The summer and show season is winding down quickly as I write this column for the October issue. The ODS Open Show, Championship Show and the Region VI Championships will all be over before you read this article. Thanks again to all the volunteers and show personnel who put so many hours into making these a reality.

As it was a busy summer for most board members and travel has become difficult with the price of gas so the August meeting was conducted on line. The next board meeting will be held in November along with the ODS Annual Membership Meeting.

One of the components of the ODS Mission is Education. Last year we presented the Tracy Lert Symposium on the new dressage tests. The event was not particularly well attended but we did manage to have enough auditors attending that it pretty much broke even for us in cost. This year we decided to support the USDF Adult Clinic Series with Jane Savoie. Again, the event was not well attended by auditors. I was lucky enough to be a demo rider and able to audit the lessons of several of the other riders. This was an amazing experience for me. I had no prior knowledge of Jane or her teaching methods and philosophy. I would have to say if you weren’t there I’m sorry because you really missed out on a great learning opportunity.

Jane is so positive about her teaching and her way of presenting that the riders are immediately comfortable in front of the audience. Every rider and horse improved in a very visible way during each of their two 45 minute sessions. We each came home with tools to make our horses more supple, more round and more connected. We all worked on at least one or two movements or exercises to help us with our particular level of training. Judging from the people that came to speak with me after my ride I feel the auditors had a very valuable learning experience as well and were able to go home and apply their learning to their own horses.

Each day before the actual rides began Jane worked with all the auditors and riders on methods of positive thinking to overcome fears and anxiety. Although I am usually a skeptic about such things I was totally impressed and surprised that I began using some of these techniques not only for riding but for dealing with stress and anxiety at work. Amazingly enough they work!

I wanted to list the resources, books and web sites that Jane mentioned in her talk in this column but I have not been able to get a complete list. You can subscribe to her online newsletter however. The web site with the information is: www.janesavoie.com.

You should each be receiving a ballot soon for the ODS elections. We are electing 2 Directors at Large and Regional Representatives for each of the 4 Regions. Please take the time to vote and return your ballot. Our bylaws allow the membership the chance to vote for the people who make the decisions for the organization.

I really hope to see you at the General Membership Meeting, November 8 in Springfield, Oregon. You will also receive a notice for this meeting by mail. It is requested you RSVP so we may plan for adequate seating. It would be great to see representatives of each chapter and members at large are welcome as well of course.

There will also be a USDF Region 6 meeting and mini convention November 21-22 in the Portland area. More information will be available later on the Region 6 web site which you should check out if you haven’t already.

In December Ed Miller, Rose Newman, Francy Haupt, Corinne Stonier and myself will travel to Denver to attend the USDF Annual Convention along with Region 6 Director Donna Longacre and USDF Treasurer Barb Tuohino Funk.There will be more information available in the November column about what the major topics will be for the Board of Governors. The Participating Member Delegates are making an effort to discuss issues and topics before the Convention and I hope we will be able to ask for your input on some of the issues before we leave.

-Marsha

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