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Previous Presidents Comments: posted: 20 May 07 "Where We Stand and Where We Are Going" In the last year the Iowa Appaloosa Association's membership has grown. After only one year in existence we have come a long way. Our membership is now over two hundred strong and our club is ranked in the "Top Ten" in the Nation of Regional Clubs. We started a Youth Club that also ranks in the "Top Ten" in the Nation. Our Accomplishments in the past year include:
Our Goals for the remainder of 2007 and beyond are:
In 2007, the Iowa Appaloosa Association needs the support of its membership. As our membership continues to grow so will our programs. To ensure our growth, the club plans to be diversified and inclusive. Soon the Show Season will begin and we have many Committees that need volunteers. Your help is needed to make our club, committees, and shows run smoothly. Remember this is your Club, your ideas and input count. Please get involved. Bob Main President Iowa Appaloosa Association Previous Presidents Comments: posted: April 27, 2007 The IAA has finished it’s voting on February 28th and the ballots are in and counted so the last hurdle for the IAA is done. The first officially elected board members of the IAA are Bob Main , Ross Mantz, and Myra Crawford with the club vote being in favor by better than two to one APPROVING the IOWA APPALOOSA ASSOCIATION. We will be setting goals for 2007 at our membership meeting on April 1st so every member needs to be active and bring ideas to the meeting. Remember this is your regional club and it will only be as good as what it’s general membership puts into it. We have members stepping up to the plate and getting involved in committees and other functions so don’t be shy be a team player and make the IAA the best regional club in the nation for the ApHC in 2007. At the meeting we will explain the new IAA youth scholarship program that we just instated at our March meeting. The Non Pro, Marketing, Open Show committees will all be up and running with their new members and we will be filling other committees as we go along. We all need to pull together and be team players as the IAA sits on the verge of being one of the best for 2007. Other clubs are now looking at us and following our lead of merging clubs together in order to survive. Many regional clubs are dying due to lack of interest and numbers we need to stay strong and active in order to bring in new members to our ranks. We cannot ever become stagnant we must always look to the future and stay in tune with what the membership wants this club to be. We must always promote the youth and non pro along with the breed and never be afraid of change. So remember stay positive be a proud team IOWA player and get involved. The IOWA APPALOOSA ASSOCIATION strongly supports Gary Connolly for reelection to the board of directors of the ApHC. Gary has worked hard for the IAA, the ApHC, and the Appaloosa breed. He deserves our support towards his campaign. Gary is one of the few directors who travels the entire territory and sees all the regional clubs and what they are up against. His regional club committee is very active in helping and promoting the regional clubs. The ApHC needs people like Gary who put the breed first and give 100% to the breed. Last but not least Duane Harkin is retiring from the board and is going to enjoy some free time with his horses and grandkids. The IAA will miss Duane's leadership and will be forever indebted to him for the time and energy he put into creating the IAA. The Co President idea has been one of the best things to happen to the IAA. It was the right team at the right time and we completed something that people said could never get done. Previous Co-Presidents Comments: Summary of February 4, 2007 IAA board meeting:
Super Bowl Sunday may
not be the best time for a board meeting, especially when the
temperature is at zero, but meet we did and were home before kick-off. Previous Co-Presidents Comments: Summary of January 7, 2007 IAA board meeting:
The Iowa Appaloosa Association board of directors
held their regular monthly meeting January 7, 2007, at the Happy Chef in
Adair, Iowa. Several topics were discussed with most reaching a final
decision. You can check the IAA website(iowaappaloosa.com) for the agenda which is posted two weeks prior to
the meeting. The next meeting will be February 4, 2007, at the same
location. A ballot for the final vote was decided on but we still don't have a CPA firm selected to count the ballots. Three board members will also be elected at the same time. All IAA members as of Dec 31, 2006, should receive their ballots in early February.
The IAA Saddle Log program
was approved with awards to be given in two categories. The categories are
18 & under and adult. An enrollment fee of $10 will be charged to
offset awards costs. Your enrollment information and fee should be sent to
Duane Harken, 390 Hwy 92, Pleasantville, Iowa. The IAA saddle log program
will use the log provided by the National club or you can download it from
the IAA website. It will be much like the National program except that this
year
Other business included a
date change for the July trail ride. It will be held July 7 & 8, 2007, at
Elk Rock State Park, weather permitting. There were two show rule changes
approved to benefit member exhibitors. One dealt with points for grand and
reserve champions at halter and the other with contestants An audit committee of Dennis Johannes, Duane Harken,and Rodney Wise will audit all 2006 accounts of the IAA in February. We do need volunteers to help with the Iowa Horse Fair so call a director to let them know if you can help.
Summary of December 10, 2006 IAA board meeting: Bills were then presented which included the banquet itself as well as awards. Other items included membership in the Iowa Horse Council, show approvals for 2007, Kirkwood deposit, etc. Bills presented were approved and to be paid.
Under the heading of old
business we discussed the membership's desire to be better informed and made
some decisions regarding that point. A newsletter seems to be to costly at
this time plus we have had no volunteers to work on It was decided to set the first Sunday of each month as a meeting date so information can be sent to the AHUM to be published in the following issue and also be posted on the IAA website (iowaappaloosa.com).
The board also is determined to get membership updates
to the AHUM as they come in. Memberships are to be sent to Jill Goodale since
she is the web master. She will record them and add them to the
membership list on the website. If you have paid your membership and it is
not on the website list please We also reaffirmed Dietz Photography for the Congress show in Sep. New business also had a number of items to discuss and some decisions were made. First it was decided that the show schedule would remain the same but with the likelihood of the Congress and futurity show going to a fourth day, thus starting on Thursday. Show dates would be: June 15-17, Des Moines, August 4-5 Cedar Rapids, August 18-19 Fremont, NE., September 6-9 Des Moines. Cross approvals will be the same as last year pending the other clubs approval. The IAA shows will also offer a Masters division in Non-Pro Classes.
