The Western New England Region has two representatives at the 2009 USPC
Annual Meeting in Greenville, SC; January 22nd thru 25th. Michele Southwick - RS Suzanne Carreker-Voigt - vRS If all goes as planned; we'll use this page to share information with the region while we are in Greenville. If we are unable to make updates while there we will post information once we've returned. Michele Saturday 1/24/09 - 7:00 Hello Everyone, I finally have access and can pass you all some preliminary information. #1) At the Nat'l Level much change is in the air... The combination of the current USPC business structure is not really sustainable as is; the current economy and the opportunity to showcase uspc during the World Equestrian Games in 2010 has prompted some very wide thinking and far reaching strategic planning initiatives. The hotest topics are- defining new member types to open our doors up to non traditional members - adding western reining as a discipline and others such as driving and vaulting and endurance, reining seamed to be mentioned most and sounds like it may be top on the list. - adjustments to the specialty ratings specifically the dressage track. NOTE!!!! None of this is final; it is all in the discussion phases so if you have input, respond to the "Why Change" news letters that can be found on nat'l site and links on our site. It is very likely we will have some decisions on these topics by mid summer so don;t delay. #2) Check out this new addition to the uspc website.... http://uspcriders.ning.com/ ...below is a clip of the page description. Go; sign up; share and enjoy! Welcome, you've found the USPC riders page, an easy place to share ideas, post great pictures and videos from your rallies and competitions and generally share the Pony Club experience. This site, operated for the USPC National Office, is open only to USPC members age 13 and over, although the rest of the web world can see this front page. Thanks! The USPC Communications Committee #3) The Standards of proficiency for the the D1 thru C2 levels have been re-written. The tests have changed some but the real changes have been in the descriptions provided in the SOP's. The intention is to make the transitions from D3, C1, C2 more distinct and to create riders who are more prepared for their C3 tests. #4) We've been told the workshop presentations will be available on cd/dvd this year. I'll plan to acquire a copy and post them to our site. Look for these in the coming weeks. #5) There is a real push to focus on the "fun" parts of ponyclub w/o losing the nuts and bolts of our programs. One thing that has been done to facilitate this is; there are now youth members of the Nat'l Board of Govenors. Michele & Suzanne |