What's News in Piedmont PFHA

Piedmont Paso Fino Horse Association

January 2012 - Piedmont News

Greetings from The President

It’s hard to believe that we are already 10 days into the new year.  Many of us are waiting for new foals to arrive and thinking about breeding plans for the next year.  Please remember to consider breeding to a Piedmont Futurity Stallion.  When you do, your resulting foal is eligible for many different futurity classes from 1 year old Bella Forma to 5 year old gelding classes.  There are many opportunities to show and win money on the futurity foals.  One of the things we will be concentrating on this year is updating our futurity stallion records.  I am sure that some of them are deceased, gelded or otherwise not available for breeding.  More to follow as we review the old records and try to have correct owners listed so it will make it easier for you to contact them.

We have the Clemson show coming up fast and Gayling and Milda are hard at work on it.  Hopefully this year we will have more horses (since it will not be on Easter Week-end).  Also, we will have a General Membership and a Board of Directors meeting at that show.  Bring all your young horses to Clemson and hopefully get them pointed for the Grand Nationals that will be held in Kentucky at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Plans are also ongoing for Asheville Alive to be held in June.  This is a premier show for all Paso Finos and is only second to the Grand Nationals.  Start thinking about sponsoring a class or promoting your farm.  Just call Debra Pound and she can give you all the information you will need.

Ali

Ali Watts Casey
Piedmont President

Piedmont Member News

Congratulations to the Marlowe Family! Amy, Keely and I weclomed our new little boy (Bryson Paul Marlowe) into the world Monday December the 19 at 10:31 PM. He was 6lbs. 5oz. 19 inches long. Momma and baby are doing well ... Paul Marlowe

Piedmont Show News

The Carolina Classic, Clemson, SC is April 28-29, 2012. Judges are: Rick Meyer, Javier Suarez, Rick Shaffer, and Keith Dane. Contact Show Co-Chair: Gayling Fox, phone 864-238-0855 or email fhtmfox@gmail.com. More show info will be on the Clemson 2012 show webpage.

The Piedmont Classic News: At Asheville ALIVE 2011 – Wayne Williams of "Speaking of Horses" attended and filmed for TV Production to promote the Paso Fino Horses, Piedmont PFHA and Asheville ALIVE.

Please see information below for Air Date that we need to advise Members - This is very exciting news! It took a lot of coordination and discussions to have Wayne at the show. Check out Wayne's BIO - a horseman indeed with great connections (we hope to continue to tap).

Air date is February 8th and runs 5 times for two weeks after that ...on Pegasus Horse TV Network. Best way to see it is on their streaming Internet service or it will be "On Demand" at www.speakingofhorses.com starting then as well ... no matter what cable outlet people have, the show is available online.

For most people we find going to the Speaking of Horses TV website and watching on demand gives everyone who knows about the show a good chance to view the show. The Nationwide Broadcast on Cable and Regular Broadcast TV gains all the viewers who could be New Paso lovers in the making! ... Wayne Williams

One key marketing objective of Asheville ALIVE is to promote the Pasos beyond our Paso Fino Community. We had/have a comprehensive marketing strategy to promote the event, PPFHA – farms, businesses, etc. This is a great example of why Asheville ALIVE needs SPONSOR support so we can support marketing efforts like this. There are many exciting opportunities for Asheville ALIVE 2012 in the works with on going marketing results from last year's show ... maximizing marketing dollars!

Piedmont’s  Website Recent Stats: www.piedmontpasofino.org

Total recorded page views as of 11-3-11: 79,251
Home page: 48,960 total views. Highest single month view was: 1,266 (June 2010). Most used search words were: “nc paso fino association state fair oct 2011”

Events pages: Piedmont’s Asheville Alive 2011 Show page views: 1,024 total, 596 in June 2011. Piedmont’s Clemson 2011 Show page views: 417 total, 230 in April 2011.

Trail Ride page: 1,154 total views. Highest per month was 78 for October 2010. Need more regular updates to keep people coming back to look here, plus keep it active in the search engine.

Other pages’ viewer stats: Events: 3,016; Sale Barn: 2,700; Horse Shows: 2,664; Membership Directory: 2,074; Photo Gallery: 1,752; Farms: 1,632; News: 1,416; Stallion Row: 988, Futurity: 922, Youth: 657.

Paso Fino Horse Association - Recent Notices

PFHA National Convention. The January 2012 General Membership Meeting and Board of Directors meeting will be help in Tampa, Florida on January 20-21, 2012. The meeting will be held at the Crowned Plaza Tampa West shore, 5303 West Kennedy Blvd Tampa FL. 33609. Make your plans, room rates are $95.00 a night. I will set up a call in for your reservations soon.

