MAY 2013
HI KIDS! I hope you were able to attend our first show of the year -- we had a great time!
Our “Special Invitation” folks had a real blast -- but the best part of this event had to be watching the smiles on their faces. If you haven’t witnessed one of these “Special Events”, you’re really missing out. There’s nothing more rewarding than showing these folks a good time! In my view, that’s what our Club is (or should be) all about!
The attendance numbers were pretty good (for the first show of the year). I did a quick count from the sign-up sheets and I came up with a few interesting numbers: We had 127 entries in our “Running” events (that includes Cones, Poles, Texas Barrels, Arena Race, Warm-up Barrels and Cloverleaf Barrels – pretty good); we had 62 entries in the “Western” events (that’s a bit fewer than normal); we had 19 entries in the “Racking” events (that’s way short of the norm); and 16 entries in the “English” events (the first time we’ve had any in the years that I’ve been here – that’s a definite step in the right direction. 224 total entries is pretty good -- but the big news is those “English” folks – great job kids, we hope many more show up at future shows – when the weather is warmer and the hour isn’t quite so late. All-in-all, the show went very well -- even with a couple of “inadvertent dismounts”! We even had a “tandem” barrel run with a pretty darned good time. A long day but a good day!
Our April Business Meeting came-off smoothly, right per the agenda. As you probably know, we had quite a flood problem with our south parking area – it was under water and a bunch of stuff floated away – we had to block it off for Saturday’s show, but we’ll get it fixed soon! You may have also noted that our County detainees got a goodly portion of our arena fence cleaned and re-painted (it really looks good). Our new stadium-style bleachers should be here within the next couple of weeks – that will certainly help improve our overall spectator situation! Be sure to put the May 4 th NRHA show on your agenda – we are hoping for a good turn-out of some of the finest Racking horses around; Our Rodeo plans are moving along nicely with the help of the Glenda Gooch House ladies – be sure to put the 21 st & 22 nd of June on your agenda/calendar. Also, plan to come by and lend us a hand for these events – we will need help!
As expected, a whole bunch of you waited until the first show to renew your Club memberships (57 new or re-new membership applications) – but that’s OK -- I just have to stop every once in a while to rest my old carpal-tunnel hands.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR NEXT MONTH:
Saturday, May 4 th NRHA Sanctioned Racking Horse Show 3:00PM start
Thursday, May 16 th UCSC Monthly Business Meeting (meeting room) 7:00PM (sharp)
Saturday, May 18 th UCSC Open Horse Show 9:30AM sign-up
Saturday, May 25 th UCSC/G-Bone Team Roping Noon sign-up
As usual, I invite you all to send comments, suggestions, complaints, criticisms and anything else you need to get off your chest to me @:
Union County Saddle Club, Inc.
c/o Jim Holzinger
42 Brumby Run, Blairsville, GA 30512
Phone: (706) 781-6449 / Fax: (706) 781-1507 / Cell: (706) 897-0980
or e-mail: < keyholz@aol.com>
APRIL 2013
HI KIDS! We are well underway with our 2013 Show Season – our Double Barrel Blast was a huge success in spite of the lousy weather! I hope you had the chance to come out and enjoy. Many thanks to all those who helped-out – without folks like you, we wouldn’t be able to operate.
Our March Business meeting was a fruitful one – BUT – I sure wish more of you would come out and take a more active role in your Club! **Our new bleachers have been ordered and we do expect them to arrive in time for our first Show. **The new Show Sheet for 2013 has been approved by your Show Committee and it includes “English Events” -- I hope to see if our English folks will come out in force. **We approved a few word changes to our By-Laws, dealing with Year-end Points and Year-end Awards --the new, updated addition of the By-Laws is on the web site for your reading pleasure – it’s a good idea to read-up on them so you know who’s doing what to whom and why. If you see something you don’t like or understand, sing out -- that’s what we’re here for.
Some not-so-good news came out at this month’s meeting – our new bathhouse project will have to wait until next year due to County budget constraints. It’s up to us, as a truly active Club, to do everything that we can to make our Club go and grow -- so we can actively support the County in their continued effort to make our Arena a true SHOW PLACE, for ALL to enjoy.
Be sure to take notice of the new outfits our Drill Team will be wearing hence-forth– Jennifer showed off their new chaps – they really look sharp and will do much to make them “shine”!
The upcoming Rodeo (June 21 st & 22 nd) promotion is going very well – again, thanks in part to the ladies from the Glenda Gooch House. We are really looking forward to two big nights of real rodeo fun. Please be making plans to come-out and actively HELP make this event the biggest success ever -- we will need a whole bunch of our Club members to make the parking go smoothly, to collect the tickets and money at the gate plus everything else it takes to make the event like this run smoothly. We’re hoping to make this UCSC Rodeo a huge and truly successful annual event and fund-raiser – we want it to be the biggest rodeo in the area!
What newsletter would be complete if I didn’t mention UCSC Memberships? PLEASE don’t all of you wait until the first show (like you usually do) – my poor old typing fingers just can take all that abuse at one time. We still have a long way to go to better last year’s paid membership numbers.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS:
Saturday, April 13 th U.C. Horse Club (4-H) Clinic 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Thursday, April 18 th UCSC Monthly Business Meeting 07:00 PM (sharp)
Saturday, April 20 th UCSC Special Invitational & Open Horse Show 08:30 to ????
