UNITED STATES PRE ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL MEMBER MEETING
SEPTEMBER 26, 2014 @ 1:00 pm
AT FERIA DEL CABALLO, LAS VEGAS, NV
Present from the Board of Directors: Kimberly Boyer, Betsy Ketcham, Miguel Nunez. Joan Mack, Executive Director and Sally Rodriguez, Director of Operations were also present.
Members in attendance signed a registration sheet.
Kim Boyer opened the meeting at 1:15 and reported there would be no voting today, as the BEC elections would be held in December. The objective of this meeting would be to report of the activities of 2013 and new programs in 2014.
Our Annual Board Meeting was January 26, 2014, in Wellington, at which time the activities of the Management Committee in 2013 were reviewed and approved. A list of 2013 activities was provided to the members in attendance. 2013 was our first full year managing the Studbook for ANCCE and we made several important changes in our office to accommodate the demands of this role. We increased out our staff in 2013, adding a Director of Communications and approving the hiring of a Director of Operations. We also relocated the office to the current location.
Additionally, we made big steps in 2013 to increase the web presence and image of USPRE. The new interactive website, overseen by Joan Mack, was launched in March 2013 and has become an essential tool for our breeders. Our website is inter-active and updated almost daily. In 2013 we also developed our Facebook page and to date we have more than 24,000 “Likes”, which provides us an unparalleled venue for communicating with our audience.
Membership continues to grow at USPRE. We are now over 450 member farms, and growing weekly. Kim reminded our members that we are a non-profit organization, and member support allows us to provide service to our breeders through our programs and promotion of the PRE Horse. Membership fees are a way to take part in the mission of USPRE. Our main objective is to service our members, and all lovers of the PRE, on several levels: from getting their paperwork in a timely manner, to representation in the equestrian world with advertising, articles, and sponsorship of the highest quality, and providing real programs and services that serve to educate, inspire and bring together our members.
In 2014 we initiated three major programs:
- The TRC which was just completed. See report below.
- COPA USPRE was started. This program is similar to COPA ANCCE in which riders are ranked and the top two will be invited to SICAB to participate if they wish. From this we will develop our USPRE Dressage Team and will be announced in November.
- Stallion Directory was started in the spring. We may start to include Qualified Mares, as we have had that request. Check out this portion of our website for more information. We do a feature on our Facebook page for each of the stallions listed here.
Betsy Ketcham reported on the TRC. We had 20 horses attend and we learned a lot of lessons for next time. Pricing for this one was difficult as we could not establish a location and number of horses until shortly before the event. We are sending a rebate to each participant as our expenses, when shared with Mexico, were not as great as we had estimated. This was our first TRC in many years and many changes have been instituted by ANCCE. We are learning that movement and conformation for dressage has become the main focus of the Studbook and the Genetics program. The qualifications are more stringent than ever. Betsy felt that our own staff and members could lead seminars prior to the next TRC. Of the 20 horses presented, 8 passed provisionally, pending approval of the radiographs.
Betsy reported on the Breeders Executive Committee (BEC), which was formed in early 2013. 2014 will be our first year to elect new members to the BEC. Responsibilities include attending two meetings a year, assist in developing programs for breeders, and support new shows and clinics. Since last year, the BEC has already implemented popular new benefits for breeders: New Breeder Packets which support and explain the programs available for our breeders; financial support of the morphology shows; the Born in America Awards, and the TRC. One member attending the meeting indicated he would be very interested in joining this group. He also indicated that he has dropped and refused all other memberships other than USPRE as USPRE is the only organization that is “quality-added.” Betsy thanked him and said they would speak about the process. Betsy said that once they had some nominations the breeders would vote on who they would like to represent them on this committee.
ANCCE – USPRE Update. Kim reported we have been in contact with the new President, Juan Tirado, and we are developing a new and positive working relationship. She reported that the former President of ANCCE, Javier Conde, was a close friend of USPRE and was highly motivated to resolve the problems in the United States with the conflicting registries. The Board looks forward to continuing our work with Juan Tirado, who has the same passions for seeing the United States be united under LG-ANCCE.
USPRE will be at SICAB in December and all members receive free tickets to attend. This is also an event in which we spend time with the new president and our other ANCCE representatives. We continue to have an excellent relationship with ANCCE and they continue to praise and support our work in managing the Studbook.
Joan Mack, Executive Director, reported on some of the projects currently being worked on by the USPRE office staff. We have had a very busy year with in the LG side, with Revisions slightly lower than last year (due to the Recession in 2009) but all other services showing an increase from former years, indicating a strong future. We are working now on USPRE Week which will be January 21 – 25, 2015. Plans include several important seminars featuring ANCCE LG staff and others. You will see more announcements via email and on our website.
Revision is taking place now and will wind through the country in the next few weeks, ending in our office in Wellington. Over 225 horses will be Revised this fall.
Joan noted the loss of Ricardo Nigaglione, who left USPRE for another position. She introduced Sally Bloom Rodriguez our new Director of Operations who thanked the members and Board. Sally reported that the office is very busy; inscriptions are coming in very fast. This past week over 60 inscriptions came in in one day. We have had over 300 inscriptions so far this year and expect a large amount to come in before the end of the ear. Sally reported that Tanya will go to Ecuador for LG training, taking Breeders’ questions with her.
Kim asked for questions. There were none raised as most discussion occurred during the presentation.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 pm.