Thanksgiving to

May 2009 Weatherford Comancheros Riding Club Volume 6, Issue 4 May Birthdays Haley Dudley Zak Farns Andrea Allred Wendy Crider 5-08 5-14 5-19 5-20 Thanksgiving to Happy Birthday OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS FOR 2009 President Roy Myrick DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE THE Vice President KATIE CLASS Jason Nelson CARLI & Secretary Varsi Klatzkin TRASH LADY IS PAT FARNS Treasurer Terry Weeks NEW Director HORSE FOR Robert Ward Director Larry Mitchell Director Misty Peek Jr. 1 Sweetheart Katy Davis Sr. Sweetheart Samantha Hernandez Here we go, it’s time to rock & roll!!! Anyway curse it now but in a couple of months you will be glad that we had it. It will keep us from being so darn hot as the year wears on… April 11 Playday Lions ‘n’ Tiger ‘n’ Bears “oh my” I know that everyone is not crazy about this weather we are having these days, thunder & lightning with rain and hail mixed in but I will take the wet stuff anytime. I only wish that it would not do it the actual day of the playday’s. But hey guys, you can’t have everything!!! The nice thing about all this wet weather is the fact that with rain comes lots of flowers and hopefully lots of nice hay for the 4 legged friends. I hope that everyone was able to enjoy your Easter this year. From my vantage point there were lots of rain clouds hanging around and a lot of the wet stuff coming down. I’m sure that made for some interesting Easter egg hunts. I know that out at my place we had to hunt in between thunder storms, but hey you just have to work with what you have. Well everyone knew when this one started that there was just no way of knowing what was going to happen, but we got the show rolling and actually proceeded pretty darn quickly. I want to hand it to those of you who were always ready and standing in the chute ready to roll. I know that not all of the horses will load the arena and I also know that all of us can’t be standing in the actual in gate BUT there is absolutely no reason why we cannot be paying attention and at least heading in when we are up next. As you could see from this playday, when folks are paying attention to what is going on we can get these classes completed pretty quickly. So again a big pat on the back to those of you who were right on top of the situation and for the rest of us we need to make that concerted effort to be ready to roll when our time comes….. Now on to the fun stuff……… 2 Well it was so great to be out there hanging with everyone and it was also fun to watch everyone excited to start our year off. I know that lots of us were disappointed about having to cancel the first playday of the season so that made this one that much more fun. I was especially grateful to everyone who offered me a horse to ride. As you could see I am horseless these days. Willis is having some sort of foot issue and until this is cleared up I will have to just go trailer to trailer and pick one out. I am just amazed at everyone’s generosity (except for that Larry Mitchell, I tried to get one of his but he wouldn’t share). A special thank you to Jessica Nantz for allowing me to ride her young un… It’s always a little nerve-racking to ride someone else’s horse. But Jessica told me not to worry that she was just as nice as she could be. She told me that the mare liked to run but she was really fun to ride and not much trouble. So imagine my surprise when Jessica ended up in the dirt while she did an exhibition on this mare that she was allowing me to ride. I asked if there was anything I needed to know and Jess just smiled and said “nah, everything’s good”!!! But here’s the thing… Jessica is 12 and I’m close to a hundred… Big difference in terms of bouncing… Anyway I rode the mare and she was just fine for me. I 3 didn’t have any problems with her and I am extremely grateful to Jessica. So thanks girl!!! There were a couple of people hitting the dirt at this playday. As I said, Jessica hit it and frankly when this woman got up I believe I saw sparks coming from her eyes. Boy was she (BLEEP). Then there was JD Wetmore. Man that was a freaky deal. JD and that horse were actually doing pretty good and then I believe his breast collar broke and startled the horse. That horse became a bucking bronco. I actually have to give JD props here because he stayed in that saddle a lot longer that I probably would have. That horse was really bucking. Thank goodness that JD is OK, but like me JD doesn’t bounce very well. I also believe I saw Sara hit the ground during Intermediate Women and she’s doing OK, but the hardest one to hit that I saw was some young woman who was riding Tori’s horse Hank. Man that little girl hit the ground hard. She was outside the arena when she hit. I called Sherry and was told that the girl is doing fine but man that one looked painful… Anyway everyone turned out OK, although I am sure some of them will be sore for a day or two but I am so grateful that no one was seriously hurt. It