Another date tentatively set is for a trail ride on July 14-15.
The final unification vote was discussed and a ballot
is to be
The last major topic
centered around the Iowa Open Futurity and the need to make some changes to
make it more appealing to entries. We will likely take a closer look at that
at the next meeting. Saturday, November 18, was a busy afternoon and evening with a general membership meeting, awards banquet and All American and Select Stallion Futurity Auctions. We started all of this shortly after 3:00 PM and were completely done by 10:30 PM. Things had to move right along. Honored guests included Dixie Walters of Conrad, Iowa who spoke on the saddle log program. (This is something we might put in at the club level as an award category.) Dixie was featured in the Appaloosa Journal for logging over 4000 hours. Gary Connolly and Bill Theil, two of our national directors were there and answered questions about the national club's stance on different topics as well as observe the proceedings since several states are considering following Iowa's lead in merging.
One item of
business that was passed by the membership is A second important item is the need to develop committees of members to make our organization more efficient. Some of the committees already have volunteers but we need many more. If you have an interest in any of the following areas, please contact a board member.
Committees include: The awards were presented, then followed by an excellent meal and then the auction. Both stallion auctions were held at the same time alternating between the All American and Select Stallion. This went very smoothly for a first attempt. The next IAA board meeting will be Sunday, December 10, 2006, 1:00 PM at Adair. CoPres. Duane Harken and Bob Main What a great show and futurity we had in Des Moines! Everything
ran smoothly and I can't thank all of the volunteers enough. What
about the exhibitor supper! Where can you get a meal like that? I
especially want to thank Lowell Roseland for organizing the meal and
an anonymous donor for their contribution, which helped, make it
possible. The Roseland's, the Stolee's and Dee Boeke handled all of
the food preparation and a number of people brought delicious
desserts. Thanks to all.
Most open classes were good in terms of numbers and top notch
in terms of quality. Futurity classes were tough as usual and the
number of entries seems to be increasing and the competition
tremendous. There were 19 in the yearling longe line class and 16
in the Select 2 year old Western Pleasure with a sizeable number in
the All American 2 year old class. It is great to see these futurity
colts progress through the stages of development.
Our next point approved show will be Grand Island the weekend
of Oct 14 and 15. After that we will have a trail ride scheduled for
Oct 21 and 22 at Brushy Creek. Plan to attend and let Cindy Maher
or myself know of your plans. Following the trail ride nothing is left
but the World Show and the annual meeting, banquet and stallion
auctions on Nov18. See you at one of the events or another.
Duane Harken, CoPres IAA
The first Iowa Appaloosa Association trail ride at Elk
Rock State Park on July 8, 2006, was an enjoyable afternoon.
The number of riders was few but the enthusiasm was
abounding. We even had an appaloosa mule with us.
We left camp about 12:45 p.m. and rode for about 2 1/2
hours. After taking care of the horses and some visiting we
grilled burgers and hot dogs and had an enjoyable meal. I
especially liked Cindy Maher's cole slaw.
Look for information on another IAA sponsored ride,
probably in October.
Duane Harken, CoPres. IAA
Iowa Appaloosa Association Sponsored Trail Ride
Open to all appaloosa enthusiasts and their friends. The more the
merrier.
The ride will be held at Elk Rock State Park just off of highway 14
on the south side of Red Rock Lake. Elk Rock has excellent facilities
with electrical hook-ups, bathrooms and showers, and arena.
We will meet Saturday morning, July 8th and start down the trail
at 12:30 PM. After about a two-hour ride we will have some contests
in the arena for the kids. We will grill some hamburgers and hot dogs
or whatever you bring about 6:00 p.m.
Later you may wish to ride again or get involved in some games
or story telling.
Those staying over will be able to ride again on Sunday.
For directions or information contact Duane Harken, 515-848-5657.
The weekend of April 8 & 9 found the Appaloosa people at the Iowa
Horse Fair with every shape, color, size and breed of horse imaginable.
We had a nice booth and great breed aisle and demonstration. The
Appaloosas were well represented.
On Saturday afternoon we had a general membership meeting with
ApHC director, Gary Connolly, present. He explained why our application
for a cover club had been turned down and what we could do to get it
approved. The next ApHC meeting will be at the national show in July.
After much discussion with Mr. Connolly's input and questions
answered, a show of hands indicated a strong consensus wanting us to go
forward with the cover club and resubmit the application. There is a lot
of support for the cover club in our membership and it would be beneficial
if each of you would write a letter of support to be included with the
application. Send that letter to either Bob Main or me (Duane Harken).
We would also like to include a petition of support with the application.
In the IAA board meeting that followed we went in that direction.
We also approved cross pointing the MRVAA show at Denison on July 29-30.
We also discussed the promotional booth at the Jefferson celebration May 6-7.
It was decided to hold our next meeting there at 1:00 PM on May 6.
I will close by saying that I want to thank so many people for all
their help with the horse fair: the MRVAA for sharing the booth, Barb Albert
for again helping set up, Sandi Moon for coordinating the breed aisle and
demonstrations, the many that brought horses for the breed aisle and
demonstrations and all of you that came to the general meeting and expressed
your concerns and support. These are the things that make a strong
organization.
Don't forget the youth benefit supper at The Grove in Ames, April 21,
4:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Duane Harken, CoPres. IAA
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