President’s Messa
This is going to be a great
year for MDDA. I have had many new
people contact me for information about our Iron Oak event and just distance
driving in general. I hope that each of you are spreading the word and
encouraging your driving friends to give this sport a try.
If folks could just come and watch or volunteer, they would want to be
out there driving.
Iron Oak is April 26th,
Saturday. The ride flyer is included in this newsletter.
Most horses should be able to do the 6 miles easily.
If you are unable to bring a horse, please come up for the day anyway.
All the entries that I have so far are all new folks.
We would like to have some of the veteran drivers mentor the newbies.
It is just a great way to start the season.
Glacier Trails is our big event
that MDDA does annually. It is one of the oldest distance events in the Midwest.
MDDA is fortunate to be able to organize this event. It is nationally sanctioned
by the American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) and our regional Upper Midwest
Endurance and Competitive Rides Association (UMECRA).
Individual members are asking folks for sponsors.
There is a letter of introduction that I could send to members wishing to
contact folks that they know for donations.
Every little bit helps. Our
mission statement is to promote distance driving and that is what we use our
monies for. It is Mother’s Day
weekend and I can’t think of a better way to spend that weekend.
The driving happens on Sunday. But it takes lots of volunteers to put
this on. So mark your calendars and plan on pitching in for those days.
July 6th is the date
that we have chosen for our Competitive Fun Day of Driving.
More info is elsewhere in the newsletter.
Our idea here is to encourage other drivers to try a short distance
drive. We are hoping that having a
couple of obstacles to drive and a couple of cones classes will encourage them
to come out for this. It will be
before American Heritage CDE and Iron Horse CDE.
Thus giving drivers a chance to practice these in a show like setting.
The location is at Richard Loeb’s.
Our web-site is the place for
information. A recent email inquiry
asked for information. Most of the
answers were on our web-site. She
replied back that she found so much helpful information and that is was up to
date and easy to navigate. Our
thanks goes to Sharon Beck who does all of our web pages. I sent info to her in various formats and she gets the info
up there quickly and correctly.
One last thing.
We have our member list that we would like to send out to our members.
That networking thing is really the life blood of MDDA. If you don’t
want your name and info in the directory, please let me know.
I am very grateful for all the
help that the MDDA members give to me to make being president easier.
Keep up the good work.
I wish you safe and productive conditioning for your horses this spring.