San Martin Horsemen's Association

Hello members!

Our thanks go out to Dr. Ann Wimmer for a very fun and informative demo on equine chiropractics and acupuncture.  Her demo was very well attended and enjoyed at our May meeting.  If you weren’t there you missed a great presentation.  You also would have missed a most excellent Taco Bar feast prepared by our own Kathy McBride.  My hat goes off to Kathy not only for the extremely tasty tacos and all the trimmings but for all the hard work it took for her to pull it together. Thanks so much Kathy!!

Circumstances have aligned that make the decision to move our June 9th general meeting to July 14th.  We normally don’t have a general meeting in July but this year it made sense to switch things around and reschedule the June meeting to July instead.  The July 14th meeting will feature a program by Dream Power and also an old-fashioned ice cream social! Did someone say cake walk?  Pie walk?  Sounds like a meeting  you don’t want to miss!  Mark your calendars and watch your July Eventer for further details.

Although we aren’t having a June general meeting, our June 24th Poker Ride is still happening! We will have some ranch clinic obstacles set up prior to the ride like we did last year. Everyone enjoys these and it’s such a good experience for both you and your horse  (it’s also a whole lot of fun!!)  The Poker Ride will be held at Harvey Bear and Chere may even have a surprise in store . . . . stay tuned.  We will enjoy our traditional tri tip lunch and have lots of prizes so don’t miss it.  Make sure to invite all your friends too!  Let’s support our club.

We will not have an opportunity to meet again before the July 4th Morgan Hill parade.  As of this writing,  Sandy Voechting has confirmed that her mini horses will once again represent the club.  I do not have a firm count on how many full size horses we have nor do I have someone who will oversee making sure everyone meets at the correct place and gets decorated properly for the event.  This is a VERY important role that needs to be filled. You don’t have to ride a horse, just be a good organizer!  All the decorations are pre-boxed and ready to go.

Since we won’t have a float this year, this parade leader job will be so much easier. Please call me to offer your help. Also, please call or email me if you plan on riding your horse in the parade so I can get a head count. Let’s have a good showing of horses since this is the first year we won’t have a float.  I believe Sandy has secured a “pooper scooper” for us but we will still need a couple people to carry our SMHA banner and maybe a second banner advertising our event sponsors.  This is really a fun event to participate in whether you are riding or simply helping to get the group ready to win!

Until we meet again,  let’s all get out there and ride and enjoy this beautiful weather!

• Your horse can only be as brave as you are. – Author Unknown

Bev

Hello members!

If you didn’t make April’s meeting, you missed a great movie.  Not only was it very entertaining and sometimes funny, but it offered a lot of valuable information about the BLM and the wild mustangs.

The movie was preceded by a short meeting.  Audra announced our financial status and that taxes and the Jack Brook 2018 fee was yet to be paid.  Ron Lowery brought up the idea of a SMHA teen scholarship program which we agreed would be reviewed and considered.  If you recall, we had received a $100 donation from the Jacksons which was ear-marked for a youth program.  The club decided to donate these funds to Lon Davis for the Teri Patane Horse Foundation Camp for Kids.  We presented the $100 check to Lon at the meeting.  Thanks again Barbara and Jerry Jackson for making this possible!

We also briefly discussed our upcoming Playday,  Poker Ride and the 4th of July parade.  Help is needed with all these events.  We especially need someone (or 2 or 3) to step up to head the parade group this year.  We want to put on a good show and defend our 2016 title of Best Overall Equestrian Group.  We need help to do that.

Thanks to a suggestion from Laurie Salaiz, our upcoming May 12th meeting will feature Dr. Ann Wimmer with a hands- on demo of chiropractic and acupuncture methods.  If you know Dr. Ann, you know this will be both informational and entertaining!  Let’s show her our support and gratitude by attending this demo.  Don’t miss it!  We will also be featuring a Taco Bar in honor of the month of May and Cinco de Mayo.  A small $5 donation gets a taco meal with all the trimmings!  Please RSVP to Kathy McBride so we can make sure to have enough for everyone. Also, please arrive by 7pm so we can get our food and be ready for Dr Ann’s demo promptly at 7:15pm.

Hope this Eventer reaches you in time to serve as a reminder to come to the May 6th Playday.  The Bloomquist arena is an awesome venue with all the amenities and lots of room for parking.  This is a very fun event for both horse and rider.  Hope to see you all there.  Bring a friend!!

