to mark any emails needing a reply or other action be marked as priority emails.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Hi-Point Committee – Erin Silver reported as new Chair
The changes made previously to the Western Working category in the Open Division were reviewed by Gay. Western Working is now defined as Reining, Cutting, Roping, Team Sorting, and all the Ranch Pleasure classes. Western Dressage & Cowboy Dressage are now combined and remain separate from English Ridden Dressage. Gaming is under Miscellaneous.
Erin asks that all members who are showing their horses register for the High Point Program.
She will put information out on Facebook and thru Shelley’s newsletter to get the word out. Gay will put information in the next Stable Sheet. Corrected forms will be on our Website shortly. There is a new registration form, but per Erin even an email will do. Once registered, Erin will pick up member placings from BC, Key, OMC, FarWest, C-Fair, PNW, & Nationals.
Regarding High Point Awards, Erin will be focusing on awards that are useful.
Education – Erin Silver
Still working on an “Alternative Medicine” clinic. No possible date set for that yet. Looking at a Ranch clinic for next February or March. Thinking it would be a full day with a clinic in the morning followed by a General Membership Meeting and Stallion Service Auction in the afternoon. Erin has an arena in mind but is not ready to announce it yet. No subject topic is set for the Award Banquet yet.
Would like to have some sort of a Spring Schooling Show somehow. Still in the thought process on that and waiting to see what comes out of the BC, FarWest, MHCWS, & MHAO meeting.
Stallion Service Auction (SSA) – Gay Adams
Committee is looking into making the MHAO SSA an on-line auction. This is because we are having a challenge finding enough people to help man the phones for the auction. Gay has a call into HorseShowWire, but is still waiting for a response.
We may rethink some things about the auction if we change to a full day event for the Spring Clinic/General Membership/Stallion Service Auction.
We need to get commitments from stallion donors earlier for 2019 for advertising reasons.
Gay is starting her search now. The Morgan Horse magazine (TMH) is our most effective place to advertise. The close dates for their magazine issues have changed and we need to adjust to them. The TMH Stallion issue is expanding from stallions to a focus on breeding and will close in mid-December. We need to have all our stallions lined up before then if we want to be included. The following issue does not come out until after our auction.
Futurity – Gay Adams
There are 40-41 horses in the Futurity, down from over 50 last year. This is due primarily to more horses being sold to people outside our area. While we want the Futurity to grow, this is good news as the Futurity is designed to help market Futurity horses that are for sale.
More promotion and fundraising activities are needed for the Futurity. We are looking for ideas. Suggestions are welcome. Additionally,
we plan to expand on the “other items” offered with the Stallion Service Auction. All those funds go to the Futurity.
Prize money checks for the 2018 Futurity classes at OMC are ready to go out & will be mailed this week.
Promotion – Kathy Christensen
We are looking at doing another “Day of the Morgan” event in the Fall.
AMHA is not repeating the program Nationwide, so we are free to have the event whenever we wish. We should let AMHA know we are doing it so they can help support us. Shelley has indicated September as a better time than October as the weather is usually still good at that time. It was mentioned that getting more barns in the State involved would be good. Suggestion was made to be sure that we invite 4H, FFA, & OHSET groups as well as reaching out to schools to gain a larger audience around the State.
As a group, the Board is disappointed that AMHA is not continuing their ‘Day of the Morgan’ effort. At our next meeting we will be discussing the type of feedback we want to give to AMHA about what we would like to see them spending more time on. The ‘Day of the Morgan’ along with more promotion of the breed to non-horse owners will be included.
Kathy will lead that part of the conversation.
Kathy does not want to be Promotion Chair next year. She wants to be able to focus more on Membership.
Membership & Membership Directory –Kathy Christensen
Two new members were picked up at the BC show. More have trickled in and we now have 100 or more paid memberships plus our Life members. The Membership Directory file has been distributed to the Board.
Gay is getting quotes from printers.
Goal for next year is to maintain the membership directory on our website with “member only” access. This will keep the directory much more current and save the costs of printing a large number of directories. We will print some so that those who do not have access via computers can have one. Any related advertising by members will need to be handled by someone else. Kathy will just maintain the member listing.
