It’s the show season, and, as you walk into the show office at your first show, you realize you forgot to renew your WSHJA membership. Hastily you drop everything into the mail or even manage to go online and submit it that way– but the show has already started. What about your points? Do they count from the moment you mail it, or when you hit the submit button online? Now, thanks to your WSHJA board members, and member feedback, the policy is to back date your membership to the Monday of the week you submit your forms – this means your points for that show will count for the week and you are on your way to earning that Year End Division Championship.
Did you know that if there weren’t enough horses in the first class of your division, the rest of the division wouldn’t count for points? Not anymore! Because of membership involvement and the support of the board, this rule was changed and points were counted in all of the classes in which there were enough riders. (The USEF/USHJA enacted the same rule change)
At the Northwest Autumn Classic you’ll see all classes - hunters and jumpers – that are over a 1.10M competing only indoors. This is another change – brought about by member input, and made realistic by the WSHJA board and Horse Show Committee. Tickets for prizes – and a broader selection of prizes – were also based on membership input, as well as putting a cap on add/scratch fees at WSHJA shows. All of these were changes that the WSHJA hopes will continue to improve your showing experience, and all of them are changes that came about from someone in the community requesting them.
These changes and more all had one thing in common – you. All of the rule changes came about due to membership comments and board participation – each one showing your direct impact on WSHJA and your showing experience.
In our day to day business, we forget that we can have an impact on the groups in which we participate. We sign up for the year, pay our member dues, and then forget about it until we get our yearly banquet invite. We stand at the back gate, or at the end of the year party, and feel as if things are “the way they are” and that they will never change – but the reality is, we can continue to improve and grow our shows and our experiences through our influence at WSHJA, and the current WSHJA board is very open to your thoughts.
Quite often we don’t have a lot of time to attend meetings, or volunteer to be on the board, but WSHJA needs to hear from its members. Policy changes – such as the one in regard to the points being back dated – were the ideas of WSHJA members, and were taken up with the board in order to illicit change – which is exactly what your WSHJA board wants.
This is YOUR association and YOUR membership and the time to get involved is now. Your involvement can range from becoming a board member, to just attending a meeting and sharing your thoughts. But, if nothing else, make the time to talk to one of your WSHJA representatives before the show season ends. Tell them what you like, what you don’t like, or what your wish would be for an even better horse show. Not every change can happen, right away at least, but WSHJA members are fortunate enough to have a board that values their thoughts and is dedicated to making strides towards an association that makes us proud to be a member.
Representative contact info is on www.wshja.org