October 2020 ~ Dressage Letters ~ Page 3 California Dressage Society www.california-dressage.org CDS Central Office Paula Langan • manager/editor
[email protected] P. O. Box 417 Carmel Valley, CA 93924 (831) 659-5696 • fax (831) 659-2383 Tue, Wed, 2-7pm • Thur, Fri, 1-5pm Dressage Letters: July 2020,Vol 26, Issue 7 Publishedmonthly by the California Dressage Society, . Periodicals #5940 at CarmelValley, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to POBox 417, CarmelValley, CA93924-0417 Printed byAPi-Marketing President Joan Williams (408) 512-2890 Vice President Pat Hart (714) 299-6507 Scholarship Committee Chair Nancy Szakacs (408) 476-4743 Treasurer Diana Muravez • (760) 728-6325
[email protected] Insurance Equine Insurance Donna Parker 800/321-5723
[email protected] Junior Rider Sara Mosqueda • (909) 203-9290 Mari Naten • (916) 798-5844 CONTENTS Articles Building A Better Chapter...................................pages 1, 4-5 CDS Adult Amateur Clinics................................pages 18-19 Surviving Wild Fires............................................pages 20-22 USDFBC West Coast Finals...............................pages 8-9 Monthly Departments Activities Calendar .............................................page 16 Bulletin.................................................................page 13-14 CDS Pylons..........................................................page 28 Classifieds............................................................pages 26-27 Letters To The Editor...........................................page 12, 13 Membership Renewal Form ...............................page 28 Monthly Clinics ..................................................page 15 President’s Column..............................................page 3 Show Calendar ....................................................page 16 USEF, USDF, FEI ...............................................page 10-12 President’s Column By Joan Williams As I write this month’s column, California has been devastated by fires. Many people we know have been evacuated and some have lost their homes. Animals have been moved or displaced and smoke is pouring over us. Checking the fire topography maps and air quality levels has become a daily vigil. Amongst all this devastation and loss come stories of how the compassion and resilience of Californians is amazing. I am hearing and seeing how people’s kindness and willingness to help others in need is in full bloom: People are buying all the bedding and towels at the local stores to donate to evacuees. Facilities and fairgrounds have opening up to bring in Horses, Donkeys, Llamas, goats, and even chickens! People have opening their homes and inviting people in to stay in their houses and owners opening up their land for trailers and tents to come and stay as long as necessary. The firemen on the front lines, volunteers going out and picking up needed medicines for the elderly or feeding cats and chickens and even fish that had to be left behind. People buying truckloads of cases of bottles water and delivering them to the entrances of blockades and truckloads of feed being delivered to the fairgrounds. Volunteers helping out by watering the horses displaced. Go fund me accounts being set up to help firemen who have helped save other’s houses while their own house burned to the ground. There is so much more I cannot list it all, but know that I want to thank you and am grateful for everyone’s help. Yesterday morning the incredible woman who owns our training barn passed away. Marlene Dietzel. I am heartbroken. She the anchor for her family and for our barn family. She was bigger than life with a heart as big as California. She rode, she roped, beautifully I might add. She bred horses, trained ponies, trained children and was an incredible cook and human being. You know how you see facebook posts of an inspirational older woman still out there doing everything, that was Marlene, galloping down the side of the hill at mock 10, feeding horses and watering the arenas at 6am, driving the tractor and loading recycle bins at 10, hauling in shavings at 2, then feeding the horses and cattle and dragging the arenas at 6pm, then whipping around in her golf cart to ask “do you need anything Joanie?”. She LOVED to rope. Before the fires hit, our Son in law Mark and Grandson Jake used to go to the ranch and were learning to rope. She took a special interest in helping little Jakie learn to throw a rope. She loved watching him gallop around bareback and said “now that one is gonna be the best roper here eventually!” Little Jakie who is still working on coiling his rope and not getting tangled up was just beaming with her praise. She has left her mark on me. I hope someday to become a tenth of the woman she was. I love you Marlene and will miss you more than you can know. As we struggle through Covid, Fires, Smoke, the Hurricane and personal loss, I am looking ahead to Championships. We will do everything we can to make this Championship a fun and unique experience. We are adding some interviews being recorded at championships and being uploaded to our Facebook, instagram and twitter pages. Patti will also run some fun contests so that all the riders and owners that were not able to attend this year due to Covid or fires be “with us” in spirit as a part of this year’s Championships. If you need any help or have any questions, talk to Paula Langan, your rider representative, myself or any member of the CDS Executive Board. We are all here to help you in any way we can..As always, this show is a big undertaking and we can use your help. If you have any extra time during the show, check in with Carol Tice, the Volunteer Coordinator to see how you can help. Together, the show management, the CDS Executive Board, the volunteers and riders will make this a great Championship show. For those that are attending, I look forward to seeing you there! For those that are staying home, we look forward to your being able to see the shows progress, results and interviews on Social Media. Together we will get through 2020 and look forward to a better 2021! Congratulations and Welcome to the new and returning CDS Executive Board Members Melissa Creswick - Central Ruth Shirkey - At Large Joan Williams - At Large