Reminder: Pony Club meetings are every second Saturday of the month

* July 21 - 22: C Rally in Barrington, Illinois

* August 12 -- NO Superior Pony Club meeting. See below.

* August 11 - 13: D Rally in Green Bay, WI

* August (no date yet) we need to set up a place to paint our jumps

before the Manistique show.

* Labor Day weekend - Manistique horse show

* September 9: Superior Pony Club meeting. D-Rating

* October 7: Pony Club work bee at Willow Farm

Please let Luanne know if you're interested in going, as she has a number of motel rooms reserved. The sponsoring Pony Club in Green Bay also needs for us to give them this information as they provide older Pony Club C-Advisors as mentor/guides for "auditors" (un-rated and D-1's) who then walk them through the rally doing course walks, talking about rules and showing them how the whole thing works. As of now, we do have at least one team going to compete.

This show is being held in conjunction with the Manistique County Fair and we've been asked to help out. We'll need 6 or 7 people to do the following: ring steward (a runner for the judge), gate people during the show (to watch gates and contestants), people to keep track of winners and hand out ribbons and people to help tear down after the show. This is a hunter-jumper show that starts with 18" fences. There is a pony class and children and adults will compete separately. There is something appropriate for all of our kids to participate in. Entry information will be in the Manistique fair booklet and Luanne has information about the various courses. Charise Kiesby is also familiar with this show. For more information call Gail Hoholik at 341-5565.

Before the Manistique show we need to paint our jump fences. The best way to accomplish this is probably to set up a spot in which to do the work and develop a set of instructions so that people can do the painting as their schedules allow. More information will follow at a later date.

This will take place at Willow Farm and is a general sprucing up that we'll do before the annual Willow Farm show. Work bees are often held in conjunction with regular Pony Club Saturdays. Willow Farm Show This is an annual event and this year Superior Pony Club has been asked to be a co-sponsor. There will be dressage, jumping and games on horseback -- lots of opportunities for Pony Clubbers to participate.

Our rating will take place at our regular September meeting on the 9th. For the newest Pony Clubbers this will be their first opportunity to try for a rating; for other D's it presents an opportunity to advance to a higher level. This is not something to worry about; the people who do ratings (Molly and Kelly, for example) are warm and supportive -- they want everyone to do well. Ask Bree, Willow, Claire or Marissa what their experiences with ratings have been. It'll be quite reassuring. (The parents are the ones who seem to worry!)

There was enthusiastic agreement that this year's camp went very well. The county fairgrounds turned out to be an excellent facility. The dining hall, kitchen and the bathrooms were very much appreciated. Charise Kiesby has agreed to serve as camp director for next year. Next year's camp will be June 14-17. Although the county fairgrounds worked well this year, a large part of the reason for that was the excellent weather we had. With that in mind as well as the desirability of including campers from Manistique, Escanaba and beyond, we decided to investigate using the fairgrounds in Escanaba next time.

Some of the other comments and suggestions were as follows:

* have written rules (expectations) and consequences.

* have established time for lights out

* serve a more substantial breakfast

* have an adult in each trailer

* have one on-duty parent sleep in the dining hall

* clarify what parent volunteers are expected to do as far as supervising

campers is concerned, especially for the overnight parents

* make it longer!

* make sure an adult is awake at all times (or at least until all campers

are asleep)

* provide more supervision and activities for younger kids during their

breaks

* make sure that someone certified in CPR and first aid is on site at all

times

* augment first aid kit with ACE wraps, ice packs, etc.

* get a cell phone that will be on site at all times

* have a formal check-in, check-out book for those coming and going

* contract with the YMCA for swimming every night

* charge more

* consider having camp counselors if we grow much more

All in all, our summer camp was a great experience for everyone. Thanks again to Lynn, Luanne and everyone else who helped out.

We had a lengthy discussion about whether or not we should subsidize some of the costs associated with the upcoming C-Rally in order to make it possible for a SPC team to attend and compete. The entry fee alone is $190 per team member (includes meals.) Trailering is $425 per horse. There will be at least 3 nights lodging...You get the idea. In the past targeted fund raising has been done at times, with the money going back to the PC'er who raised it when he or she needed it to attend an event, but SPC has not underwritten the costs of any event directly out of our treasury.

There were a number of questions about just what the money in our treasury is used for. Debbie Jacobson reported that one of the upcoming expenses that we have is buying jump cups and bases. We also spend money to payour instructors (Kelly and Molly) when they teach on PC Saturdays. Currently we're taking in just about enough each meeting to cover the teaching costs. Our current account balance is about $4000.

Our discussion made it clear that there are a number of opinions about the subsidy issue, both for and against and we decided that we need a short-term solution (for C-Rally) and a long-term solution that is directly related to a strategic plan and the goals and mission of our organization.

Most of the arguments given for subsidizing kids going to event,especially C's and above, is that these are our future teachers and investing in them now is investing in the future of our club. Some of the arguments against any subsidies were that riding is an expensive sport and people know that, we haven't done it in the past and if we do it for some things won't the kids just want us to pay for more and more.

A decision was finally made to pay the entry fees for all team members going to C-Rally this year. The SPC executive committee will continue to work on a strategic plan and have something ready to present for consideration at the annual sponsors (parents) meeting in October.

It's time to do an updated roster. Dave Echelbarger and Bob Welker Offered to help Jim with the newsletter. The discussion went on to suggest that we make more use of e-mail. A show of hands indicated that everyone has e-mail or has ready access to it. The idea of a SPC website was raised without any cost to us. One thing we would be able to do is send automatic reminders about upcoming meetings.

* Is anyone missing anything that they took to camp? A number of us

picked up various items of clothing including tennis shoes and breeches.

* When walking or riding in the fields and lanes on the farm, please

remember to leave gates exactly the way you found them, whether open or

closed.