Saturday, May 4 th UCSC/NRHA Racking Horse Show 03:00 to ????
MARCH 2013
HI KIDS! ARE YOU READY? The New Year is here and the fun is about to begin. The new show sheet is out and it’s up to you all to come out and make it work or help get it revised. Our new bleachers have been ordered and work on the new bath-house is about to start -- lots of good stuff is happening for our forward-moving Club. The primary sponsor for our Rodeo is fixed; the National Racking Horse Association Show is on the NRHA schedule and a very full season of events has been worked out. All we need to do now is come out, take part and enjoy!
No “soap box” this month: My most recent “tour” of our arena grounds resulted in very few “findings” of cans, cups, papers. etc. – and, happily, I didn’t run across any “special surprise packages”. You guys are doing a pretty good job of picking-up after yourselves and keeping our arena clean and clear of trash. All we can ask is that you keep up the good work AND remind anyone you see who is not being as careful as they should be to “get with the program.” We are very privileged to have such a beautiful arena to play in and it’s our job to keep it that way.
Our February General Meeting was not as well attended as we would have liked but we managed to handle everything on the agenda. The new proposed show sheet caused a bit of discussion – who goes first, who does the English Judging, etc., etc. -- this will be discussed in detail at a special meeting of the Show Committee -- to be held before new month’s meeting – we’ll get a report then.
The Winter Barrel Blast, that had to be cancelled last week, will be combined with the Show already scheduled for the 23 rd of March. It will be a true double show with added money for each show.
Our new bleacher and bath house projects are underway – they should be completed before the first Open Show of the year.
The upcoming Rodeo promotion is going very well – thanks in a large part to the ladies from the Glenda Gooch house – they’re real “go-getters”.
A special reminder: If you show your UCSC Membership Card at the gate of the De-Spooking Clinic next weekend, you will be allowed to witness the Clinic free of charge. Better get your membership renewed quickly (if you haven’t already done so)!
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH:
Saturday, Mar. 2 nd De-Spooking Clinic All day
Sunday, Mar. 3 rd De-Spooking Clinic All day
Saturday, Mar. 16 th Union County Horse Club (4-H) Clinic 10:00AM to 1:00PM
Saturday, Mar. 23 rd UCSC Winter Barrel Blast (Final Shows) 10:00AM to ????
Saturday, Mar. 30 th UCSC/G-Bone Team Roping Sign-up @ Noon
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
HI KIDS! HAPPY NEW YEAR! We are all looking forward to a fantastic new year – lots of shows and activities to keep us young. I hope you can come out this year and play an active role as part of the finest Saddle Club in the country. Keep a close eye on the Arena Schedule on the arena bulletin board, on our web site, on Facebook and anywhere else you can find it.
I just can’t help myself – I have to start the year off on my soap box: A few days ago I had occasion to conduct one of my semi-regular tours of the arena parking areas, picking-up loose cans, papers, candy-wrappers, etc. (I have to say, there have been very few of these loose items to be found lately), but on this particular trip I found something really “special”. Someone had neatly wrapped a very full diaper, leaving it laying there as a potential booby-trap for whoever happened to pick it up or run over it. I’m happy to say, I carry a shovel in my truck (which I certainly used when I realized what I was “dealing” with), so no real “damage” was done – BUT - can you believe that someone could actually be that inconsiderate! I have a personal message for the guilty party: take your little “packages” home with you and you can stay there yourselves! I rather suspect that your home (and surrounding yard) is probably a very suitable place for such items -- they’ll fit right in!
On a much happier note: As you know, our January General Meeting had to be postponed for one week due to a monster storm (that, thankfully, didn’t happen) but our re-scheduled meeting last Thursday was a truly active and well attended one. We reviewed the proposed show schedule for 2013 (copies were available at this meeting) plus, quite a few special announcements were made. The Mountain Valley Dodge folks and the Dodge Motor Company have agreed to sponsor our 2013 Rodeo and all future rodeos – along with the Glenda Gooch House folks as co-sponsors. Our new bleachers will be ordered around the 1 st of February and the work on our new restroom building is expected to start in the very near future. Look for an upcoming “What Do the Judges Actually Look For” Clinic. The date and time will be announced ASAP. Good things are happening kids – be sure to come along for the ride!
A friendly reminder: PLEASE DON’T TIE YOUR HORSES TO THE ARENA RAIL – they dig holes where they are tied and they block the track for those who wish to use it! Please cooperate!
As I mentioned in my last letter, our “Weekly Arena Practice Schedule” has been adjusted a little. The “Runners” will be meeting on Wednesdays and the “Westerners” will be meeting on Thursdays – the rest remains the same as it has been.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS:
Saturday, Feb. 9 th UCSC/Cody Morgan’s Benefit Roping Show sign-up @ 11:00AM
Saturday, Feb. 16 th UCSC Winter Barrel Blast #2 10:00AM to whenever
Thursday, Feb. 21 st UCSC General Meeting 7:00PM (Sharp)
Saturday, Feb. 23 rd Union County Horse Club (4-H) Clinic 10:00AM to 1:00PM
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