Kathy is in contact with Dallas to investigate how to get an on-line directory in place.
Gay mentioned that she would still like to see the club encourage inner trade. In the past we have done this by offering ads in the membership directory. We can do it by offering advertising on the website, in the Stable Sheet, in the Futurity booklet, thru the TV loop at OMC, and in the printed Premium booklet for OMC.
Ride/Drive Program – Leanne Roth
This program is not very active yet.
Gay asks that all Board members get registered. Kathy DeFazio has volunteered to organize a trail ride in the Fall. Gay asked Leanne to give Kathy a call & get it going.
Erin issued a trail riding challenge to Leanne. Gay will start pushing the program in the Stable Sheet as well as information on the Trail Ride as soon as the details are available.
Open Incentive Program – Gay Adams
Carol Dombrowsky has resigned from the Board & was the Chair of this committee. At the meeting, John Shaver agreed to pick-up this responsibility. We have only reimbursed $100 so far this year. Per Karen that is from several different people. People need to submit their reimbursement requests within 30 days of their activity to John. Open shows count, as do clinics attended with your Morgan or anything else where a fee is paid (other than the normal Morgan shows we monitor for High Point).
John can call both Carol and Karen for help in how to operate the program.
Gay will alter the forms and get them to John along with information on the program
.
She will send the corrected forms and info to Dallas for the Website. This change will also be announced thru the Stable Sheet.
Website, Facebook & Stable Sheet – Gay Adams
New member Ami Ericson has volunteered to help Gay with the membership news section of the newsletter. Gay will call her to discuss further. Martha also offered to help. Martha and Margo are the administrators of the OMC Facebook page. Kathy DeFazio is still the administrator for the club Facebook page. Dallas Bolen is in charge of our Website.
Youth – Diane Pixlee
We expanded activities for Youth at the 2018 Oregon Morgan Classic as well as offering better awards. We have a number of plaques left we can use next year. Our Youth liked the plaques which have a place where they can add a picture. Education handouts were provided at the show. Next is to get a Youth Newsletter started.
At Kathy’s request Gay will ask Doana Anderson to distribute a current list of our Youth members to Diane and David.
Oregon Morgan Classic – Gay Adams for Nancy Eidam
We are looking for a new Show Chair for 2019. Nancy has provided a wealth of information which she has submitted in handwritten form. It will be typed up and added to the club’s Policy & Procedure Manual and be utilized by club administration for years to come. We are looking at utilizing Joan Palelek’s services more in the years ahead.
This will be discussed more in the next few meetings.
Per Nancy it is imperative that we get all the training barns involved with looking at the show schedule early each year. This needs to be done with a personal call. Sponsorship support is crucial to the financial success of the show. There may be some ways we can cut our costs without affecting the quality or fun of the show. We have a good base of ribbons to make that part less costly next year.
A facility discussion followed. We like our current facility. Everything is close together. We know that as the show grows we will need to utilize portable stalls which will cost us more. We will need to offset that cost somehow as we grow.
NEW BUSINESS – OPEN DISCUSSION:
New board members needed.
The search for our new 2019 Board is in process.
Gay asks that all current Board members let her know their plans for next year via email.
Gay will not be running for President in 2019 but does want to stay on the Board.
Need to do more fundraising for this year.
Our OMC show profit this year is not enough to offset the missed budgetary goal for the Stallion Service Auction. Since our budget is just at breakeven,
Board members are requested to come up with some fundraising ideas that we can implement. Committee Chairs need to check what Karen shows on the club’s P&L by class and to compare them to what they show. The accounting numbers need to be checked against the committee’s 2018 Budget.
Board member Chairs are asked to review and alter their part of the 3-5 year business plan.
We need to constantly be referring to our 3-5 year plan and keeping it up-to-date. This is a living document of our strategy and is ever changing. It is there to guide our strategy. It is not in place as a performance monitoring document.
It needs to be updated for each committee prior to the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:45pm.
Next meeting will be on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 via Conference call at 7:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Woodland, MHAO Secretary
