April 2021
President Message
Spring is upon us and the Wisconsin Arabian Horse Association is looking forward to 2021. 2020 was a year filled with so many challenges for so many but we are thankful to our members who supported us in 2020.
I want to take a moment to welcome our new Board Members to the team! Heather Hall has joined as our secretary and Jamie Wright, who continues to be our youth coordinator, has joined the Board of Directors. Welcome aboard!
This year WAHA is looking forward to our annual August Show at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds on August 6-8, 2021 and our Fall Open Show in Elkhorn, WI on October 9, 2021. Both committees are hard at work making plans to each event a success.
As we discussed in the annual meeting, volunteer support for the club is a critical part of our club's success. We are adding some exciting new ways to support our club by volunteering in 2021. A volunteer division is being added to our points program and if you submit the proper documentation you will be eligible to win prizes at the end of the year. Please see the points program article for more information. If you want to get involved and volunteer for the August Show please get in touch with Nancy Miller. Volunteers interested in the Open Show please contact Jamie Wright. Their contact info is available on the WAHA website underneath the leadership tab.
Our board meetings are currently held via zoom on the second Wednesday of every month January. If you want to hear more about the club happenings, please feel free to join us. The zoom link will be on our Facebook page the day of the event. Our next meeting is April 14, 2021 at 7pm.
For anyone that wants to volunteer on a show committee, contribute ideas or anything else, I can be reached at jessiebugs@hotmail.com
Here is to a great spring with your horse!
Sincerely,
Jessica Dillingham
WAHA President
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Upcoming Events
April 14th: WAHA Board of Directors Meeting (Virtual)
May 12th: WAHA Annual Meeting and Elections (Virtual)
May 29th-30th: WDHA Badger Classic.(Jefferson, WI)
June 9th-13th: Region 10 Pre Show and Championship Show (St Paul, MN)
June 24th-27th: Region 10 Sport Horse Pre Show and Championship Show (Jefferson, WI)
August 6th-8th: WAHA August Show (Jefferson, WI)
September 4th-5th: WDHA Festival Show AVS (Oshkosh, WI)
October 9th: WAHA Fall Colors Show (Elkhorn, WI)
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2020 WAHA Ambassador Award Recipient
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Dancing Gdynia
Dancing Gdynia, or "Donni" as she is affectionately known as, has been in Nyssa Sheridan's life for many years now. She is not a fancy show horse, although she has occasionally gone to the odd schooling show, either with Nyssa or as a backup horse for friends to show when they didn't have a horse of their own. She has been dressed up as Minnie Mouse, done a number of halter classes, practiced doing the dressage and hunt horse thing, and has mystified local horse show announcers on how to pronounce "Gdynia".
She's been Nyssa's go-to horse for friends to go trail riding with. A number of friends have borrowed her so they could do the local horse obstacles at Gibbs Lake. She's always the first one in the lake for a drink and always quite willing to go along with the flow. Quite remarkable for a life-long broodmare who had six foals!
What Nyssa things is the most remarkable thing about Donni is her ability to be a teacher. She's been a learning horse for a group of veterinary students that were intimidated by horses and wanted to learn how to halter and handle a horse. Donni stands patiently and desperately tries to shove her face into their upside down halter. She's been poked and prodded by a number of veterinary inters over the years that are gaining confidence in their blood draws.
She has a special affinity for those just learning to ride, as well as young children. She stands very patiently and quietly for a gaggle of kids to brush her. She has done endless introductory rides for everyone from the very young children learning to ride to adult coworkers that wanted to relive their 'My Little Pony' dreams. Donni has an abundance of patience for those learning to post, and trots even slower for younger riders. She is one of those rare souls that can ride in a halter and lead rope for those that are too unsteady for a bridle, yet bridles beautifully for the more advanced riders.
She's been a loyal and trustworthy companion and is there for every friend and adventure Nyssa could come up with, from trail riding to showing in most classic head to riding bareback and bridleless or ponying a couple of weanlings. She's been a great babysitter for human riders, handlers, along with being the calm weaning companion for a number of foals as well.
Donni has been a faithful friend and companion, and the very best kind of Arabian ambassador. She's not decorated in the glory of the show ring, but her kind demeanor and willing attitude win friends and family over.
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Ambassador Award Runner Up - Everlong TPS
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Everlong TPS, also known as Grohl was born in April 2019, making him only a yearling in 2020. Tawni Karle purchased Grohl in November 2019. Unfortunately Tawni lost her other horse Splash in March 2020, and Grohl helped fill the hole in her heart.