makes you realize that we should stay on our toes around these big ole steeds because anything can happen, and usually does!! So back to the action………… I want to give thanks to everyone who stepped up and worked their events without having to be asked to. This was probably the first time that I have seen the work sheet filled out entirely before the first event. You guys are the greatest… I also wanted to give a special thanks to a guy that we have all started to take advantage of and need to stop it… Mr. Byron Peek. Byron has been doing most of the dragging during our playdays and we have just gotten in the habit of yelling “Byron, we need a drag”. Well folks, there are lots of able bodied individuals hanging around that can drag that arena. And if they aren’t sure how to do it, they can be taught. I always see Robert Ward help out with the chore but I don’t see a lot of other people doing this, so let’s make an effort to step up and help out in this job. Let’s remember that Byron comes with his 4 family and likes to visit too, he does not have a tattoo that reads “WCRC official tractor driver”….. p.s. Byron – you are my hero!!! Anyway the playday was great and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. I think we did a great job moving it along. We could have probably finished Flags but the decision was made to load up so that no one got stuck out in the weather that was definitely on the way. I heard a few folks did end up in hail and frankly that can be a costly proposition (I have experience in that), so I’m glad that we shut it down. As far as the Points/Top Ten/Events goes, everyone will get credit for the last 2 events as far as (Events Ridden) goes so you don’t have to worry about that. Hopefully at the next one, we will be able to make it all the way through!!! Let’s all keep our fingers crossed. Little blip here… Did everyone notice that Katy Davis’s mom, Jill is now competing with us? Yeah baby, Jill has purchased herself a really nice roping horse that seems to have the temperament of a saint and doing great at these playday events. This truly looks like a match made in heaven… Way to go Jill. It’s nice to see you riding. Another item that was brought up concerned a former member. Varsi brought up some information concerning a possibly new arena. And the club voted to re-schedule the rained out playday to September 26th. Be sure and write that date on your calendar. This is to make up the first playday that was cancelled in March. We also decided that we will start holding the meetings again as stated in the bylaws on the Thursday prior to the playday that is scheduled on the 2nd Saturday of the month. So our next official meeting will be on May 7th @ 7:00p.m. @ Woody’s Creek. It was very nice seeing everyone and it was a very informative meeting. I hope that everyone will be able to attend these meetings in the future. Membership Meeting I want to thank all those folks who showed up for the Membership Meeting on April 9th at the Woody’s Creek Restaurant. We had quite a showing. Some of the items that were discussed were as follows: Roy got up and discussed how the Ad Sales are going for the Saddle Show and the importance of getting out there and doing the best job we can do. Roy also brought some tshirt mock-ups that would be for sale having WCRC logo on them. These are a great idea for the club to do a little advertising as well as be able to wear these shirts at different events that we all attend. There were some discussions regarding the future of the old Red Tractor that the club has. Renewing Members Here are some of the fabulous members who have renewed for another wonderful year of fun in the sun…… J.D. & Tina Wetmore along with Shyla Wetmore 5 Joanna Kysar and her sons, Kadel Murdock, Karson Ferguson and Sara Friday Laurie Swafford Welcome back all. We are so glad to have you back. I know you guys will all join me in welcoming our newest members: Gary & Donna Leipsic along with their son Daniel Leipsic Billy & Sammie Davis along with their granddaughter Haley Dudley Roderick, Bradyn & Eric Crider Chad & Wendy Crider along with Chase & Cara Beth We are just so happy that you have joined our wonderful club. We have so many great individuals that will be happy to help you guys in any way that they can. It is because of new members like yourselves that WCRC continues to grow and flourish. New member’s means new ideas and we are always looking for new friends Region 3 Playday I wanted to thank those folks that came out and supported the Region 3 playday. I was happy to see you guys make the drive to support our Region. I know that more of you wanted to come but were unable to because of scheduling conflicts but this is the only Region playday we hold every year so I was glad that so many of you did show up. I’m not sure how much money was raised but hopefully there is enough to purchase the saddle in Andi’s name for the finals!!! April 25th Playday Well this playday was a doozy!!! And we were able to finish the whole thing. Yeeha!!! The weather was great but the winds were brutal. Especially if you were dumb enough (like me) to park down wind. Talk about a dust sandwich. But we managed to persevere and get this thing going. Things seemed to run pretty smoothly. We had a couple of speaker malfunctions but kept right on keeping on and managed to get finished, locked & loaded before 10.00 p.m. That’s what I call “a good time”. 