Please note that ODS has welcomed Claudette Fitzgerald as our new Librarian.  We wish to thank Janie Steinbock for years of service and applaud her volunteer efforts.

Please visit the Library Page to see what ODS has to offer members and for the new librarian contact information.

Thank you!

ODS President Column November 2008

It is hard to believe time has passed so quickly since the last column which was before the championship show. The show was a great success again this year; in fact, I think I enjoyed it as much as I have any of the previous years I have attended. I don’t have figures yet to report on income from the show or the silent auction at the awards banquet. The special awards winners are announced in Joyce Stride’s column in this same issue.

I would like to say another huge thanks to our Show Committee and our Banquet Committee. These people work all year long to put on this quality event for us.

Our rider awards chair persons, John Craven for licensed shows and Gene Hall for league shows are currently working on the results for the awards plates. With the help of new computer capability from USDF and the hard work of John and Gene we should have the awards out in a timely manner this year.

One thing we need is a person or group of people to prepare and mail the awards out. This is a job Corinne has been performing for several years that is really not a part of the ODS Office Administrator’s job. If you could spare some hours with a few friends and take this job on it would be a huge contribution to ODS. Please contact me directly if you are interested as I am recruiting people for this job.

The Annual ODS Membership Meeting and Quarterly Board Meeting will be held November 8 at the Springfield Mall. Everyone should have received a mailed notice of this event. Please rsvp the ODS office and plan to attend. We will be welcoming a few new board members as the election results will be final by that time. I was extremely happy to be able to fill all the openings with at least one candidate each this year.

We are preparing to attend the USDF Convention and Board of Governor’s Meeting later this month in Denver. There will be a special meeting with the USEF Dressage Committee about the performance standard proposal which should be interesting and is the topic of most of the discussion among delegates on the national level. We have heard there will be an increase in the USDF Participating Membership fee for 2010. We have also heard the changes in the representation for USDF will not be presented at this meeting.

Our ODS Librarian for the last 12 plus years, Janie Steinbock, is resigning. I would like to thank Janie for doing this important job for so many years. According to Janie there have been over 1,100 items checked out of the library in that time and every single item was returned. She wanted to commend the membership on making her job easier. I’m impressed with the number of people using the library. It seems to be fulfilling a large role in the education part of the ODS Mission. We have a new volunteer for the Librarian position, Claudette Fitzgerald. Claudette is a member of the Cascade Chapter also and comes highly recommended by Janie. I know Claudette and am happy to appoint her for the position. New information regarding the library contact information will be available as soon as we can make an official transfer of the library.

Here in Central Oregon we have been challenged with the “Pigeon Fever” outbreak. While not a life threatening disease in the vast majority of cases, it is a messy, contagious bacterial infection that seems to have hit a significant number of horses this late summer and fall. It can’t be prevented and is not transmitted by air but lives in the soil and can be transmitted by flies. COC Chapter cancelled our last league show of the year this past weekend because of the outbreak. Only one of my four horses has been infected and I am hoping we are past the danger point with the others since our freezing temperatures are taking care of the flies. Apparently it will remain in the soil for years and come back when the conditions are right.

I think I can have a report about the convention in the December issue as I will return home before the deadline. Please have a Happy Thanksgiving holiday and be safe in your travels.

Please remember it is time to renew your ODS membership!

Marsha

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