SMMBC Newsletter
Show Me Mustang & Burro Club
Winter 2009
In This Issue:
* First Meeting
* MEC Results
* Ambassador Team
* Upcoming Events
* Fundraising
Club Officers:
President/Secretary: Judy Ballenger judyballenger@embarqmail.com
Vice President: Angela Huston hustonzoo@yahoo.com
Treasurer: Diana Thebo mestenoridge@yahoo.com
Show Chairman: Open
Fundraising Chairman: Open
The Next Meeting of the Show Me Mustang & Burro Club will be held during the BLM Adoption Event in Humansville, MO on March 28, 2009. Place and time to be announced at the adoption. (We are aiming for a Dinner Meeting)
First Official Club Meeting:
We are now official, with paid members and a plan for the future. It might be a loose plan right now, but it’s still a plan! We met on January 24th, 2009 in the Main office of the arena at the Boone County Fairgrounds during the Missouri Equine Festival (MEC). There were approximately 20 people present. Judy Ballenger outlined the mission for the club, which includes Play Days, Fun and Open shows, Trail Rides, Clinics, Public Appearances at schools and BLM Adoption Events as well as Horse expos such as the MEC and Parades. Fundraising was a prime concern as the club needs a healthy bank account for anything to happen – this will be mentioned in its own section of the newsletter. Mentoring new adopters and assisting was a topic. It is hoped that members will come forward and add their names to the list of people who will go to someone’s property to assist them with gentling their mustang. We already have our first “project” in a 7 yr old gelding adopted by John in 2007 and still not too approachable. We need a list of Mentors who are willing to devote their time to help people having problems with their Mustangs. If you are available to offer your assistance please let Judy, Angela, or Diana know and your name will be added to the list. Whoever lives closet to the “project” horse will be called upon to assist. This is one of the main goals of our club so the bigger the list the easier it will be for our club to help people and their mustangs have that happy ending we all know is indeed there.
Public Awareness and Education is also a major goal of the club. If you have kids contact their teacher and ask if they’d be interested in a Meet the Mustang or Burro Day at school. We’ll supply materials to hand out to the kids from the BLM. Posters, pencils and magnets seem to be a big hit with kids. If anyone has ideas for other things we can do please speak up and let us know. We still need a Show Chairman and a Fundraising Chairman. Any volunteers out there?
The Art of HORSEMANSHIP is keeping the Horse between you and the GROUND!!!!!
MEC Results:
The Missouri Equine Celebration, held Jan 23 & 24, 2009 was a big success for our club debut and for Mustangs. The Russell Stover chocolates I had donated and the baby goats brought by Diana Thebo served to keep people hanging out around our booth. I hope it was Mustangs and burros that also had people stopping by but I’m not going to bet on it! Angela Huston brought a Laptop along and we were able to play a DVD generously donated to us by “Video Mike” (also known as Michael Kerson from California) titled “Congratulations! You’ve Adopted a Wild Horse or Burro Now What?” It’s a hands-on guide to gentling, training and caring for your wild one. If you would like your own copy to study go to www.video-mike.com. The BLM sent me 250 magnets to hand out; we have less than 2 dozen left. Approximately 300 Brochures were handed out along with other materials provided by the BLM, AMBA, and the MHF. Our donations can brought in slightly over $50.00 to get our club bank account off to a good start. We received 9 membership applications for the club and 4 for AMBA.
There was quite a lot of interest shown in wild horses and adopting, especially with the availability of the TIP program, sponsored by the MHF. Overall it was a very successful weekend for our club and the wild ones we care so much about. Special thanks to Judy, Angela, Jessi, Diana, and April for manning the booth over the weekend and representing the wild horses and burros.
Ambassador Team:
We want to put together a SMMBC Ambassador Team to represent our club at public events, breed demos, parades, etc. We hope to have 10 horse/rider combinations who will be committed to practices and performances which are impeccable. We all know that anything a domestic horse can do a mustang must do 10 times better! We hope to be able to pair like colored horses together for this team – 2 sorrels, 2 bays, 2 blacks, 2 palominos, & 2 buckskins. If you’re interested in this let us know. Practices at first are crucial, and mandatory. Once we have the routine down practicing can be done at home.
Upcoming Events:
March 13, 14 & 15, 2009: Horsefest. Springfield. MO. http://horsefest.net/ The BLM has rented booth space at Horsefest and Chad Kelly is running it. We volunteered to help him staff the booth in exchange for being able to hand out our materials promoting the AMBA and our club, SMMBC. This is just 2 weeks before the Humansville adoption event. Anyone wanting to go along, let Diana Thebo know.
March 27 & 28, 2009: BLM Adoption. Humansville, MO. Held at the Double J Indoor Arena #10 East 350th Rd. Humansville, MO 65674 Click here for directions: http://www.doublejindoorarena.com/ SMMBC has volunteered to help and provide security. If you can help out, please let Judy know.
May 23 & 24, 2009: Big River Ranch Trail Ride. Lexington, MO. www.bigriverranchtrailriding.com There will be a vender area and we have a booth rented. This is a chance to get out for 2 day trail ride, overnight camping with our horses and just have fun, and totally dominate with our Mustangs! The cost is only $15.00 – that covers one horse and the campsite. Fit as many as you want in your campsite and just pay $10 per horse/rider for the trail ride. More news on this in upcoming newsletters as the date gets closer.
Fundraising:
We need fundraising ideas!
MFA has a program where we can earn 10¢ for each proof-of-purchase from MFA Easykeeper feed bags and 25¢ from each proof-of-purchase for MFA Legends feed bags. We can also earn money on bulk deliveries of both feeds as well. If you feed either of these products please collect the proof-of-purchase symbols on the bags for our club. We also need funds and merchandise from Sponsors & Supporters for shows and other events. Keep this in mind when you’re out doing business in your community. Any funds or merchandise from sponsors will net them a tax deductable receipt along with the possibility of ad space in show programs.
Last, we need locations to hold events. If you can host a clinic or a show (or know of someone who can) please let us know. This too is tax deductible!