6 Saw some new faces and had a few old familiar faces show up and hang with us for this one. It’s always nice to catch up with folks when you haven’t seen them in a while, especially if you happen to like ‘em. There were some pretty fast times run and of course there are always those opportunities that make you scratch your head and go “hmm, how did that happen”, but frankly that is just part of this business and we all have to learn to roll with the punches. There were also some interesting moments. Everyone is probably not aware of it but a few of us tried to have a wet t-shirt contest. Of course it wasn’t like any wet t-shirt contest I had ever been too, but I think the intent was there. No one was declared the winner but it was interesting just the same… I saw that bunches of you folks were purchasing those WCRC T-shirts and for any of you folks that are interested be sure and get in touch with either Roy Myrick or Becky Cornelius and they will get you hooked up. These are really nice shirts and this was a great idea for all of us to show our support. Also this is not a money maker or fund raiser. You are getting these shirts at rock bottom prices. It’s just a nice way to show your support of this wonderful club…. I saw a bunch of you guys turning in ads at the playday and I want to thank everyone of you that has put your time 7 in and pounded that pavement getting ad’s this year. I know it hasn’t been easy with the economy in a recession and all but I want you to know how impressed I am in all you folks. It’s still not too late. I will give you guys till May 15th to get me those ads. That should leave me just enough time to get it all done. Let’s hope!!! Remember if you don’t sell an ad then you will be responsible for paying a mandatory $25.00 ad fee to the club so get out there and hit up your horse shoer/feed store/barber/doctor, etc. We would rather take their money instead of yours…… Anyway back to the playday, it was a lot of fun and I was happy to see everyone having a good time. Don’t get too complacent because I think the next one is just a couple of weeks away!!! I do want to say thanks here to my friend Gary Montgomery. Gary was kind enough to loan me his horse, Nugget for the day. After we worked all the kinks out, Nugget was kinda fun to ride. However, he is soooo much taller than Willis. By the end of the night I had to stand uphill just to get on.. But all in all a really fun time…. One other note of interest at this playday was the generosity of Joanna’s employer who donated a yearling papered paint colt to be auctioned off and the proceeds going to the Sweethearts Fund. When Joanna approached me with this idea I thought “what a nice idea”. And so very generous. So when you see Joanna at the next event be sure and tell her to pass along thanks. It was a really lovely thing to do…. shouldn’t be placing them. Let’s come up with a different plan. Someone suggested that we could give all the lead liners 1st place ribbons for the 1st event, 2nd place ribbons for the 2nd event and so on. We do have the medallions to give to them at the end of the playday and that might actually be a great idea. Tell me what you all think??? To all the Members……. American Association FYI’s Here are a couple of things everyone should put in their hats, so to speak….. First off, ribbons….. If you folks are signing up to get ribbons then let’s be sure and come up to the announcer’s booth and pick them up. I know that you probably don’t think much about them but those ribbons are not cheap… We have to pay for those and if we are writing them and just throwing them away then that just doesn’t make sense. So please please, if you sign up to get ribbons make sure you pick them up. We need to come up with a new plan for the lead liners. We should not be placing the lead liners because that isn’t fair to the person leading the horse. The class is not called “the fastest parent or person dragging this horse” so we Couple of things here. First off if you are planning on attending the finals, I have been e-mailing you guys the sign up forms for the finals and the hook ups. If you have not received them, get with me pronto. We need to get these in as soon as possible to Terry. Also for those of you that want to order those “final t-shirts”. These are not the ones that Roy is selling but these are the ones that we sat on the bleachers at last year’s finals and decided we needed for this year. I hope to have a mock up at the May 9th playday for you to order. If you haven’t seen these they are incredibly funny. The jest of the