• A good horse should seldom be spurred.   Thomas Fuller

Bev

We had another record turnout at our March meeting.  The corned beef dinner with all the trimmings was enjoyed by all.  Thanks go out to Chere, Kitty and Pat for cooking.  A couple people, Lon Davis and Lynne Hummer to be exact, found lucky shamrocks under their chairs and received gift certificates to a future SMHA event.  Congratulations!  The green desserts (green banana pie?) and green coffee creamer proved very popular as well.

I would also like to extend our thanks to Carolyn La Coe and Lynne Hummer for the interesting and very informative presentation on the Pregnant Mare Rescue Foundation.  I think we all came away with several facts we weren’t aware of prior to their presentation.  It was a very eye opening half hour of information.  Thanks again ladies!

Coming up in the near future is our playday.  We will hold the event on Saturday, May 6th at the Bloomquist arena.  Rain date is set for June 4th but we’ll cross our fingers and toes that we won’t need that date.  This event always proves to be fun for all ages and level of riders.  We plan on nine or ten obstacles which will test both your and your horses skill.  Bring your friends and come out to enjoy the sun and fun!!

Another event that is right around the corner is the Morgan Hill 4th of July parade.  Steve Olivera will be traveling and will not be able to chair the parade group this year.  We really need one or a few people to step up to help with the administrative portion of this event.  Please see me or call me for more details.

I attended the Jack Brook planning meeting on 3/16 in Redwood City.  I am happy to announce that we secured our first choice option.  Jack Brook 2018 will be held August 6 through August 13.  We are now committed to this date so put it on your calendar and start thinking about friends you’d like to share it with.  Don’t forget the campout this year is August 7 through August 14. Sign up early and secure your spot.

Our April general meeting will be held Friday April 14th.  We will be having a movie night and showing the film “Unbranded”.  If you haven’t seen this movie yet you don’t want to miss it.  We will have popcorn and candy available for a nominal cost for your enjoyment.    See you all there!

To me, horses and freedom are synonymous – Veryl Goodnight

Bev

We had an awesome turnout for our February meeting.  The soup/chili contest was a success.  We had a tie for 2nd place with Sandy Voechting for her chili and Elaine Alton for her Carrot soup.  Coming in at first place was Ron Lowery with his famous chili.  Ron has once again earned a first place for his chili and will be bringing the trophy back next year to defend his title of #1 SMHA Cook!  I would also like to extend our thanks to Karen Topping and her daughter Meghan Topping Hosse for the informative presentations on the Mustang gentling program and dog rescue and foster program.  I believe the members thoroughly enjoyed both presentations.

Wow.  March already?  We should be out riding but the rain has washed out most of our trails and if the trails are OK, then the road has been washed out!  I, for one, am tired of this weather and want to start riding my horse again.  Daylight savings time comes back on 3/12 so the days will get longer and give us more time to ride if we can get Mother Nature to cooperate!

I hope everyone’s horses are doing well in this stormy weather.  There were 28 horses stranded in San Jose in belly deep water with no access to get them out.  They went without food, water or meds for two days.  As of this writing, they are on drier ground, have finally received food and medication and the hope is to get them out today (2/23) or tomorrow, 2/24.  We all wish them well and hope all are able to stay healthy through this difficult situation.  This is a strong reminder that we should all be prepared to keep ourselves and our horses safe during emergency situations like this.

Are you looking for a little luck?  Well, come on out to our March general meeting on the 10th.  We will be enjoying corned beef and cabbage and various green desserts.  Should be delicious and maybe some of that green luck will rub off on you!  We will also have a guest speaker.  Carolyn Barett-LaCoe will be sharing information regarding the Pregnant Mare Rescue Foundation.  Come out and support our speaker and your club!

I will leave you with this Irish Blessing:

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,

May good luck pursue you each morning and night

Bev

Hello members!!  As I’m writing this message, its very crisp outside but it’s not raining!!   The sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day.  I actually got to ride today at Hunting Hollow.  It was quite a site to see how high the creeks had come,  the multitude of leftover debris deposited where the creek had been and the “extra” creeks that are now flowing alongside the road and sometimes on the road itself!  It was still great to get my horse out and ride.  I hope all of you fared well with all the storms and rain and that you are finally starting to dry out.

The rain has given us a break for awhile but it is still crisp and cold outside.  What great weather for eating hot soup or chili!  Our general meeting is February 10th and we will be celebrating our 2nd annual Soup and Chili contest.  Dig out that favorite recipe and enter the contest.  We will be giving prizes for the soup or chili voted the favorite by the members.  The club will furnish bread and butter and those not entering their soup or chili can bring their favorite salad or dessert.  This contest has proven to be very popular and  fun.  I hope we get a lot of participants.  I’m sure it will be difficult to pick just one as the best!  I also hope we’ll see Ron Lowery defending his title from last year!

