ISSO has several announcements that we would like to bring special attention to, so you can stay abreast of current important information and act upon it in a timely manner. We are requesting you email info@sidesaddle.com photos and/or a short 10-15 second video clip you would like to include for our ISSO 2020 Awards and Year Book Video no later than March 9.
First, we would like to announce two board positions that are coming up for election in March of 2021: president and one of the general board of director positions. Each of these positions are for a three year term and require regular Board meeting attendance throughout the year as well as additional responsibilities outside of meeting times. The ballots have already been sent, so you should have already received one via email if you are a current member. Please check your inbox (including spam folder) and notify us if not. You will need to complete the ballot by 0700 on March 20, 2021 for your vote to count.
Along these lines, we would like to take this time to extend a big "Thank You!" to Laureen Bartfield DVM, who has not only volunteered her time on the board for many years, but who graciously stepped up to fill the remaining presidency term when Shelly Liggett stepped down early to spend more time with her family. Laureen has been a dedicated member throughout the years and has been a great leader since filling the position; helping to implemented our new virtual show category, kicking off our annual hat contest, and contributing to a very successful annual meeting last March. Since that time though, she has also expanded her vet practice along with her long ear rescue efforts and feels at this time that the extra amount of time required for this particular office is more than she has and thinks ISSO could be better served with someone who has more time to dedicate solely to this position. With that said, she still would love to be a part of the organization contributing to the board and continuing to help ISSO in any capacity possible in the future.
Pie Truono is currently running unopposed for the president position. She has served on ISSO's board this past year as the Membership Chair and Points Secretary while also maintaining her full time position of Business Manager of her husband's dental practice in Wilmington, Delaware for the past 16 years. She was formerly partnered with Reno, her Oldenberg gelding of 9 years and whom she first started down the side saddle path with. Both Pie & Reno attended Camp Leaping Horn for two years and have competed in several side saddle events including The Devon Horse Show in 2019. We wish her luck with her new mount Pineapple who she is hoping to show side saddle in the future. If you have been with the organization in the past several years I am sure you have either met Pie in person or have "talked" via Facebook messenger or email so you know just what a great ambassador she is to the side saddle community and for ISSO in general. She is welcoming to newcomers, professional in her interactions, and has been VERY dedicated since being voted into her position, taking on extra responsibilities whenever needed and helping to make this years virtual shows such a success. We feel her enthusiasm, work ethic and organization skills have been an asset to ISSO since joining the board and make her a fabulous presidential candidate.
Photos above to right of Laureen Bartfield DVM.
Photos above in slide deck are of Pie Truono.
Photos to left are of Jennifer Stevenson.
Jennifer Stevenson is also running unopposed for her current position of General Board Member and has done a phenomenal job over the years in her role. She has been dedicated during her entire tenure helping with anything the board needs, being c0-editor of Aside World for the past few years, taking photos at events even before she became a member, and being the best webmaster to our very large and technical www.sidesaddle.com website. In fact, she has donated countless hours to transitioning our old website into what it is today. We could not have done this without her generosity of time and expertise and I can easily say she has saved the organization tens of thousands of dollars over the years with all her knowledge that she has freely gave to help further this sport and allow us to reach people throughout the world. We really cannot thank her enough for all that she has done and are blessed that she is running again for this position. On a personal note, I know my job would be impossible without all of her help, her amazing editing and technical skills (thank God she was an English teacher at one point in her life!), and for walking my technologically challenged self through all of this with no judgement nor frustration (or at least she doesn't show it!)
Secondly, we would like to make sure you SAVE the DATE for our Annual Meeting occurring on March 20th. We were planning a lovely weekend of live education, including a riding clinic in a fabulous heated indoor in Virginia, however due to current state COVID restrictions and concern for our members safety that is not going to be possible. Instead, we are going to host a virtual educational clinic with a variety of programming and the annual meeting. This will allow us to still educate members, visit with each other, have an awards "presentation", and conduct vital ISSO business including voting results. We are putting together a virtual awards video and yearbook so would love for each of you to please email info@sidesaddle.com a couple of photos and/or 10-15 seconds of video for us to include. Our board is working tirelessly to provide you a great experience, so please check our website and Facebook page to register and for specifics.
Lastly, the board has been hard at work with ideas to continue improving this organization for its members. Ideas include future social networking opportunities, improving programs we currently offer as well expanding in the future, expanding education opportunities, and adding some positive changes to the Year-End Awards Program for 2021 that we think you will like. Some of the new improvements include adjusting the amount of points for each placing, assigning points for year end placings to determine overall placing for a more fair distribution throughout the categories, and amending some definitions of division categories. We feel this will continue to elevate our awards program and provide a fun outlet for our members to be rewarded for all of their hard work! Please send your thoughts or concerns on this matter along with any other suggestions on any of our programs to info@sidesaddle.com so we can discuss this as a board prior to the Annual Meeting. We will announce the results at the Annual Meeting and any changes to the awards program will be implemented for the 2021 show season with points earned prior to the meeting starting on January 1st of 2021 counting for the year.
Again we are very excited for the possibilities of 2021 and hope this will be a fun and successful year for all, including ISSO! If you ever have any questions or concerns or would like to volunteer to take on more responsibility within the organization, we would love to hear from you, so please reach out to anyone on the board or feel free to email info@sidesaddle.com, and we will respond as soon as possible. As a gentle reminder, please remember that all of our board members are volunteers and have other responsibilities outside of the organization so if you have not heard from someone in what you feel is a timely fashion, please reach out again as we would love to hear from you! We are also are on Facebook, so don't forget to check us out there for upcoming events!
Stay Safe & Kick on!
Tammie Conway, PharmD, BCPS
ISSO Secretary & co-editor of Aside World
If you would like to announce important information in the next Aside World please email info@sidesaddle.com so that we can feature it!