The ODS Championships and Annual Awards Banquet are over for another year. Thanks to the efforts of many volunteers, donations from the chapters and individual members both were quite successful and from my perspective a lot of fun. We plan to list the award winners and the Championship Results on the website.

In the September column there was a statement about the league shows and championships which might be misleading regarding the riding of Amateur and Youth horses by professionals. Professionals may certainly ride their students/clients horses at ODS League shows and they may be cross entered and ridden by the student and the professional at the same show. HOWEVER, at the League Championship show the horses may NOT be cross entered in Open and Amateur/Youth divisions. Youth and amateurs may cross enter horses with other Youth or Amateurs. No one may ride the horses except the riders who entered the horses or a groom on a loose rein.

November 3, 2007 is the annual general membership meeting of ODS at the Springfield Mall meeting room in Springfield, OR. We would love to see a good turnout for this meeting. I would like to encourage each chapter to send a carload of their members and make this year a record breaking year in terms of attendance.

November 17 and 18 there will be a region VI meeting and Mini Convention in Portland. This will include a continuing education session for L graduates which may be audited by members. It will be a chance to meet the Participating Member Delegates and express concerns about regional and national issues.

Later in November the USDF Convention is being held in Orlando, Florida. The ODS delegates are: Francy Haupt, Edwin Miller, Kim Barker and myself. In addition 3 of the 7 Participating Member Delegates from Region VI are ODS members: Corinne Stonier, Gaye McCabe and myself. Our region VI Director Donna Longacre and USDF Treasurer Barb Funk are also ODS members. Any member is welcome to attend the convention and  be a part of our region VI meetings. We can use additional people to attend the many open committee meetings.

Congratulations again to all of our ODS Champions and our Special Award winners. It was a huge honor for me to be able to represent the board in presenting an Honarary Lifetime Membership to Joyce Stride. It was also very fun to select and present the Horse Ambassador Award to Parocco. I personally enjoyed the Championship Show and Awards banquet very much. A big thanks to our hosts DevonWood Equestrian Center and the Holiday Inn, all of our Sponsors and all the Volunteers for making these events possible.

See you November 3rd!

Marsha