MEETING NOTES

02/08/2007
LOUISIANA EQUINE COUNCIL BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING

FEBRUARY 8, 2007


President Daniel Lyons called the phone conference meeting to order at 12:00 noon.
Board members present for the meeting were: Daniel Lyons, Howard Cormier, Johnny Boudreaux, Ruby Halter, Dianne Morrill, David Yount, Dixie Bunton, Daryl Schouest, Ginger Schouest, Grace Simcoe, Julie Calzone, Tom Foshee, Aleta Overby, Ky Mortensen, Dr. Hunter Lewis, and Ruby Collins.

Members absent were Steve Meaux and Melinda Kennedy.

Advisors present were Clint Depew and Ron Harrell.

Advisors absent were Dr. Denny French.

Minutes
On a motion by Julie Calzone, seconded by Tom Foshee, the minutes of the previous meeting were approved as mailed.

Membership
Grace Simcoe gave the membership report, saying that there were 58 active members. This included 12 businesses, 16 families, 28 individuals and 2 organizations. There were 87 members in 2006 that have not yet renewed. A welcome letter has been sent to all new members and an e-mail was sent to those whose membership had lapsed. Grace Simcoe challenged all board members to encourage friends and associates to join. Dixie Bunton asked that the board receive a list of people who had not renewed from last year. Grace agreed that she would do this.

Treasurer Report
Daryl Schouest gave the Treasurer’s Report, stating that we had $13,143.00 in the general account and $1,133.00 in the Expo Account. He also reported that the Expo was producing expenses and income. The net income was a negative $4,213.19. Although there is over $9,850.00 pledged for booth rental, no booths have paid yet. He stated that LEC needed to pay plaques and membership in the American Horse Council and he needed board authorization to do that. Daryl made this in the form of a motion, seconded by Ruby Halter, and it passed.

Annual Meeting
Daniel Lyons gave a report on the Annual Meeting in Alexandria held January 13, 2007. He stated that there was good attendance, although not as well as had been hoped for. The attendees received good committee reports, elected a new board and new officers, and welcomed new members in attendance.

By-Laws
Grace Simcoe gave a By-Laws report, stating that David Charlton is working on the Articles of Incorporation, with her suggestions. The plan is to delineate districts by parish lines instead of Congressional District lines so people will more easily recognize what district they are in. Plans are to go from eight districts down to seven. Simcoe encouraged members to talk to her or Daryl Schouest for details about the new draft, which should be available for review by early next week, February 12. The By-Laws will be addressed after the Articles of Incorporation. New voting districts will be addressed in the Articles of Incorporation. The By Laws will include information about a new quorum, and new voting methods.

Goals
Daniel Lyons then discussed LEC goals for the 2007 year, as discussed at a planning meeting held at the office of Daryl Schouest on Jan. 18, 2007, attended by Daniel Lyons, Johnny Boudreaux, Daryl Schouest, and Howard Cormier. Goals discussed were as follows:
1. Increase LEC membership.
2. Build the Expo.
3. Promote district clinics with Advisory Councils and Committee meetings.
4. Develop an insurance program for members.
5. Develop a Youth Equine Ambassador program.

Lyons explained that smaller districts can combine with other districts to promote clinics, membership and a trailer raffle. There were several issues of concern about the proposed raffle that Daryl Schouest brought out:
-There is nothing definite from Sundowner about whether they will provide a trailer.
-LEC has not yet filed for non- profit status. Daryl Schouest discussed the situation with attorneys and is waiting for their response.
-LEC needs a permit from the state to be able to sell raffle tickets. This takes three or four days and should not be a major problem. The board might have to move the proposed raffle to later in the year, further away from the Expo in order to have time to get this done.

Concerning Item #3 above, Grace Simcoe offered the following motion: Each District Representative should be responsible for seeing that at least one activity for the district membership be held in their district per year. These activities would be promoted as District Events, but would be open to all LEC members from across the state. This was seconded by Daryl Schouest, and the motion passed.