Our meeting should be informative.  We have our 2017 calendar to discuss and hopefully the membership will have some additional ideas to add to the list.  I hope to see all of you at the meeting and maybe even bringing a guest!   Remember our goal to boost membership!  Applications will be available at the meeting to make it convenient for you to renew for this year!

In closing, I will leave you with this bit of wisdom :

If you don’t like how things are, change it!  You’re not a tree. –

Jim Rohn

Bev

Well,

I’d like to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!!   I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday and got a lot of riding in too!

I’d like to thank you all for having the confidence in me to once again represent SMHA as your club President.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I would like to say that my goals this year are to:

1)  increase the size of our membership.  We all know that the way to do this is for each of us to bring in just one new member this coming year. I know you can do it!!

2)  I would like to find a way to spark more interest in events and getting new members more involved in the planning and execution of those events.

3) The club needs to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening in our area to be able to keep existing trails open and do what we can to help promote new areas to ride.  We need to keep our horse community “horse friendly” for years to come.

Last but not least, we all need to have fun!  Get out there and ride more!!

As you know, there is no January general meeting but we will meet on February 10th  for our first meeting of 2017.  I think we will try to have our annual soup/chili contest so get your favorite recipes ready.  Watch the February Eventer for more details.  I would love to see everyone at our meeting and better yet,  bring a friend!

See you all next month.  I will leave you with this thought:

**      Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does.    **

–  William James

Bev

Well,  another year is coming to a close.   I think the club has some good things to look back on . . ..a successful Playday in April,  another first place  and best overall equestrian group in the Morgan Hill 4th of July parade,  great food booth and representation of our club at the Julie Goodnight clinic at Thorson’s, a very successful June Poker ride and a good turnout at the October Poker ride despite being rained out and having to reschedule and we picked up several new members this year!!  All in all, not a bad year for us.

So let’s get ready to celebrate this great year at our upcoming meeting on December 9th which is our annual Christmas and year end party.  We will have our traditional potluck along with our silent auction and of course, the awarding of the year end prizes! Remember, you must be present to win.  Check the Eventer to see what you are supposed to bring for the potluck as it is designated by alphabet according to your last name.  Also don’t forget to bring non perishable foods for our annual canned food drive for St. Joseph’s.  It always feels good to give to those less fortunate than ourselves.

We had a white board election at last month’s general meeting so your officers and board members will remain the same for 2017:  President: Bev Vanderweide,  Vice President: Chere Bargar, Treasurer:  Audra Soltis,   Secretary: Pat Scharfe for board and Elaine Alton for general meetings, Membership: Kathy McBride,  Trails: Kitty Swindle, Eventer:  Tim Alton, Webmaster: Christine Amber.  Directors at Large:  Steve Oliveira for Parade, Sandy Voechting for Sunshine and Carolyn Tucker for Historian. It is my sincere wish that more people will step up this year and volunteer to help in these areas as well as bring new ideas to the club.

I’ll end by thanking everyone for all the help and enthusiasm this last year and you all know who you are and extend my invitation to you all to help make SMHA a stronger and more exciting club in 2017!

Bev

****  Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.  The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.  – Thomas A. Edison  ****

Thank you to all the riders and volunteers who turned out for the Gallopin Goblin SMHA Halloween Poker Ride. Looks like everyone had a good time .

Thank you Steve Stoddard for all the photos: (click on the photo for another 116!)

Our year is quickly coming to a close.  Our long sun- filled days are giving way to shorter,  cooler days.   And, did someone say rain?  Yes, you guessed it . . . Mother Nature, once again,  chose to rain out our October 29th Poker Ride.  As of this writing, we are still holding our breath to see if the ride can take place next Saturday on the November 5th rain date.  Hopefully, I will be able to report good news at our Nov 11th general meeting.

November’s meeting is slated for elections.  Are you ready to become a board member?  Do you see a new direction for our club?  This is the time to step up and make the change.  Let’s keep our club fresh, interesting and growing!  And, speaking of voting, don’t’ forget to cast your very important vote on November 8th!   We will also have a guest, Lori Oleson, speaking briefly about her new book on endurance riding.

Next month winds our year down.  Our December meeting is our annual Christmas party and silent auction.  You can bring donations for the auction to the meeting or call a board member between now and then to arrange a pickup.  Watch the Eventer for further details on the December party.

Bev

“ When a horse greets you with a nicker and regards you with a large and liquid eye, the question of where you want to be has been answered” Author Unknown

POSTPONED until Nov 5th

See you in your costumes next Saturday.