We are accepting ideas on how to spend or not spend the ATAA fund.
It will be decided at our next convention.
Below we will list ideas as they come in.  Please send them to [email protected]

#1 - Grading tourUse the money or part of it for a grading tour by Russian officials. Or use the money to get someone in the U.S. the necessary qualifications to be able to conduct inspections.
#2 - AT StoreHave an online store on the ATAA website and have the ATAA "studbook" for sale.
Have mugs, pens, has, shirts and so on for sale.
#3 - US Akhal-Teke History BookHave a writer make a nice coffee table book?
#4 - Breed Performance Show
 My first thought: a breed show. But I guess the US is too big to organise a single one...or to set up a system to improve the workability/rideability/performance of the horses by designing a kind of test at certain age, and giving awards to the best horses so that the breeders have a kind of stimulous to breed better....this is something all the associations should do, actually.
#5 - Translate Russian DucumentsInvest in translating main AT documents. For instance, the AT Inform. I think we miss a lot in the West by not being able to read all this literature. We could make a common project and find sponsors
#6 - ATAA buys gelding for Kentucky....Kentucky horse park wants an Akhal-Teke gelding to display..have the ATAA buy one...

‘Hello,  My name is Shelli Wright I am the Manager of the Horses of the World barn at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington Kentucky. We are currently looking to replace our Akhal-Teke horse and were wondering if your association would be able to help us find a suitable horse. We would need a sound gelding (preferably) that is trained and between the ages of 6 and 15 years. We have a presentation twice daily March through October; where we display different breeds of horses and talk about breed history. We would love to have a representative here on loan but would also except a donation. While the horse is here we maintain the horse's vaccinations and farrier work. The horse must come in current on vaccinations.’

Called to Order:  9:17 am, September 22, 2012 by Cathy Leddy, Secretary

Roll Call by Secretary:  Jas Shearer-McMahon, Cathy Leddy, Ann and Gary Tipps, Amrita Ibold, Catrina Mettam, Jeremy Quantrell, Eloise King, Monica Bretherton, Betsey and Erin Wandler, Tish and Jack Saare, Jenny Rice, Terri Fender and Reeny Thompson via Skype and Susie Morrill via cellphone.

Minutes of 2011 General Membership Meeting- distributed to all attendees

Motion- Jas motions to approve 2011 General Membership Meeting minutes, Amrita seconds, approved

President’s Report, Terri Fender:  Read by Vice President Jas Shearer-McMahon

Treasurer’s Report, Amrita Ibold:  Amrita handed out reports to attendees.  Treasury is in Quicken and reports are easy.

For 2012, income exceeds expenses.  3 accounts, savings, checking and CD Amrita has itemized lists of accounts.  Amrita asks if we should put treasury reports on the ATAA website.  The membership approved putting a monthly summary  of the Treasurer’s report on the ATAA website.

All ATAA bank accounts:  Starting amount in checking 7276.46 + income of 3919.18 =11195.64  Expenses to date of 2389.54 = 8806.10 total checking and savings.  $6500 transferred to savings, which along with a monthly amount of $100 going into savings, waives any bank fees.  So, 2306.10 in checking, $6500 in savings and 10,000 in the CD that matures in 2013.  Total assets of the ATAA now = 18806.10  (as of 9/21/2012, the date of the Conference).

Motion- Cathy motions to approve putting a monthly summary of Treasury reports on the ATAA website, Jas seconds, approved

Secretary’s Report, Cathy Leddy:  3 newsletters so far this year, 38 members, brief overview of promotions, Corporate logbook

Registrar’s Report, Amrita Ibold:  Registration is starting to move.  Thanks to Lucy for sending computer and software.  Thanks to Ann for helping getting things going. Amrita would like to register our horses with VNIIK.  Discussion with members of automatically registering all purebred ATs with VNIIK along with ATAA registration.  VNIIK charges a yearly fee for each horse registered.  Amrita suggests we charge $280 for combined ATAA and VNIIK registration.  Discussion of if registering geldings with both makes sense.  Several questions were brought up that Amrita will research with VNIIK.  We talked about starting a fund to help defray VNIIK registration costs.  We need to encourage people to register their half-bred ATs with us.  Terri asks if there are two VNIIK studbooks, Amrita answers that there is only one.  Right now, VNIIK registration for horses costs $180, not sure about yearly fees.  Discussion of specific fundraisers to help register horses.