Dr. Hunter Lewis stated that veterinarians are planning to have a Pharmaceutical Company present at an equine clinic in their area, and the LEC could join their effort in presenting this clinic.

Insurance
Johnny Boudreaux then gave the insurance report, stating that he had met with the State Farm Bureau Board January 30, 2007. Farm Bureau will donate $4,000.00 for the Expo, but asked the board to save some to help fund the District meetings. Boudreaux also met with Mr. Reese, representing the Hartford Company in Texas, which will be proposing equine- related insurance policies in Louisiana. These policies should be ready to be sold in 60 days, or about April 10. Boudreaux urged Mr. Reese to be present at a booth at the Expo to explain to members what the plans are for this insurance program.
Boudreaux explained that, under this plan, members would be required to pay Farm Bureau membership to get insurance through Hartford.

Grace Simcoe then discussed another insurance opportunity. That program is with Equisure. She said that many state horse councils were using this personal liability program as a member benefit. Nineteen dollars is the added fee for this insurance by Equisure for an individual. This would not be available to businesses. One million dollars would be available for personal liability. Advisor Clint Depew suggested looking closely at all the policy details before entering into a binding agreement. After further discussion, Daryl Schouest, Ron Harrell, Johnny Boudreaux and Grace Simcoe were named by President Daniel Lyons to a committee to examine and compare the programs. Ron Harrell stated that this might work well with the Farm Bureau package because Farm Bureau had concerns about how they would provide personal liability coverage. Ron will e-mail the results of the committee meeting to Secretary Howard Cormier to distribute to the board.

Expo Progress
Ruby Halter, 2007 Expo Chairwoman, then discussed the Expo. The Expo committee has received commitments from about 30 vendors; has most of the scheduled clinicians, and has entry forms for most of the contests. The VIP party is getting well organized and a considerable amount of money has been pledged. An active publicity program is in progress. The Louisiana Department of Ag & Forestry will be checking health papers. The Ranch Horse Association wants to sell caps. There was no opposition to this. The rooms at Holiday Inn in Gonzales will be blocked until February 12th. They are $90.00 per room. Members were encouraged to book soon. Ruby Halter asked for volunteer names and phone numbers to be sent to her, with preference as to where people wanted to work. Grace Simcoe volunteered to be the volunteer coordinator.

Barrel Race
Ruby Collins listed her needs for the barrel race, which she will send to Ruby Halter. Collins stated that the barrel race event needs two announcers to be able to speak names from South Louisiana correctly; timers, arena helpers and barrel picker- uppers. She will check on pop-up barrels. Barrett and Daniel Lyons will handle tractor work for arena drag after so many racers. Also, Lamar Dixon may have tractors. Ruby will check on this. Sunshine Equipment might be able to provide tractors free of charge to be used as publicity in this event. Applications for Expo events are available on the website. An announcer will not be needed for practice runs. Back numbers will not be needed, but event managers will need rolls of tickets.

Ranch Horse Competition
Volunteers are needed for the Ranch Horse competition. Ruby will check on securing cattle, 75-80 head. Daniel Lyons and Johnny Boudreaux are also working to find cattle. There was discussion about the dress for board members so they can be easily identified. Denim shirts were listed as a possibility, but no decision was made..

New Committee Chairs
In discussing committee chairs, Grace Simcoe agreed to be Membership Chair and announced that Suzanne Murphree will be Trails Committee Chair. Simcoe will try to encourage the Committee Chairmen to ask for member help and to allow members to take part in committee activities.

Horse Health
Ky stated that Senator Landrieu wants to move forward with a vote in the Senate on a ban to stop horse slaughter. After some discussion, the Board agreed that it was the job of LEC to educate the membership with facts on the issue. Ky agreed to put information on the website showing both sides of the argument. Ky has a position paper that he will offer from the American Association of Equine Practitioners. Other board members offered to also post their viewpoints. Because the board has never polled the general membership, the LEC has no official position regarding the matter. Members will be asked to contact legislators to voice their opinions.