shirts is “protest issues”. Check them out…. We will go ahead and get these ordered for the finals. I think Kristy wants to wear these for Grand Entry….. “Funny girl” 8 Newsletter News Well I have changed the format of the Newsletter. From now on I will be putting it in the PDF format so that everyone with a computer can read it. This will save the club even more money since now I will only have to mail these to folks that don’t have a computer. I’m not sure but I think that is only about 2 people and yes Sandy Bevil IS one of them. If you have any trouble downloading the newsletter, just let me know. I will also put it in the website in the PDF format… sell, sell, sell. All of our Sponsors are what pays for the wonderful end of year awards that we receive at the banquet each year. We could not afford to purchase such nice awards without the monies that we receive from our Ad sales. So remember that the goal here is to sell ads. The good news is that for every $300.00 ad that you sell, this entitles you to have a free ride in the Saddle Show. With this year’s events going back to playday events, there is no reason why everyone can’t participate in this fun filled day. So get out there and SELL!!! I want everyone to be aware that the cost of the awards for the saddle show did go up this year. Because of this we all need to make a more concerted effort to get out there and sell those ads. Saddle Showdown 2009 You all knew this was coming…. I’m going to put a blip in the newsletter every month until May concerning the Saddle Show. As you all know, the Saddle Show is our biggest moneymaker of the year. But remember, the money is not made by the entry fees, but by the Ad’s that we sell for sponsorship. We need to really 9 FYIFYIFYIFYIFYI If you have not received an e-mail from me then I do not have your e-mail address. Go to the computer “right now” and e-mail me…… VarsiK@verizon.net.... This is how you will get your newsletters in the future and also how I will contact you with any information that you might need…. Do it now!!! possibility of WCRC having a permanent new home. I am really pumped about this and I am sure you will be too… So, hope to see ya there… More FYI’s Here are a few more items that everyone needs to stick in their caps for future reference. First off we are having our playday on Saturday, May 9th and then we will have our Saddle Show on May 23rd. I will be bringing the work sheets to the next playday to get them filled out. It’s a painless process but we need lots of folks stepping up to work the Show. If this is your first year, you will be surprised. This is really a great time…… We are also be having a club meeting on Thursday May 7th @ 7:00 p.m. to be held at the Woody’s Bar-b-que there in the middle of Springtown. It was decided at the last meeting that we would “according to the bylaws” start holding the membership meetings again so be sure and join us. Many things get discussed and decided and you don’t want to be left out of the loop. I don’t know what your President has to discuss but I know that you will want to be a part of it. I know that we will be discussing the Saddle Show and I have some really exciting news about the Upcoming Events There are so many things that are going on these days but I am only going to put these few things that I want you all to be aware of. May 7th @ 7:00 p.m. – Membership Meeting at Woody’s Bar B Q May 9th @ 2:00 p.m. – WCRC Playday at Ruffin’s Arena – this is a point playday!! May 23rd @ 9:00 a.m. – 15th Annual WCRC Saddle Showdown AASP& RC Info I can’t believe that I am saying this already but Finals are just around the corner. For those of you who still have not made that decision on whether to join or not, 10 don’t wait too long. We would like to see as many of WCRC members as possible there. Last year we had such an absolute blast and I am convinced that this year will be equally fun. In fact I am absolute sure of that…….. President’s Blip Want to start out by thanking everyone for showing up at the April 25 playday. We had some interruptions, but we made it through. Thanks to the ones for helping out when the PA system went down {twice}. Dennis the owner of the arena came through and gave his portable system. Also wanted to say thanks to the ones that stepped up and worked more than they had to. I hope everyone will be at the meeting on May 7 at Woody Creek Bar B Que in Springtown at 7 pm. , and at the May 9 playday. At the meeting it will be the last time to order the t-shirts, so we can get them in time for the finals. Ride hard and Ride often. Roy Myrick I’m not sure how this “swine flu” might affect us but if anything looks troubling, I’ll let you know….. Ride Hard & Ride Often WCRC Rocks 11 Weatherford Comancheros Riding Club If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be - enthusiasm. By: Bruce Barton So parent’s…… Give the kiddo’s this gift and their goals will be so much easier to achieve…… WCRC Varsi Klatzkin 116 Frank Lane Keller, Texas 76248 12