Motion-Amrita motions that we use profit from the Silent Auction to set up fund to help register horses and to make a plan, Jas seconds, approved

Motion- Ann motions to have Amrita look into VNIIK registration for all ATAA horses, Catrina seconds, approved

Catrina asks about horses that are already registered, Ann asks if annual VNIIK fee is new. Amrita replied that the annual VNIIK fee IS new, and Ann suggested that we clarify that the Board is investigating the cost of doing this and will work to create a plan that will be economically sensible for the members who have diverse needs and need to mitigate the financial impact of the VNIIK registration fees.

 Ann suggests Board approval for registering horses with both ATAA and VNIIK.  Automatic registering with both ATAA and VNIIK was tabled for more information that will be passed along to members as we get it.

Website Report, Amrita Ibold: Amrita wants to put pending registrations on website in their own section, so people can see if any items are missing and where registrations are in the process.  Ann brings up 2011 minutes, where this was tried and it was negative instead of positive.  Discussion followed about how to make it positive.  It was decided to do it by horse name only, with list of what was needed to finish registration.

Motion- Catrina motions to put pending registration on website with horse name ONLY.  Jas seconds, approved

Newsletter Report, Cathy Leddy:  3 newsletters so far this year, more than half the members get it via PDF file.  We still need content, Monica suggests a stockpile of articles.  A member spotlight is suggested, with standard questions.  Cathy will work on that.

Awards Report, Catrina Mettam:  AERC has the best awards so far of the alphabet orgs – AERC has 4 awards to be presented at the National Conference next year, LD and Endurance for both purebreds and sporthorses

USDF has high points awards for each division, no difference between pure and partbreds.  People need to register for these awards using the AT abbreviation to be counted towards awards.

USEA will email us with high point and pure and sporthorse by division

Showjumping – same thing

Catrina is having nice coolers embroidered with the ATAA logo and the words “Akhal-Teke Association of America 2012” for each award.  She did not have a finished one, but had a cooler to show us.  Ann suggests that we use etched glassware, like what Lucy did a few years back for some awards in the future.

Catrina appointed Head of Awards Committee

Membership Report, Cathy Leddy:  38 members total, 7 Lifetime members, 3 Friends members

1 Jr member, 27 Active members-2 family memberships, 2 farm memberships,    2 International members

Of Active members, 7 joined after 3/31/2012, so cannot vote this year

Promotions Report, various: We did the Horse Illustrated ad and article, we got 14 breeders to participate, not all of them ATAA members.  Tish would like to bring horses to CA expos, there is a large one in Sacramento in June.  Eloise suggests getting Tekes into the Rose Parade, which she rides in yearly.  The idea of a show box was brought up again.  Cathy talked about renting out WEG banners – one just went to the Heirloom Expo in CA.  Idea of sending people files to print their own brochures.

Tish appointed Head of Promotions Committee

Nominations and Elections Report, Jas Shearer-McMahon: candidates gave short speeches.  We had 5 nominees, Amrita Ibold, Jenny Rice, Tish Saare, Betsy Wandler and Catrina Mettam.  2 3 year terms were available and 2 terms taking place of non-performing members, both to run through 2013. 

Two bylaw changes were also on the Ballot:  Article IV, Management 4.5E regarding the definition of a yearly audit, as follows:

Article IV: Management

4.5E

A change we need to consider re-wording in the Bylaws is the requirement for an "audit" of the treasurer's records. Per right now, "audit" is the whole nine yards, requiring bringing in every receipt and bank statement and having a CPA pore over it—very expensive, and more involved than an annual review of the records that could be done by a bookkeeper or CPA.

As the rule reads now:

The office of Treasurer shall be bonded and the Association accounts audited annually.

Proposed change:

A review of the ATAA financial records shall be performed by a professional bookkeeper or accountant, not otherwise affiliated with the ATAA at the end of every year.



This bylaw passed.

Second bylaw change in Article III Membership, Category I, Active Membership

Bylaw Article III Membership, Category I, Active Membership

Here is what our Bylaws state now:

As the wording is now:

            Category I; Active Membership.  Open to the owner(s) of any horse(s) registered with the ATAA.  Active members shall be entitled to vote after six (6) months membership and shall receive the Association newsletter. Active membership includes the following types of memberships:  Charter, Lifetime, Individual, Family and Ranch/Breeding Farm.

Proposed change in bold and underlined:

           

            Category I: Active Membership.  Open to the owner(s) or lessee(s) of any horse(s) registered with the ATAA.  Active members shall be entitled to vote after six (6) months membership and shall receive the Association newsletter. Active membership includes the following types of memberships:  Charter, Lifetime, Individual, Family and Ranch/Breeding Farm.

