4/10/23
Now that we’ve turned the calendar to April it seems the action for all of us is ratcheting up a bit. The temperatures aren’t really helping yet. Up here in our neck of the woods, I can’t say the rain has decreased much either. But things are happening!
The first “real” shows start this weekend! Pretty exciting and a great signal that we’re heading out of winter and the fun and grind of our season is underway.
With that comes a lot of other action and questions about memberships, new rider numbers, new horse numbers and of course averages. So, with that, here is my best effort to help with these items. First, I want to remind people about the blessings and curses of Facebook. Facebook is a great resource for information. It is a great forum to discuss and, on some level, organize things. Facebook isn’t the official source for events and how PSHA operates. Of late, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about not being able to find the schedule or rules or horse information. But the main reason is that the person was on Facebook. Let’s run through some of these things and try to help you out.
First, the website: https://patternedspeedhorse.com
Schedule: It is regularly updated on the website. New shows, upcoming events. The team – Primarily Kena – has done a great job of keeping this as up-to-date as we can. All you have to do is go to the website and click on Shows. Here is what you’ll see:
Here you can look at the upcoming shows, past shows and even get the show approval application to print and fill out.
Rule Book: On the Website, under information is the Rule Book Tab.
Rider Numbers: This will be something that is done one of two ways. First, let’s start with the Membership application, which is available on the Riders Page. Please make sure you’ve gotten your membership filled out and sent to the Treasurer or turned in to a show. From there:
- Each show will have a list of available Rider Numbers. If you have a membership, they will assign you a number at the show and make sure that it is turned in to the organization so that the secretary can keep the file updated and publish it once we’ve verified membership.
- If you’ve turned in your membership, the website will update with a rider number once everything is verified. If you don’t see a number show up for you or someone in your family, You can reach out to me or the secretary to make sure we’ve got your information up to date.
To check the rider number list, go to the website, under information and click on riders. If you’ve ridden in the organization in the recent past, there is a good chance you’re on the list:
Horse Numbers: This is actually quite similar to Rider Numbers. The emphasis here is that it needs to be a new horse to the organization. Not just new to you. If you’ve bought, borrowed or are just riding a friends horse that is already in PSHA, it already has a number in the organization.
- Each show will have a list of available Horse Numbers at the show. If you’re on a new horse and are a paid member, we’ll get you a new Horse Number.
- If you have a new horse, and your membership is paid, you can also reach out to the State Times Keeper to get assigned a new horse number. Here is the best way to do that – on the Contact page:
There is a list of horses and owners on the website.
Times & Averages: One of the coolest new features of the website is that within a few days, you’ll start seeing times and averages updated on the website. You can look at each event and see what arena the times were run. You just have to go to the website and click on averages. It’s sortable by age group and event and looks like this:
You’ll even note that once you have 3 qualified times, the average will be marked as valid.
Additionally, you can go into your rider information and see where times were run, classification of the run so that you’re able to track A times and more:
Other notes and questions: We are working on many more upgrades, but one of the more important things is the On-line pre-entries. Currently this is defaulted to closed. Some think that means they can’t sign up for events. That’s not true. In fact, we encourage people to reach out and let show chairs know they are coming and share rider and horse numbers. We are hoping that we’ll be enabling this function soon. But it would allow people to sign up for runs in advance. These can later be changed if needed. This would greatly help show chairs prepare arena sheets.
That is a lot of information, and I am sure that I may have missed things. But I hope that this helps you get started into a new season with a lot of new information. If you have other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or the rest of the executive team.
Speaking of which, we have new contact page that you can visit if you’re not sure who to ask. It will route your question to the right person.
Here is another look at it. Remember it’s located under the information tab.
Here are some other organizational updates:
Convention: We are getting really close. We’ll be putting proposals in front of the executive committee this week and should have it dialed in by the end of the month.
Interstate: As of now, we’ll be back at Brasada Ranch in Oregon, but it sounds like we’ve got some great things brewing for next year. Also, as of now, I haven’t heard of an Interstate Princess from either state. Hopefully we’ll hear differently soon.
Upcoming Shows:
April 29-30: Valley Riders
May 6-7: Agnew Riders
May 13-14: Valley Riders
May 20-21: Appleatchee Riders
May 27-28: NVR at Stewarts in Yelm.
Have a great month and we’ll see you soon!
Jamie