The good news is that the organization is $1,500 in the black as of 9/5/07. Members raised a few questions regarding line items: commissions (for the new website), trademarks (logos and copyrights on publications.) Current balance sheet total assets are $7,547.65. II. Tom Hull presented the Registrar’s Report. There are now 892 registered horses. Since 7/1/06, 38 horses have been registered, compared to 47 the prior year. 20 transferred; the same number as the previous year. A brief discussion of the databases followed. Tom and Nancy Stockdale explored the handling of duplicates and which name is used. The list of duplicates will be further reviewed. Samples of new pedigree formats were passed around for comment. III. Delphi Toth gave the Merchandising Report. Merchandise has not been a profit center. The goal has been to provide low prices. The average sales per month have increased from $50 several years ago to $500 now. This was achieved by updating the website. In August <strong>2007</strong>, the website was improved to load quicker and get more search engine hits. Items per order increased from 1 or 2 to 5 or 6. Gross Sales were $11,392 while expenses were $9,958, for a net profit of $1,434. Inventory is 4050 and the bank balance is $1,507. IV. Sandy Heaberlin discussed the newsletter. Advertising revenues were $2,918 this year, compared to $1,887 a year ago. The Breeders’ Corner earned $375 in its first year and $1,200 so far this year to date. A $4,000 full year profit is expected using this run rate. V. Magazine advertisements were discussed next. B&W full pages can cost $4,450 – $5,735 in several popular publications. Dressage Today, at $1,935, is one of the less expensive ones. Gary Lashinsky mentioned that Equus is the #1 horse magazine in the country at this time, which should be considered when looking at cost. Gary will ask his Marketing Director to see what prices he has, and how LANA might benefit. VI. The next annual meeting is planned for the second week of November, coinciding with the SRS Tour in Phoenix. Gary reported on the tour: 1 st week of November, Citizens Bank Arena in LA; 2 nd week, November 14-16, US Airways Center in Phoenix; 3 rd week, San Jose; 4 th week, Portland; and 5 th week, December 5-7, Seattle. There will be 30 horses arriving in two planes, with 10 riders and 11 grooms. All horses coming here will be CEM free. In fact, all but two in Austria have been cleared; those two are quarantined. VII. The pedigree trust was fully explained. 12 - USLR News <strong>Fall</strong>, <strong>2007</strong> It is a legal entity created to preserve and protect the records of registered <strong>Lipizzan</strong> horses. It is an irrevocable, non-transferable trust, comprising a couple pages. It is not owned by LANA and will continue if LANA ceases to exist. It can benefit the LFA and a copy of the data has already been sent to LIF and USLR. There is no income or expense connected with the trust. Data downloads and transfers are the backup. Through simple oversight the additional people have not been added to the trust yet, but will be as soon as a meeting can be arranged. This will probably occur in November, and can be a telephone or cyberspace meeting. The meeting was one trustee short of a quorum. VIII. Next,the member survey was discussed. The following points were gleaned: all want a single organization; the majority wants to keep the trust; and members want a volunteer organization. Discussion of the survey design and the benefits of an office followed. It was decided that the point about volunteers vs. professional office would be dropped. Essentially all now believe the office is valuable. It can always be evaluated in the future when the full membership can determine how well they are being served. To summarize, the marching orders are to unify and keep the trust. IX. Members commented that the LFA bylaws must be carefully composed. The Bylaw committee would meet Sunday morning before the LFA meeting#2. X. Next steps were discussed. The USLR had set a time table for action and members asked what LANA had to do before unification could occur. John said the steps are procedural. LANA does not have to dissolve. LFA must change to a membership organization from an umbrella one. LANA would be “poured into” LFA. Technically, there is nothing LANA has to do in order to facilitate unification. There should be three letters, one from each organization, stating that each has taken the necessary and proper steps to form LFA—a “comfort letter.” The meeting adjourned at 3:50 p.m. <strong>2007</strong> LFA Annual Meetings Jorie Sligh, reporter Historic <strong>Lipizzan</strong> <strong>Federation</strong> of America meetings result in one unified <strong>Lipizzan</strong> group! Through the dedication and determination of the members of the three <strong>Lipizzan</strong> groups, ALBA, USLR and LANA are on their way to being unified as one membership group and registry - the <strong>Lipizzan</strong> <strong>Federation</strong> of America. Two LFA meetings were held during the <strong>2007</strong> North American <strong>Lipizzan</strong> Symposium, and following is a summary of what took place. Saturday’s meeting opened with ALBA Board member Ingun Littorin welcoming all to the Symposium and LFA meeting. Ingun stated that last year’s joint <strong>Lipizzan</strong> Symposium resulted in a clear message from the general memberships of the three organizations: Work towards one unified <strong>Lipizzan</strong> organization in North America. Bylaws, Finance, and Registration subcommittees were formed at last year’s symposium and charged with the tasks of determining the three organizations’ diffe rences and similarities, and the feasibility of the three groups coming together as one organization. The Finance committee (Lyn Schaeffer, Melody Hull, and Rennie Squier) clearly presented their findings via a Power Point presentation complete with income and expense data. Over the past year they worked through concerns primarily via email discussion. These were explained to the membership present, along with their conclusion that unification of the three groups into one was feasible. Following the Saturday morning LFA meeting, Courtney Tripp (Tempel Farms) made copies of all available committee draft reports and had them available for the attendees at the Symposium. This greatly helped people understand the work that had been done and the reasoning behind the proposals of the committees. Progress at Sunday’s meeting, led by Ingun Littorin, moved at warp speed. The Registration committee (Tom Hull, Jeff Kelly, Rennie Squier, and Melinda Suydam), as shown in their proposed policies, regulations, and procedures draft found that there were many commonalities between the three organizations and that they did not have any items of concern that would preclude unifying. The necessary adjustments that need to be made will not hinder unification. The Members present from the Bylaws committee (Muffin Smith, Tim Foley, Ingun Littorin, John Gliege, June Boardman) met prior to Sunday morning’s second LFA meeting. They were able to work through the bylaws enough so that by the time the LFA meeting began, there was a solid framework to present. All present acknowledged and understood the need to make sure that the unification takes place in an orderly and legally correct fashion. See the LFA Minutes elsewhere in this newsletter for details. Continued on page 14
THE LIPIZZAN CONNECTION PRESENTS SIGLAVY AMERICANA II SIGLAVY DALEA - AMERICANA (PLUTO BONA) Breeders of Quality <strong>Lipizzan</strong>ers for over 20 years Mares, colts and fillies occasionally for sale Barbara Gjerset email: lipizzan_connection@msn.com Ingun Littorin 3275 Stonyvale Road Website: lipizzanconnection.com 9019 Hillrose St. Tujunga, CA 91042 Sunland, CA 91040 818-353-3556 818-353-1616 USLR News <strong>Fall</strong>, <strong>2007</strong> - 13
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