This Bylaw also passed.

Ballots collected with 4 mail in ballots, 1 via email and the rest voting at the meeting.

Results:  3 year terms to Amrita Ibold and Tish Saare.  1 year terms taking over non-performing members terms, Catrina Mettam and Betsy Wandler.  Both Bylaws up for vote passed.

Farm reports were given during counting of the ballots.

Silent Auction, Amrita Ibold- Excellent turnout at the auction, Amrita and Jenny set up online bidding on items on the ATAA website, which worked pretty well.  Auction ended at 5 pm and Amrita reports that it made $581, with $373 collected and emails send out for the remainder.  Money will go in the fund to help defray registration costs, per the motion above.

Old Business:  Nothing

New Business:  DNA vet signature requirement for registration brought up to membership.  BOD had voted to abolish this, but we decided that membership should be asked their opinions.

Vote- No vet signature required on DNA reports – approved

Discussion of using University of Texas with Gus Cothran to do our DNA reports vs continuing with University of Kentucky.  U of T is $20 vs U of K $29.  Also, Amrita says that Gus is easier to work with and gets back to us sooner.

Motion-Jas motions to change to using University of Texas for our DNA testing, Catrina seconds, approved

Grading Tour:  Discussion of previous grading tours, pros and cons.  We will look into inviting Nadesda Abramova next year to do a grading for us with information to follow to members.  Brief discussion of getting people here certified as graders, tabled for now.

The possibility of including the Caspian Registry with ours, per a suggestion from the ALBC. It could be a good thing and the Caspian’s could have a section on our website and in our newsletter. The suggestion was tabled until further information comes in from the ALBC. 

The Board then asked the membership for suggestions on what they would like the ATAA to do for the next year. 

Suggestions from floor:  print more ATAA decal stickers (Ann had contact info for company that did the old ones).  Logowear with ATAA logo for sale.  Tish said that she will head the Promotions committee and will work on decals and logowear.

Grants:  Cathy brought up having some sort of scholarship or grant fund to help with extraordinary efforts to promote and preserve the AT.  The WEG 2010 booth was brought up.  Betsy suggested that we write up a possible scholarship fund proposal.  Eloise suggests that we get some ATs into judging forums to help judges in the future when Tekes compete.  Susie suggests that we get donations for the fund.  Cathy will start writing up proposals for the BOD and membership to look at.

Motion-Monica motions that we put $500 into a starting up a scholarship fund, Betsy seconds, approved

Meeting adjourned at 1:15

 

Called to order 7:00 pm

Roll Call:  Cathy Leddy, Amrita Ibold, Jas Shearer-McMahon, Ann Tipps, Terri Fender (via Skype).  Also present:  Eloise King, Gary Tipps.  Absent:  April Pruente, Bill Bowles

Reading of 2011 BOD meeting minutes:  Motion to accept Jas, seconded by Cathy, approved

Old Business:  Ann found the name and contact info of the company that did the old ATAA decals:  Van Gard Industrys West, 760-438-4437

New Business:

Registered agent for Corporation in MO - ? Need to file yearly report.  Discussion of how to do yearly reports as we need someone with an address in that state.  Cathy will look into registering the ATAA in Washington State and let the BOD know what happens.

Motion by Amrita for a Meeting within a meeting to address non performing Directors, seconded by Jas, approved

 2 BOD members have not contributed this past year.  According to our Bylaws:

4.8H Removal of a Director or Officer.  A Director or Officer may be removed from office provided all the following items are met:

4.8Ha A meeting of the Board of Directors is called expressly for that 

purpose by a majority of disinterested Directors.

4.8Hb Board of Directors must have cause to remove a Director or an 

officer of the  Board of Directors.

                                                                       

4.8Hc. Any Board member consistently absent from voting for three (3) consecutive voting issues over not less than 45 days, unless just cause, including but not limited to illness or travel, may be removed from office and replaced by the Board of Directors under 4.8F.

BOD votes for the year were presented to all BOD members present to show that 1 non-performing member did not participate in any votes or discussions and 1 non-performing member participated in 1 vote.  There were 22 BOD votes during the previous year and Terri Fender had tried calling these BOD members several times.

After discussion, a motion was made:

Motion:  The 2 non-performing BOD members will be removed from office.  They will be contacted via certified mail by the Secretary to apprise them of this.  The two BOD nominees with the 3rd and 4th amount of votes will take over these two positions.  Motion Amrita seconded by Jas, approved.