Date of Next Board Meeting
The date of the next board meeting was set for March 1st at 11:00 a.m. at Lamar Dixon.

Adjourn
Dixie Bunton moved to adjourn at 1:37 p.m., Johnny Boudreaux seconded the motion and it passed.

EXPO COMMITTEE MEETING
FEBRUARY 8, 2007
Evangeline Downs
1:50 P.M.


An Expo Committee meeting was held immediately after the board meeting. Present were Ruby Halter, Howard Cormier, Ky Mortensen, Clint Depew, David Yount, Daryl and Ginger Schouest, Dianne Morrill, Grace Simcoe, Dixie Bunton and Johnny Boudreaux.

David Yount stated that he had commitments for $500.00 from Acadian Ambulance, $500.00 from the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and $500.00 from the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders’ Association.

Carrol Castille will get monies from Purina, Priefert and Twisted X.

Daryl reported that the ads were slow to develop for the Resource books. He has sent two faxes to many businesses, but has not received much response. February 15th is the deadline date.

Ginger reported that the Parade of Breeds is in progress. She has at least four people for certain. For next year, those who paid and participated this year will have priority. It was felt that even if participation is not high, this event will still add to the Expo and will help to build for next year.

The following items were discussed and duties clarified:
-We need entry forms for the Ranch Horse Program. Daniel has acquired the entry forms and information from Judy Weisgerber, secretary of LASH, the La. Association of Stock Horses. Dixie will get this from Daniel and get it to Ruby.
-Competitors will need insurance through the Ranch Horse Association. The barrel racers are covered by the LEC insurance. Our insurance premium will be about $1,000.00. Ruby is still waiting to hear from the insurance company.
-Daryl asked if the Ranch Horse Association is set up to handle that entire contest at the Expo. Bill Davis, a guest at the meeting with the Ranch Horse Association, said yes.
-Security will be needed for Friday from 7:00 p.m. – 7:00 a.m. Saturday, and Saturday from 7:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. Sunday. At $22.00 per hour, this comes to $528.00.
- The barrel racing exhibition will start at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, March 9, 2007.
- Booths will be open at 1:00 p.m.
-Dixie will handle the timing of the seminar speakers.
-David Yount volunteered to be Operations Manager for the Expo. He stated that we needed a way to get around. Daryl will work on getting some 4-Wheelers for this. Ruby will bring her golf cart.
- Johnny was asked to contact Kent LeDoux about doing the Lake Charles TV spot March 1st. -Howard will be on TV10 February 28th and will be on TV3 March 5th.
-Clint will contact Ron Harrell about doing Farm Bureau’s TV program.
- There was then discussion about Police horses used at the Expo. This will be encouraged.
- It was also stated that we need about six radios. We will have all we need available at $4.25 per day per radio through Lamar Dixon.
- We will need a base office and a safe to secure money.
-Next was a discussion of signage. Ky was “volunteered” to contact Freeman’s to see if they could make these signs.
-We need a coordinator for the demonstrations, for sign in, and a coordinator for each barn.
-We need a tent at the entrance gate for membership booth, for membership applications, vendor coordinators, insurance, etc. Most of LEC operations will be held at this particular tent.
- David Yount agreed to print programs with schedules of events and other information available to attendance. We will need a map of Lamar Dixon.
- Julie Calzone needs information for a bio on Joe Wolter to add his name and accomplishments to the website. Johnny Boudreaux will work on getting this.
-Ruby stated that we were about at the deadline for VIP names and urged anyone who had names to be added to the list to contact her or Ginger immediately.
-Grace reviewed a list of names that had not renewed in 2007 and asked the board to contact anyone that they knew.

The meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.