PFHA Committee Reports. Members can access submitted Committee Reports by logging in to the PFHA website & following these steps:

1. Click on the PFHA Tab then "Board of Directors Meetings" OR Click on the Committees Tab and then "Annual Conventions-Committee Reports"
2. Select the box next to any of the reports you want to view
3. Click "Process Reports" on the bottom of the page
4. Click "Click to View Report" and view or print the PDF report

PFHA Rule Changes. Be sure to review the PFHA Rule Change Proposals, which will be voted on at the January Meeting. A copy can be found in the December 2011 magazine, on the PFHA website. During the Membership Meeting only, members are allowed to attend and vote as individuals, submit a proxy vote, or vote as represented by their regional delegate as with other Board of Directors Meetings.

Proxy Votes. If you wish to submit a proxy vote, you must submit it to the PFHA office at least 10 days prior to the meeting. Proxy voting forms are available on the PFHA website or by clicking here. Any member must be in good standing for 30 days prior to the meeting in order to vote. Please read over each rule change proposal carefully, and be sure to contact your regional representative with any questions or concerns.

According to the Constitution: A Proxy vote may be used by a member in good standing for a period of 30 days prior to the Membership Meeting to vote on any motions made at the annual Membership Meeting. Such proxies shall be in a form designated by the Board, shall show the member’s Regional Group Affiliation and shall be on file with the Association at least 10 days before the meeting. Proxy forms will be available on request from the Association office. Proxies shall not be used for the election of officers. 

The proxy form is on pfha.org website.

PFHA YOUTH TEAM USA. At the request of PFHA President, Mr. Lee Vulgaris , the coaches of Team USA have opened the 2012 tryouts for ONLY unfilled roster positions. Those open Roster positions include:

Boys 4-6 Girls 4-6
Boys 6-8 Girls 6-8
Boys 9-11 Girls 9-11
Boys 12-14
Boys 15-17
Boys 18-20
Boys 21-24

ALL TEAM USA REQUIREMENTS MUST BE MET! The deadline for Team USA try out video/dvd, resume, try-out fee, and photo must be postmarked by January 7, 2012.

Sincerely, 2012 Team USA Coaches:
Christy Meyer, Sharon Londono, Javier Suarez, Rick Meyer-Head Coach

PFHA Farm Directory Sign-Ups end January 31, 2012. New online options are available this year. Go to www.pfha.org, and click on sign-up form and return to PFHA with your payment.

STALLION BREEDING REPORTS are due JANUARY 31, 2012. All stallion owners are required to submit to PFHA a list of mares that were bred to your stallion in 2011. One report per stallion. If your SBR is not submitted but you sign off on the foal's registration, you will be billed the applicable late or amended SBR filing fee. NEW! Submit your report online!Login to pfha.org, click the "Horses" tab and then "Stallion Breeding".

PFHA Hall of Fame Nominations. "Now is the time to nominate your favorite member or horse for the PFHA Hall of Fame. Fill out your nomination today! All nominations are due back to the PFHA office by February 29, 2012. Go to www.pfha.org, and click on Hall of Fame form.

USEF MemberPerks: PFHA has joined with USEF to have Paso Fino Horse Association Members become part of the USEF MemberPerks Program.

2012 PFHA Youth Leadership Camp. The PFHA office staff is finishing plans for our Youth Leadership Camp that will be held the summer of 2012 at the Kentucky Horse Park. Some of the events we have planned are:

• team building exercises
• leadership seminar
• a tour of the Horse Park
• a tour of Hagyard Veterinarian Hospital
• a class on horsemanship
• pizza party
• classes on judging

There is a possibility that if space is available at the Horse Park the students may be able to bring their horses to have some one work one on one training with an instructor. We already have $2,500 donated by the Humane Society of the United States and we believe that after the first of the year we will receive another $2,500 that we have requested from another organization here at the Horse Park. There will be a small fee of $75.00 per student to help defray some of the cost of this camp. It will also be the responsibility of the students to pay their own way to and from the camp. Based on the availability of space at the Horse Park, the camp will last 3-5 days. All expenses including hotel rooms and food will be covered by the donations and sign up fees. We will also be looking for several chaperones to help with the camp; their expenses will be paid. Catherine King our Editor will be the staff coordinator for this project. More information and applications will be available soon!

Please let me know if you are interested in helping with the camp and also let me know when schools in your area are out of school for the summer.

Don Vizi

Piedmont PFHA is now on Facebook
Facebook link

You will need to be a Facebook member to post and comment. 45 people have “liked” Piedmont’s page as of November, many are past members, from other regions, are exhibitors from other areas; it is a good social media to reach out to all Paso Fino friends who have a similar interest – the Paso Fino horse. Admin's at this time are Lynn Gallup, Paulette De-Nault Bryce and Lori West. You do no not need to be a paid Piedmont member to see the page. It should bring more awareness to Piedmont’s activities and membership opportunities.

2012 Piedmont Membership Perks

Download and print Piedmont 2012 Membership Form

Make checks payable to: Piedmont PFHA
Mail with enclosed dues to Piedmont's Treasurer: JOE WILHEM, 1285 STONY RIDGE RD
PINNACLE, NC 27043

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