The ATAA was approached by the ALBC to take over the Caspian Registry.  Cathy has asked the ALBC for more information on what would be involved.  So far, no more information has been received, so the idea was tabled.

Change to University of Texas for DNA reports- Amrita reported that Gus at the University of Kentucky is very easy to work with and the DNA reports are cheaper than U of K.  Cathy asked if DNA done at U of K will be able to be transferred to U of T for upcoming registrations.  Amrita said it will work out fine.  We decided to bring this up to membership for a vote.

Meeting adjourned at 7:25 pm

It’s been busy!  We’re coming up to the Conference so we have some planning to do.

1.       We need an agenda – there have been a few things suggested to discuss over the year, but start putting them all in one place.  I can do up an agenda, but need input.  Look at last year’s for ideas.

2.       We will need a BOD meeting before the General Meeting – I will attach last year’s minutes for that also

3.       All positions need to be ready to give a report – i.e. secretary’s report, treasurer’s reports, awards committee, etc. 
Start thinking about that.

4.       Board nominations will be going out in the mail next week, along with the one bylaw change (again!) about the audit.  Any other nominations or possible bylaw changes, speak now.

5.       Look over last year’s minutes and see if we’ve met our goals (I will attach them).  I think we’ve done pretty well, but we can always improve.

6.       Lyn and Amrita are working on the Silent Auction now, so if you have donations, let them know.

What else am I missing?  Terri has a great handle on the Conference, Catrina and Betsy are going great on the awards, Betsy is working on the Yearbook, the online Silent Auction is on, the HorseFlicks filming will be great. 

Other news:

1.       Still working on getting the Still Photo money for HorseFlicks from participants.  About half have paid so far.

2.       KHP filming is being set up – we should have 11 horses participating there, doing various activities

See you all at the Conference!

Cathy

Hi everyone,

The ATAA Conference is coming up pretty quickly.  There are two 3 year openings on the ATAA Board, both for ‘Directors at Large’.  If you’d like to run or would like to nominate someone, contact our Nominations Chair, Jas Shearer-McMahon at [email protected]

See you there!

Cathy

Guidelines and Rules:

The ATAA Conference is quickly approaching, so please take a moment to send in your award nominations! 

 

The deadline for nominations is September 1, 2013

Thanks,

The Award Committee

[email protected] or [email protected]

 

The awards outlined below are for ATAA members only.  *Exception:   see Junior Achievement*

The President or Vice-President may be asked to step in for a tie-breaker (or another committee member not personally involved in that particular award if it involves president or vice-president)

All awards will be chosen based on nominations from registry members (a paragraph or two explaining why the individual person and/or horse should be chosen for that award).

Plaques will be given out to the discipline award recipients (A maximum of 3 recipients per discipline)

An individualized award will be given out to achievement award recipients (1 recipient per category)

Achievement Awards:

Junior Achievement Award:  A youth (<18) who participates in promoting the breed and/or the registry.  The youth must be a member OR horse owner must be a member AND horse must be registered.

Publicity Achievement Award:  Any registered horse or member who brings the breed and/or registry into the public eye (example:  magazine article, newspaper, television, etc).

Volunteer Achievement Award:  A member that donates their time by helping out in any way to promote the breed and/or the registry. 

Golden Achievement Award:  A member >60 years old that has actively promoted, volunteered, or somehow contributed to furthering the breed or registry.

Leadership Achievement Award:  A member in the registry that shows great skills in leadership, ambition, promotion, and teamwork amongst fellow members.

Discipline Awards:

Long-Distance Discipline Award:  A member that actively competes in AERC or CTR rides on a registered horse.

Dressage Discipline Award:  A member that actively competes in schooling shows and/or USDF recognized shows on a registered horse.

Eventing Discipline Award:  A member that actively competes in schooling shows and/or USEA recognized events on a registered horse.

Jumping Discipline Award:  A member that actively competes in schooling shows and/or USEF recognized shows on a registered horse.

Open Show (Discipline) Award:  A member that actively competes in open shows (any discipline) on a registered horse.  

Hi!  Betsy here, just a friendly reminder that I need lots and lots of pictures for our first ever ATAA photo yearbook!  If you have any pictures from Sept 2012-current to contribute of competitions, training, trail rides, foals, last year’s conference, or even hanging out with your Tekes I would greatly appreciate it.  Deadline is September 14 for photos!

Please contact me with any questions.

Betsy Wandler

[email protected]