ANNUAL SPONSOR’S MEETING

The annual Sponsor’s Meeting of HHPC was held on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 2 Railroad Place in Hopewell. Fifteen sponsors of record attended along with other parents of members.

Election
The following officers were elected for 2008:
Joint District Commissioner – Larry Goodwin
Joint District Commissioner – Suzanne Hutter
Treasurer – Mary Anne Bekus
Secretary – Andrea Henneman

Review of 2007
2007 Participation in Rallies and Ratings
Larry reported that 80% of members participated in at least one Pony Club rally. About half of our 41 members took ratings in 2007.

New Activities in 2007
Several new activities were undertaken successfully by the club. These included the Shaggy Horse Shows; the cook-out, camp-out and river tubing party hosted by the Goodwins in June; and the riding camp in August. These are all activities the club plans to continue in 2008.

Financial Report; Rating Reimbursement
Bob Johnson, Treasurer, gave the club’s financial report. The “big picture” was that the club began the year with a balance of $2959 and ended the year with a balance of $4700, the increase mostly from Shaggy Horse Show fundraising.
A resolution was proposed and passed to reimburse members for the cost of one rating taken in 2007, as previously discussed. The Treasurer and Secretary will work with the Rating Coordinator to confirm the information for reimbursement purposes.

Goals and Plans for 2008
Mounted Instruction
Larry Goodwin identified strengthening our mounted instruction program as a major goal for 2008, and he will act as instruction coordinator. One part of this plan is to set up winter indoor group riding lessons; another is to set up clinics that are discipline-specific.

Regular Sponsor’s Meetings
In addition to the Annual Sponsor’s Meeting, Joint DCs Larry and Suzanne will schedule other Sponsor/Parent meetings – they will be timed in January, as the Den Meetings get underway, and April, when the rally and ratings season gets going, so the membership can discuss how things will be done.

Unmounted Instruction (Dens)
Suzanne Hutter described plans to kick off this year’s unmounted instruction program with an “all hands” meeting so that everyone has a clear view of what the den meetings are about and how they will be organized. The date and location for this meeting will be announced.

Den Meeting Attendance Policy
Larry Goodwin proposed that the sponsors consider a change to the club policy that states that a member is not “in good standing” if s/he doesn’t attend at least 50% of the den meetings. This attendance requirement (and sanction) may be too rigid. A resolution will be proposed next Sponsor’s meeting.

Ratings – Procedures and Scheduling
Chris Torsilieri, Ratings Coordinator explained procedures for members who want to take a rating. First, there is a Rating Intent Form (den leaders will have copies) which the member should complete to request the rating; second, there is a USPC Flow Chart on the website (www.ponyclub.org, under “Ratings”) for every rating level (similar to the old “block sheets”) – the den leader should initial the “knowledge” standards and a riding instructor should initial the riding skills. This has been the club’s consistent policy, to help make sure that every student taking a rating (and their parents) understands what to expect and is ready to succeed.
Chris also noted that there will be dates set and “locked in” for D1/D2, D3 and C1 ratings in the spring and people need to plan ahead and inform Chris early, if they think their member may rate – organizing more than one rating at a given level won’t be feasible with rallies etc., so “these will be the dates” or your member will have to coordinate with another club. There have been a lot of late “RSVP’s” to recent ratings, which make the coordinating job much harder.

Fundraising; Shaggy Horse Shows, Cheesecakes
Fundraising Coordinator Carol Santosusso explained plans and improvements for the next Shaggy Horse Shows, which will be held as a series at Mercer County Equestrian Center during the winter months. Dates have been set for December 2, February 3 and March 2.

Carol Santosusso will head the effort and requested volunteers in different roles, from ringmaster to show secretary to jump crew.
The other big change announced was to emphasize sponsorship and an ad book as the primary means to make money, rather than entry fees. Jump sponsorship featuring the sponsor’s name and an appropriate theme or logo would be made available, along with class sponsorship and various size ads. All members were asked to help sell ads.

Lynne Maddalena offered to help coordinate another holiday sale of Maddalena Cheesecakes if the club is interested. This has been a successful fundraiser in past years. Suzanne Hutter is coordinating this.

Membership & Communications
Andrea Henneman, Club Secretary spoke on membership and communications. The membership packets have gone out and are due by 11/5/07. A 2008 Directory will be distributed at the Banquet, based on the 2008 Membership forms.
Newsletter & blog (www.hhpc.blogspot.com) will be updated more frequently than in recent months. You can help by sending items and pictures in to Andrea (it’s not the “Beth blog!”) whether of Pony Club events or other relevant horse activities. Her e-mail is andreahenneman@msn.com.