AMMHA December News

Hello! HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!! I hope everyone has had an enjoyable and safe Holiday season, filled with love, laughter and good stuff. It is hard to believe that in just a couple hours it will be 2008 ... I rememember when I was worried about the whole i2k scare, it seems just like yesterday and it is now 8 years later. Now I know that all these grey hairs didn't just happen over-night as it seems! *grin*

Here is the report for the month of December and basically the years end. I sorry it has been several months since our last monthly report, I have been so very busy and the truth be told, not a whole lot of anything happening here in the club.

Membership:

We are now officially open for membership. If you would like to become a member and haven't paid your 2007/2008 dues, please consider doing so now. First off, since we are starting so late in the season we have decided to make the membership active for both 2007 AND 2008. In essence, when you pay the $5.00 membership dues you will be a member for both 2007 and 2008 ... can't beat that!

Please remit your $5.00 2007/2008 Membership to Thomas Bainbridge. You may do this via PayPal at: bainbridge@jackpine.com or thru snail mail at:

Thomas Bainbridge
7393 Chief Road
Kaleva, MI 49645

When making payment, please be sure to note that it is for AMMHA membership. Effective immediately you must be a member to be eligible to show in AMMHA Point Only Shows, gather points towards Year End Awards, gain points towards accumulative AMMHA Medallion awards, entry to Nationals, voting privileges and other forthcoming Club special functions. Our membership is currently at 26, they are:

Mary Barton, AZ
Vicky Norris, TX
Kristin Wellman, IL
Becky Turner, AZ
Koreena Leamons, AZ
Jamie Holland, AZ
Gabriele Hoechst, Germany
Melissa Mistretta, WA
Allison Strohm, WI
Kim Bjorgo, NC
Linda Maurer, PA
Robin Poehlein, KY
Thomas Bainbridge, MI
Laura Hornick Behning, GA
Delana Metcalf, MO
Beth Gustas, CO
Diane Thiele, TX
Jodi Hollenbeck, NY
Brent Perry, Alberta Canada
Anna Fisher, UK
BJ Owens, FL
Ann Bilon, OH
Marie J. Phillips, CT
Kim Carter, Canada
Kay Meyers,
Teresa Botkins, OH

Treasurers Report:

We added $30.00 to the Club treasury since our last August report. POS entry fee for September brought in $4.00 (4 entrants), November POS entry fees brought in $5.00 (5 entrants). Our October Grand Nationals brought in a nice $21.00 since we had seven entrants ($3.00 entry fee). Our total account balance is $171.50 currently with no expenses to report. The Grand National awards were sponsored by myself so it did not cost the club anything, keeping the balance the same.

Show News:

GRAND NATIONALS was a SMASHING success! There were seven (7) entrants and some of the classes had over 50 entries! Our judge, Kate Cabot commented that the competition was fierce and the quality very deep. If you want to see the full results, click here: http://www.starrfyre.com/ammha/0710_results.html . The awards were shipped to each entrant --- each person got the same award so it was more based on participation than accomplishment --- a limited edition coffee mug by noted equine artist Nancy M. Neese and an unpainted resin Morgan gelding "Faliant", who was sculpted by our very own mega talent Laura Hornick Behning. All the entrants said they were very pleased with their "loot".

Other Point Only show results are now being posted on the official website. Just go to: http://www.starrfyre.com/ammha/results.htm to view. Thank you to Beth Gustas for her endless devotion of time and energy to keep the website updated and fresh. I should have the Year End Point Only Show results done within the week and will post them as soon as I am done with all my calculating, etc. We had a very competitive year in 2007 and all exhibitors should be proud of their hard work, and faithful turnout.

The first show of the 2008 season is next weekend, our judge is Ann Bilon. If you would like to show in the club, be it one horse or a hundred --- we'd love to have you. It is alot of fun and there is room for every level of exhibitor. If you have questions, feel free to ask them on our official Yahoo Group site, here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Model-Morgan-Lovers.

Registration News:

Delana Metcalf, our Registrar is working on a computer system to record our horses. There will be some kind of linkage to our main website, where at least the names of all registered model Morgans will be listed so people do not duplicate names. Of course, feel free to add your prefix to any name to ensure there is now duplication of names, a very simple solution. If you have a prefix you would like to record with AMMHA, simply send your desired prefix and your name to the Registrar ( bratcat5@charter.net ). You can also go to our Yahoo Group and look in the folder there and find a list of recently registered horses. More are expected to be added and ALL members are welcome to register their stock.

Laura Hornick Behning, founder of this great Club reports that she still has original registrations from past years, some dating back 20 years. She will locate this information and pass it onto Delana so it can be updated and incorportated into the AMMHA registry.

There seems to be renewed interest in registering your model Morgans, and we couldn't be happier. It is alot of fun, and educational, to research bloodlines and family traits to make sure your registered model Morgan represents his heritage well. Even if you have a couple OF Morgans sitting about, think about creating an identity for them and then registering them. Our Club and Registry is only what we make it!

Website Gallery:

Gallery is now open for submissions. If you have a favorite Morgan sculture (or two) feel free to submit them for the upcoming Gallery. You simply need to send the photo (resized please) to Thomas Bainbridge ( bainbridge@jackpine.com ) and he will forward the photo onto Beth for adding to the Gallery. As soon as the Gallery is all set and ready for it's unveiling there will be an announcement made. So please send a shot or two of your favorites. This is second call for this --- only one person has submitted photos so far and we are looking for many more. When you submit, please keep your photo image small (less than 500x500 please) as I am on dial-up and it makes downloading time consuming here.

Medallion Program:

This was discussed on our Yahoo Group and was decided that instead of having automatically point tallied Year-End Awards we would have accumulative awards. More discussion needs to take place so we can decide on how many points are needed for what level, naming the levels, what shows qualify, and all that. When things calm down here and I have more time, we can resume chat about this on the Yahoo Group. Until then, put your thinking caps on and give it some thought about what *you* think it could/should be. There are many options we can take with this, so let's be creative and make a great program that will honor our best show models.

Club Donations:

I have been asked if the Club will accept donations? Heavens yes! No matter what it is --- they can be used for Year End awards, National Awards, raffled, auctioned, etc. We are always in need of additional fundage. Also, if you have a skill that you can donate (such as newsletter editing, etc.) please let me know, we can use your help. So clean out that clutter and think about us --- your trash may very well be our treasure. I hope to have a list of donated items in the next couple months - both for sale and for future Club use.

I guess that wraps it up for now. Any questions, comments, ideas, concerns --- please feel free to email me at bainbridge@jackpine.com and I will be sure to pass them along. We are slowly but surely gathering steam and hopefully in 2008 we will have all our programs in full swing and an eager and active membership in place. Thank you and enjoy your Holidays!

Thomas Bainbridge
bainbridge@jackpine.com
AMMHA President/Treasurer and 2007 Pointkeeper

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