He did quite an amazing job with his 2020 achievements. With Grohl only being a yearling, she had planned on on just doing shows where she could stall him since she did not want his first shows to be where he had to stand tied to a trailer for hours. However, with the pandemic, many of the local shows were cancelled and the only local shows left were ones where he had to be tied, so that is what they did. Two of the local open shows, they were the only Arabian there. She had numerous people come up to her and say how beautiful he was and how excited they were to see an Arabian. It is so important to share our breed to others at open shows to share how versatile, well behaved, and beautiful they are. They were successful in showing in halter, showmanship, and even trail in hand classes. He did great showing in the arena by himself and received commentary from numerous exhibitors.
Every open show that Grohl and Tawni go to helps promote the Arabian breed. She was not planning on going far for shows, but with their limited options, they also went to Jefferson for the WAHA August show. She had numerous strangers come up and comment on how well behaved he was. They had a very enjoyable and successful time showing in halter and sport horse in hand.
Tawni has two stepdaughters and their mom has two additional daughters that are 5 and 8. The eight-year-old loves horses, so she invited them out to meet Grohl. They were able to help brush him, pet him, and lead him around in the arena. How amazing to be able to share a young Arabian with horse loving kids.
They had a unique year with limited opportunities to get out, but Grohl made a positive impact of the Arabian breed every single time. He is intelligent, versatile, kind, well-behaved, brave, and beautiful. He gives 100% in everything he does, and he shows how quiet and versatile the breed is. Grohl also helped Tawni in a very hard year with her loss of Splash. She cannot wait to continue to promote the Arabian breed next year with Grohl being a 2-year-old
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Ambassador Award Runner Up - MSU High Society
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MSU High Society has been owned and loved by Kristin and Megan Kratoska since 2013. Even before Society came into Megan and Kristin's lives, she was teaching rideras across the upper Midwest to love the Arabian breed. She then helped Megan further her enthusiasm for horses and Arabians in particular. She helped Kristin conquer her fear of horses, so she and Megan could share a passion for horses.
Today, Society continues to teach riders young and old. She has been an ambassador to the breed in ACT classes, leadline, and the fun classes. Ride a buck is her favorite! At the farm and away from it, Society is happy to greet newcomers just looking to touch a horse for the first time, and she makes sure their first experience is a great one.
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Congratulations to FVF Seakhret Always 'Lola' on Winning Her WAHA Legion of Merit!
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Lola is a 2015 half-Arabian mare by the Arabian stallion, R Khasper, and out of a Friesian mare. Fun fact is that her coloring comes from her Arabian sire!
Lola has been raised, trained, and lovingly owned by her amateur owner, Nicole. In just a few short years, they have earned enough points in WAHA's point program to earn a Legion of Merit.
A big congratulations to this great team!
The WAHA Legion of Merit program is open to all members of the Wisconsin Arabian Horse Association club. It is a cumulative award and after earning 1,000 points in the points program, and members are awarded a lovely bronze sculpted by Moeller Bronze.
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Congratulations to our overall high point winners in our 2020 WAHA Points Program!
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◈High Point Halter Mare was FVF Seakhret Always and Nicole
◈High Point Performance Horse was Chewbakka Bahim and Sheila
◈High Point Halter Gelding was TPS Everlong and Tawni
◈High Point Overall Horse (Halter & Performance Combined) was FVF Seakhret Always and Nicole
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WAHA Points Program 2021
Hello from the 2021 WAHA Points Committee,
The 2021 WAHA Points System Committee consists of Lerin Hendrickson, Tammy Teubert, Jessica Dillingham, Tara Kreklau and Nyssa Sheridan. All of us are very enthusiastic about this wonderful program that WAHA offers.
The committee just wanted to invite all members to review the new rules for 2021 and wanted to highlight some of highlights for recent changes to the program:
- Reduced and reviewed categories based on entry and showing trends
- A FREE entry into the age division for each associate or full WAHA member
- A FREE virtual show category for virtual show in 2021.
- A flat rate entry into all show divisions and the WAHA Legion of Merit Program
- Inclusion of “closed” classes and shows, like National Show Horse or Fall Fest
- One point per mile ridden for trail riding division
- Online submissions available for show results!
- A NEW FREE VOLUNTEER division for volunteering at WAHA events. Just remember to submit the paperwork and volunteer to win wonderful awards.
There are also a few other minor changes. Your committee looks forward to serving the club members in this exciting program. Feedback, of course, is always welcomed and taken into consideration.
Look for complete rules, entry forms, and point reporting forms on the WAHA website soon!
Your WAHA Points Committee Team,
Jessica, Lerin, Tammy, Tara, and Nyssa
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Region 10 Scholarship Opportunities
Region 10 is proud to announce that for the twenty ninth year scholarships will be awarded for post high school education in memory of Mary Anne Grimmell, former director, and Mark Larscheidt. Two $1,000.00 scholarships will be offered. The deadline for these scholarships is May 15, 2021.
Applicants must have been Region 10 residents within the previous five years and be current members of a Region 10 affiliated club and have been members for at least two of the last five years. A copy of your membership card(s) is required. These scholarships are open to both youth and adult members.
These scholarships are open to eligible applicants planning to or currently majoring in any profession—college or other training equivalent to two or four years in length. The general criteria
are (1) sense of direction in furthering education, (2) Arabian involvement, (3) academic records, including attendance, (4) equine background, and (5) leadership. Applicants are only eligible to win one scholarship but can apply for both.
For information and applications go to the Region 10 website; www.region10arabians.comor contact Toni Marie O’Daniel.
E-mail: tonimarieodaniel@gmail.com
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Website Updates
Submitted by Nyssa Sheridan
If you’ve taken a recent look at the WAHA website, you’ll see there has been a few updates and changes.
I just wanted to introduce a brief overview of the website and an easy place to access information. The leadership tab is updated and contains contact information for members of the board, including our executive committee members. Please feel free to reach out to any one of us! We are all happy to help, as we are able.
The Show tab will contain the show books and show information as it becomes available. Our two planned shows this year includes the AHA rated August show and the Fall Colors All-Breed Open Show.
The Point System page will be updated with the all new entry forms. For those that prefer not to be tracking on paper, just a reminder that there is online point reporting for all horse show events! A quick and easy way to submit those points.
There are also two brand new pages for the Ambassador Award and for WAHA affiliated links. We are very proud of all of the wonderful Arabians and half-Arabians that have been breed ambassadors and would love to share their story. If you have a writeup on the year of a previous ambassador award winner, please email it to Nyssa at nyssasheridan@gmail.com and we would like to share it on this page.
The WAHA links page are for members and businesses supporting the Wisconsin Arabian Horse Association. WAHA does not endorse any particular business, services, or content, but please take a look and support these amazing members who chose to support WAHA. Do you have a business or farm and are a WAHA member? Please feel free to submit your link and information on the WAHA link page. This service is a free perk to all WAHA members!
Is there anything else you would like to see on the website? Please let us know! We want the website to be useful for the club and all of its members.
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WDHA Tri-Fold 2021 Show Opportunities
Don't forget about our other Wisconsin Club's Arabian Horse Shows!
The WDHA Badger Show AVS, May 29th-30th at Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Jefferson, WI. Looking for a horse show with a lot of diversity? There will be adult, amateur, junior and open classes; SHIH and SHUS classes; Halter and Performance Halter classes; and All Breed classes. Is there a class you would like not on the list? You have the opportunity to add recognized or all breed classes by submitting the Option Class form which includes an entry fee. Is there a class in the class list that is close to your heart? Consider sponsoring it. We are excited to announce our Main Ring judge will be Debby Cain ‘R’ from Las Vegas, Nevada and the Sport Horse judge will be Paula Briney ‘r’ from Chatham, Il. The show premium book can be found at https://wdhaarabian.com/badger-classic-show-files
The WDHA Sport Horse and Dressage Show, June 24th-25th at Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Jefferson, WI. Recognized by AHA, USEF, USDF, WDAA, & CSDEA. Offer A/HA/AA Dressage Into-FEI, SHIH, SHUS, Show Hack, Dressage Seat Equitation & Medal Classes, SH Showmanship, SHUS Walk/Trot 10 & under, and Western Dressage Arabian, non-arabian, and exceptional rider classes. This show is followed by the Region 10 Dressage and Sport Horse Championships June 26-27. Show information can be found at https://wdhaarabian.com/2019-sport-horse
The WDHA Festival Show AVS, September 4th-5th at Sunnyview Expo Center, Oshkosh, WI. The Festival Show offers AHA recognized class opportunities and a multitude of All Breed classes. It hosts the last remaining Futurity/Maturity program for Arabian and Half-Arabian horse owners in Wisconsin and for 2021 there is $100 added money to each Futurity Class. More information and the showbill will be coming soon and can be found at https://wdhaarabian.com/ “Our Shows”.
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