By Betty Miller Jones
This year marked a milestone in the reorganization process of the
AHC with emphasis on youth, trails development and animal welfare.
More volunteers are needed to make progress during the coming
year. Anyone interested in joining with us in these efforts would
be greatly welcomed and immediately put to work!
We are an all-volunteer
organization and have been incorporated since 1986. During the
last 18 years, the council has accomplished many worthy goals such
as building the Equestrian Center at the State Fairgrounds,
producing educational expositions and trade fairs, getting
legislation passed to control EIA and limit liability for equine
events.
Starting the EIA Verifier
Certification courses that are now taught by the UA Extension
Service was another great accomplishment, with more than 1,300
people now certified to check Coggins tests at events. Still,
there is more work to be done, so please call or come to one of
our meetings. Most are announced in the Roundup, and all
dates will be emailed to allhorsepeople@yahoogroups.com,
our AHC loop. And starting this year, posting will be added to our
website at www.ArHorseCouncil.Org/. Find us anytime by
searching on Arkansas Horse Council; it will be the first site to
come up on the list at MSN. We greatly appreciate the work of our
webmaster, Travis Burton of Arkadelphia (formerly of Prescott) ,
for building and maintaining our site.
The first meeting this year
will be Sunday afternoon, Jan. 16, in Clinton. Call (479) 665-AREF
to make your reservation. We need to know how many will attend.
Location to be announced.
This year we continue to
offer our individual and family memberships ($50 and $100,
respectively), which include the million-dollar liability
insurance for non-business-related individuals, through Saddle
Partners of America/Equisure. This policy will be secondary to any
existing insurance in force and if there is none, will be the
primary policy. It will cover losses on property for which you may
be held legally liable.
An association membership
is still just $30, Junior/Senior is $15, farm is $25, corporation
is $50. All memberships receive monthly copies of the Roundup
and discounts on
liability
signs. To get the most coverage from your insurance policy
please get your memberships in this month as it runs from January
through December, no matter when you purchase it.
The Arkansas Equine
Foundation, Inc. is a 501c-3 tax-exempt organization and helps the
AHC in many of their projects. In 2004, they supplied horses for
youth projects from the Second Careers for Horses program and
helped send our youth to the American Horse Council Youth Meeting
in Dallas. Horses donated to the AEF are recycled and placed with
youth interested in becoming equine professionals and are adopted
for showing and/or recreation by equine enthusiasts.
Applications can be requested by calling (479) 665-AREF (665-2733)
or from AHC Youth Council directors Kathleen Wieckhardt or Heidi
Dahlstrom. Donations are welcome at all times and are tax
deductible.
The Animal Welfare
Committee has formed a group of ?Horse Spotters? who work
statewide to investigate reports of animal cruelty in all areas of
the state. Kay Jordan, Pulaski County Humane investigator is the
coordinator of the group. Volunteers need to have email
capabilities and can contact Kay through contact form . This is a
go quietly and look effort and only requires
reporting back to Kay. She will take it from there.
If you have not been called
upon to serve, please call us. We would like to have everyone
involved who has a little time to spend. It doesn?t have to be
ongoing; it can be sporadic. We'll be glad to get the benefit of
your experience and wisdom whenever it is offered.
We welcome our first
out-of-state association member, The Ozark Country Endurance
Riders of Kansas, to our Council this month! Hope to see you soon
at our meetings. Happy New Year to everyone!
