Western Hudson Valley Professional Horsemans Association

Minutes of the Meeting
Of the Western Hudson Valley Professional Horsemen’s Association Inc.
Held on Monday, May 6, 2013
At Willow Hill Farm, Montgomery, N.Y.

The Meeting was called to order by the President, Annette Mohr at 6:45 P.M.

Attendees:

Annette Mohr
John Annello
Jody Moraski
Debbie Norris
Denise Dahms
Brad Whitmire
Monica Rauschenbach
Bonny Lass
Mary Peres

Minutes of Meeting held on April 1, 2013:

The Minutes of the meeting held on April 1, 2013 were presented and accepted as read.

Treasurer’s report:

Jody Moraski reported that the income for April was $3,200.00 which consisted of $645.00 for the clinic, membership fees = $330.00, and horse show entry fees = $2,225.00

Jody also reported that interest on the $12,800.00 invested in Vanguard earned $79.00 as of March 31, 2013.

Finance Committee report:
Application for Tax Exempt Status 501c3:
Denise reported that she received a letter of acknowledgement from the IRS. It may take up to 3 months to receive a letter of determination granting us a tax-exempt status.

Income Tax Filing for 2011 and 2012:

Denise reported that she filed income tax returns for the years 2011 and 2012, using form 990-EZ. Every year the WHVPHA must file a form 990 by May 15 (for the previous year). We must file either a 990, 990-EZ or 990-N depending upon the amount of revenue earned for the year. Therefore, although the 990-EZ for 2012 was filed on time, the 990-EZ for 2011 was delinquent. Denise sent an explanatory letter to the IRS requesting leniency, as it was our first year, and we were unaware of the correct filing requirements.

Registration with the State of New York as a tax-exempt entity:

Denise reported that the WHVPHA had to register with the State of New York as a Tax- exempt entity. She filed form CHAR 410 and mailed it to the Office of Attorney General along with a copy of our Federal Application, Form 1023, our Certificate of Incorporation and our Constitution and By-Laws.

Annual Filing with the Sate of New York:

Every year all charitable organizations in N.Y. must file a form CHAR 500 along with the correct registration fee, $35.00, and copies of our federal tax returns, form 990.
Denise filed CHAR 500 for 2012 and 2011 with a letter of explanation for our late filing of CHAR 500 for 2011.

Junior Committee:

Jody reported that the Junior Committee now has 4 members, 3 from Lucky C and one from Greystone. Danielle is mentoring the group. Last month the committee sold ear stuffers and raised $25.

Host Farm Insurance Certificates:

Denise reported that we received insurance certificates from Mirabella and Stone Wall Farms. We still did not receive a certificate from Whisper Wind, despite an email having been sent to Nina advising her that her next show would be removed from our calendar, unless we had received the required certificate of insurance. Since we had made numerous attempts to secure the certificate, the members of the Board of Directors and the Horse Show Committee voted unanimously to remove the Whisper Wind Show scheduled for June 23, 2013 from the WHVPHA calendar, and will advise all members that WHVPHA points will not be awarded for any classes held at the above show, due to non-compliance with WHVPHA requirements.

National PHA:

Annette and Jody reported that they attended the meeting of the National PHA on Monday, May 6. Some suggested National PHA programs include:

Offering all PHA chapters the opportunity to hold National PHA classes, with year-end awards to be presented.
Starting a mentoring program for younger members
Lobbying the USEF to encourage smaller rated shows.

Offering college nights, by having colleges come to various farms to present their equestrian program.

Scholarship Committee:

Jody reported that as of the deadline of May 1, 2013, she had received 3 applications for college scholarships and 3 applications for equine scholarships. The Scholarship Committee will meet in 2 weeks to review the applications. Since Jody’s daughter

Danielle has submitted an application, as well as students from Greystone, Jody will recuse herself from voting process.
Ethics Committee:
No report.

Horse Show Committee:

No report.

Points Keeping:

Monica reported that she came across an incident wherein a rider who currently shows in the 3Ft. Childrens/Adult Hunter was entered in a Pre-Children’s PHA class. Since the rider is currently showing at a level above Pre-Childrens’, points cannot be awarded to her for the pre-Childrens’ class.

PHA Clothing:

Monica suggested giving members the opportunity to buy jackets, tee-shirts, etc with the PHA logo. She can order from the company “Personalize It” in Newburgh. Jackets can be reasonably priced at $100.00, yet with a small profit going to the WHVPHA. Everyone agreed to the color black, with green and white embroidery. Adult sizes will be ordered from Port Authority Jackets, and Childrens’ sizes will be ordered from Tri- Mountain.

Finals Horse Show and Year-end Banquet:

All agreed that we need to start firming up plans for the finals horse show and Year- end Banquet.

Finals Horse Show:

The Finals Horse show will be held at the end of October.
Jody will approach Gardnertown Farms to see if we can use their facility. We may offer Jumpers classes on the Friday night.
Debbie will ask Jack Frohm if he can judge.

Banquet:

The banquet will be held over the same weekend as last year.
Mary will investigate holding the banquet at the former Brookside Manor.

Season 2013-2014:

Horse show dates will be determined at our August meeting. No farm will be awarded a show date unless we are presented with a Certificate of Insurance.

New Business:

Denise mentioned that if anyone is planning on hiring a new employee, the IRS has redesigned its form I-9. It can be printed from IRS.gov.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adourned at 8:30 P.M. by Annette. The next meeting will be held at the log house at Willow Hill on Monday June 3, 2013 at 6:30 P.M.

Respectfully submitted, May 7, 2013. Denise Dahms
Recording Secretary, WHVPHA