(revised minutes)

Location: A potluck at Camille and Anna Dykstra’s house, Iowa City, IA

The meeting opened at 7 pm.

Attending Sponsors: Dianna Romanick, Camille Dykstra, Dana Oxley, Amy Luttinger, Lara Marsh, Cornelia Lang, Cyndi Bean

The August Meeting minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report:

Dana presented a spreadsheet of our costs and expenses for 2015, and based on the numbers made suggestions for our 2016 budget. We have $2692.08 at present.

Losses attributed to Summer Camp and clinics were primarily due to reimbursement to members for $100 towards fees of these Pony Club activities. (each member was awarded a maximum of $100 for the year) The club also covered the $50 dues of its officers.

Fundraising was very successful this year. We made at total of $740 by running concessions at Catalpa in the spring and fall. The members ran concessions themselves this fall, very successfully. We look forward to them continuing this fine tradition.

Amelia surveyed our customers and informed us that they would like to have hot chocolate, refried beans for the walking tacos, and more cokes. Another idea was to offer Combos of treats for both member and horse (ie., a walking taco and a carrot). We decided a hot water dispenser along with tea and hot chocolate packets would be nice additions to our offerings.

As a part of the budget for 2016, we voted to continue awarding members up to $100 toward fees for Pony Club activities. It was decided to do additional fundraising to help with the cost of Championships for those who would like to participate.

While we may be able to cover this with larger takes at concession stands at shows, Cyndi Bean suggested that we consider approaching local groceries to see if they would help by agreeing to reimburse us for a % of money spent at the store by members and sponsors (linked to our credit cards). We are looking into this exciting possibility, which was used very successfully by the Pony Club Cyndi was active in, in Colorado. A similar deal with Amazon was also suggested.

To help defray the cost to the club of running a rating in the future, we voted to follow a Saturday Rating with a Sunday clinic open to all members, where possible.

Elections: The slate of officers recommended by the nominations committee was voted in.

Our officers for 2016 are:
Camille Dykstra, DC
Dana Oxley, treasurer
Cornelia Lang, secretary

Thank you all for taking on these jobs! And thanks to our outgoing DC Dianna, for all the work she has put into the club over the last few years.

Other topics covered:

All members passed their Certification with Clare VanderWoude this fall (October 3/4 at Catalpa and Bent Creek). Grace and Natalie C1 flat and jump, Alex C1 Traditional, Anna D3 Traditional, Rachel D2 Dressage, D3 HM and Dressage, Bibi D1/D2 Traditional, Erin HMX D1/D2 Traditional, Jean HMX D1/D2 Traditional, Amelia D1.

Dianna and Camille will be attending the regional meeting November 21.

Nov. 22 is our next Mounted Meeting. Melissa Schielein will give a clinic at Bent Creek. Because of the expense of bringing her in, we are charging $30/lesson. We are encouraging members to have two lessons (flat and jumping) when practical, and have invited members from QCPC and HMX to participate.

Winter Camp will be held jointly with QCPC at Gerry’s Barn January 29-31 (Friday Evening through Sunday afternoon). Once again a great slate of instructors will be there.

There will be a Standards and Certification Clinic run by Asia Thayer in QC March 5 (Saturday) followed by a HA/HB prep on Sunday March 6. Dianna strongly recommended to the club members, parents and instructor to attend the clinic.

Cross country jumps that belong to TRPC have been reclaimed by Andrew Marsh; Lois Pienkos also donated XC jumps. All the jumps are now located at Bent Creek. Andrew and Lara have spear-headed their rehabilitation. Thank you both. The jumps will continue to be the property of TRPC. If the club moves barns, the jumps will need to follow TRPC.

We voted to give a $200 gift card to Theissen’s to Bent Creek for Christmas, thanking them for their support over the last year.

Our next Sponsors’ Meeting will be Tuesday Dec. 8 at 7 pm at the Marsh’s. Bring Dessert!

Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm.