*HOT NEWS*

Committee Meeting
There will be no February 2012 meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled for Friday 2 March 2012 at the Eastlakes Dining Room at 6:30 pm for dinner followed by the meeting at 7:30 pm, upstairs at the club.

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Bungendore Show
This show was held on Sunday 29 January 2012.
Please click here for an overview of the show.

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Arabs Inc Autumn Affair show
1 April 2012 at the Canberra Riding Club. Click here for the program.

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Arabs Inc Meeting Update
Click here for more details

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Global Arabian Flat Racing Racing Festival News
See our News section for more details

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Arabs Inc Trail Ride
Please click here to find out how the trail ride at Braidwood went!

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CONGRATULATIONS!
Congratulations to Bianca Chatillon, Nichola Mepham and Maddie Smith for making the Arabian Horse Society of Australia (AHSA) Development Squad!! This squad has been formed as a result of the previous Arabian Saddle Horse Association's donation of remaining funds to AHSA to host a ridden development squad. Riders will have free lessons with instructors from around the traps.

The first lesson is with Mark Kenzig on 21 January - Mark has great experience in hacking and showing Arabians so it should be a great experience..so we hope the lesson is great and look forward to a report! "

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NCHS Photos
Click here for SWD Images proofs
Click here for Kristin Carroll's proofs

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NCHS 2011 Results
Click here for Dressage results
Click here for Saturday's results
Click here for Sunday's results
Click here for Challenge results

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Arabs Inc's next newsletter Please email us your news so we can include it in our next newsletter to keep it interesting and informative!

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Spring Fling Show
Click here to view the results!

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Arabs Inc would like to thank the following sponsors:

Message from the Vice President....

January 2012

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2012 to all our members and friends

The National Capital Horse Show (NCHS) is now behind us and, I feel, overall, the show was well received with both positive and negative responses received though the positive ones do outweigh the less positive ones - but I guess we can’t please them all. Where we can make improvements to the show, these comments have been taken on board and we will try and address for future shows.

I have heard quite a few comments from people saying they wish to return next year as they had great experiences at the 2011 NCHS and enjoyed the extras provided by way of prizes handed out for awards, some people were both surprised and delighted at these extras that were totally unexpected. Well done to Sandra Gebbie and Bianca Chatillon for gaining the sponsorship that they did, a huge effort.

Sadly, we must say good-bye to Ally Hudson, who has been our club President for the past two and a half terms. Ally has been our figurehead and has guided the club to where it is today, she can comfortably leave knowing that she has directed three NCHS horse shows – each one improving on the previous one and has increased the tempo of the club with holding so many diverse activities from halter schools to “Meet the Judges” sessions to video evenings at Quartz Hill Farm. Without her knowledge, contacts and direction, the club activities (including the NCHS) and the club itself would not have gone ahead and be the success that it has, as it has evolved and matured under her direction together with the support from our committee - we still have a long way to go but there are definite improvements. So Ally you are leaving on a high, and on behalf of the club, committee and members we thank you for your dedication and efforts and we hope you will still provide input when you have the time. We will miss you.

And thanks to our wonderful Treasurer, Kem Hazelton, through his nurturing and careful management of our money we now have a healthy bank balance - thank you. To the ever reliable and consistant Sue Kowalski, a big thank you, Sue you are there when we needed you, in the office or on the event venue grounds, you will never know how much we have appreciated your pleasant manner and reliability - thank you.

To Chrissy Millar, your organisation and careful approach to our business, in states of chaos, you were there, another thank you. To Anita Bryant, for being the front page of our website, you did whatever we asked you to do in a timely manner - its a difficult role to take on as Webmaster but you were there to provide the updates on Facebook and on our website, thank you. Young Andrew Thorek, our secretary, a colourful person who compiled our meeting minutes, thank you. To the remainder of our committee, members, helpers including the "to be missed" Hudson clan who have provided their efforts and time to provide catering for our various events, you have become a much appreciated and valued institution to provide the tasty refreshments coming out of the Bungendore Showground kitchen, and to Mark Thorek, for his efforts to assist with the Spring Fling and other events and for his stewardship at Nat Cap, another big thank you. And to all those I have missed, a big thank you for supporting us, in keeping the club on the road and assisting with making our events happen.

Separately, I would like to thank Ray Hudson, for all the work he has undertaken that people would not be aware of, ensuring that our club trailer and BBQ and other assets have been looked after, the trailer registered, assets kept clean and tidy and providing storage for all and sundry. You will now gain your wife back and have a living and dining room that will be free of club ribbons and trophies.

Now with 2012 here we need to address the short and long term future of the club. With the Presidential vacancy, we need to think about who may replace Ally and the way forward. The filling of the casual vacancy will need to be considered carefully but not voted for at our next club meeting on Friday 13th January as under the terms of our club Constitution this needs to be decided at a Special General Meeting to be notified to all club members with sufficient notice provided that such a meeting is proceeding and the reason for the calling of the meeting. So if you, as a club member are interested or know of a club member who has the qualities and capacity to seek nomination to fill the role - remember what the role entails – whilst it’s a responsible and busy role – there are the rewards at the end when you regard a successful National Capital being run, and see the smile on a young competitor's face as they receive a major award at the National Capital or even a fourth or fifth place ribbon win at one of our local shows or gymkhanas

The meeting on the 13th January needs to have a firm agenda so that we can work through the important issues - the first and most important, is how we go about managing the Presidential role until it is filled by member vote - the caretaker role falls to the two Vice Presidents - Sandra and I, so if this is agreed we can proceed on that basis until someone else is voted in. We also need to look at what the future holds, what events we would like to run and what events we have the capacity to run, membership drives, do we seek membership/alignment with another like equestrian/breed group and utilise both resources to run our events? How best to promote our club as the current climate seems to have a lack of helpers and a decline in interest in many spheres of equestrian activity including purebred Arabians, do we need to run more events/activities that are not so show specific, do we need some fun things on our calendar to attract interest?

I have some ideas for future club activities and events that I wish to share so come along to our meeting on the 13th and all will be revealed.

So there is much to do and much on offer, we just need to look to the future and see what we can achieve if the club is to move forward and further the club’s aims:

• to promote the Arabian Horse to develop an awareness of and appreciation for the Arabian horse as a horse that is functional in many equestrian disciplines;
• to promote the Arabian horse to the existing Arabian horse community and the general public by providing an educational, entertaining and enjoyable environment for everyone to experience the fun and satisfaction of being involved with the Arabian horse;
• To promote youth and amateur activities in our activities and events; and
• to encourage the Arabian horse community to embrace volunteerism for the betterment of the breed.

Judith Perkins

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Click here to see all the upcoming agricultural shows!

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Advertising on this website is now FREE to everyone!!!!!

Please go to our Marketplace page and/or email us if you want to add, change or delete an advertisement.

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May 2011 Newsletter

Click here to read our latest news!

(Now in easier to download PDF version!)

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Membership

For anyone wanting to join or re-new their Arabs Inc. membership, please click here to download our new membership form.

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