10 Annual Edition "The Blarney" (PDF) - Irish Draught Horse Society ...

Region Reports (con’t) . . .
ing their horse’s Irish Draught blood and writing it on their entries
carries through to reading it in results pages.
We had another successful Upperville weekend. On Friday,
Brianne Sells and Brandy Greenwell generously hosted us for a very
informative clinic with Michael Kirwan and Tony Phillips. Sunday
morning’s classes, judged by Michael Kirwan, had fewer entries
than usual but we saw many new faces, both in the ring and on the
rail. What I hope was the beginning of a new tradition, was a delicious
tailgate after the classes were over. Sitting in the shade of the
old oak trees, with cool drinks and yummy snacks was only made
better by the opportunity to talk about, what else, Irish Draughts!
Many members spent time and effort preparing
for and participating in the Irish Draught events
at the World Equestrian Games. Since WEG is
featured elsewhere in this issue, I will only say that a huge amount
of hard work went into preparations and the demonstrations were
highlights of the Equine Village.
Once again the Annual show committee put on a fine show
and made a substantial profit. There were many positive comments
about the show; here are some of my favorites. “I loved the
opportunity to see so many Irish horses all in one place.” “Being
able to meet new people, put faces with names I’ve only seen
online, and have some face to face conversations, was worth the
effort to get there.” IMHO, a real home run was the barn tailgate
that led into the AGM. In years past we have had to pull members
from the barns to attend the AGM. This year, we took the AGM to
the members, voila, a quorum was had. Brilliant!
In discussions with members, the topic of marketing our horses
frequently comes up. Now, members are going together on
joint ads in the Chronicle of the Horse with plans for other publications.
As one member stated, this is certainly a case where the sum
of the parts adds up to far more than the whole.
Hopefully, things are looking up economy wise for all of us. I
have heard from breeders who had no 2010 foals but are expecting
for 2011. Others who skipped breeding in 2010 are signing
contracts for 2011. All positive signs.
I have been asking SER members to email me with their
thoughts about the Society and what they want to see for their
membership. What do they think the primary focus of the society
should be, as well as secondary focus. What do we do well and
what needs improvement. I look forward to continuing to hear
from the SER members and then working together on implementing
their suggestions.
Happy New Year as we Shamrock On!
All FORMS: Membership, Merchandising, Advertising,
Sponosrship, Registration, Prefix, and Year End Awards, etc.,
are located on the IDHSNA Website under
SUPPORT > FORMS
Visit - http://www.irishdraught.com/forms
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2010 Yearbook - T he Blarney