OPEA President letters

OPEA President’s Letter (April 2010)

Dear OPEA Membership,

The PHBA National Convention is again history for this year.  It was held in Fort Worth and hosted by Texas PEA and they did a spectacular job.  This year gave me renewed hope in our association – there was a lot of cooperation and camaraderie among the delegates and it seemed like a lot got accomplished.  The dedication was quite evident among all those in attendance to make PHBA better.  As OPEA President I attended the President’s breakfast and there were a lot of stories told and shared experiences by members and Past PHBA Presidents that really touched me.  At the end of this, I knew that PHBA would succeed and flourish in the years to come.  PHBA is in the hands of great leadership with our new COO, Trigg Renfro, and the EB.  The EB presented plans for a cooperative marketing effort with AQHA.  With Trigg’s prior service with AQHA, I am confident that he will help bring us through some tough times.  In addition, our past OPEA President Bud Missel was installed as the 2010 PHBA President.  I am quite confident in Bud’s abilities to lead this association and excited about his taking us the next step into a successful and growing future.

At the convention banquet, OPEA had a lot of award winners and I want to congratulate each and every one of you for a very successful 2009 show season.  Pictures and recognition of these people and their horses can be found in this web site under 2010 Convention.

The 2010 show season is fast approaching; in fact, some have already been to the stock shows and done well.  OPEA’s first show weekend will be Memorial Day weekend (May 29, 30, and 31) in Chickasha.  Information on this show can also be found on this web site along with a show bill.  Kay and LB Burleson will be show managers for the show and I am sure they would welcome any questions or comments you might have.  Please get your stall and hotel reservations made early as this promises to be another good show.

In my last letter I indicated that we had found a replacement for OPEA show secretary – Donna McMorris.  Since then Donna contacted me and said she could not fulfill this position.  She has a new full-time job that is going to require her to work weekends and some holidays, including Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.  Jo Long, who has been show secretary for Paint / Pinto shows in Oklahoma for a number of years, has agreed to help us out in this capacity.  Thank you Jo.  I never would have thought that it would be as hard as it has been to find a replacement for our past secretary Linda Morree.  However, this has been an arduous task and I appreciate all that have helped in this, especially Lois Smith.

I have referred to the web site a few times already in this letter and am very proud to say that this is current with information on the shows, members, etc.  Sandy Bendele and Lindsey Missel have put a great deal of effort into this the last 3 months and I really appreciate it.  In addition we now have a Facebook site.  Jordan Miller put this on for us a couple of weeks ago and started with 29 friends.  We now have around 300 friends, so the word is getting out.

On a lighter note – I was left at home last weekend with a very pregnant mare and she decided to foal on Easter Day (4:45 in the morning).  I had been up for 2 nights with very little sleep checking on her.  The delivery was successful and she had a beautiful palomino colt – the first palomino we have had born on our place.  The problem was that the colt would not nurse and we had to bottle feed it for a couple of days (every 2 hours).  It was sucking everything in site but where it was suppose to (the mares chest, flanks, the walls of the stall, the water bucket, etc).  On the third day we finally got it straightened out and on track.  We put him and the mare out in the pasture yesterday and it was so much fun to watch them.  He was running and bucking and giving the mare fits.  All I could think of was – what a miracle and spring is finally here.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Memorial Day circuit in late May.  If you have any questions or comments regarding OPEA, please feel free to email me at WKMNSI@aol.com or phone at 918-633-8575 (cell) or 918-455-2022 (home). 

Bill Miller

OPEA President’s Letter (April 2010)

Dear OPEA Membership,

The PHBA National Convention is again history for this year.  It was held in Fort Worth and hosted by Texas PEA and they did a spectacular job.  This year gave me renewed hope in our association – there was a lot of cooperation and camaraderie among the delegates and it seemed like a lot got accomplished.  The dedication was quite evident among all those in attendance to make PHBA better.  As OPEA President I attended the President’s breakfast and there were a lot of stories told and shared experiences by members and Past PHBA Presidents that really touched me.  At the end of this, I knew that PHBA would succeed and flourish in the years to come.  PHBA is in the hands of great leadership with our new COO, Trigg Renfro, and the EB.  The EB presented plans for a cooperative marketing effort with AQHA.  With Trigg’s prior service with AQHA, I am confident that he will help bring us through some tough times.  In addition, our past OPEA President Bud Missel was installed as the 2010 PHBA President.  I am quite confident in Bud’s abilities to lead this association and excited about his taking us the next step into a successful and growing future.

At the convention banquet, OPEA had a lot of award winners and I want to congratulate each and every one of you for a very successful 2009 show season.  Pictures and recognition of these people and their horses can be found in this website under 2010 Convention.

The 2010 show season is fast approaching; in fact, some have already been to the stock shows and done well.  OPEA’s first show weekend will be Memorial Day weekend (May 29, 30, and 31) in Chickasha.  Information on this show can also be found on this website along with a show bill.  Kay and LB Burleson will be show managers for the show and I am sure they would welcome any questions or comments you might have.  Please get your stall and hotel reservations made early as this promises to be another good show.

In my last letter I indicated that we had found a replacement for OPEA show secretary – Donna McMorris.  Since then Donna contacted me and said she could not fulfill this position.  She has a new full-time job that is going to require her to work weekends and some holidays, including Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.  Jo Long, who has been show secretary for Paint / Pinto shows in Oklahoma for a number of years, has agreed to help us out in this capacity.  Thank you Jo.  I never would have thought that it would be as hard as it has been to find a replacement for our past secretary Linda Morree.  However, this has been an arduous task and I appreciate all that have helped in this, especially Lois Smith.

I have referred to the website a few times already in this letter and am very proud to say that this is current with information on the shows, members, etc.  Sandy Bendele and Lindsey Missel have put a great deal of effort into this the last 3 months and I really appreciate it.  In addition we now have a Facebook site.  Jordan Miller put this on for us a couple of weeks ago and started with 29 friends.  We now have around 300 friends, so the word is getting out.

On a lighter note – I was left at home last weekend with a very pregnant mare and she decided to foal on Easter Day (4:45 in the morning).  I had been up for 2 nights with very little sleep checking on her.  The delivery was successful and she had a beautiful palomino colt – the first palomino we have had born on our place.  The problem was that the colt would not nurse and we had to bottle feed it for a couple of days (every 2 hours).  It was sucking everything in site but where it was suppose to (the mares chest, flanks, the walls of the stall, the water bucket, etc).  On the third day we finally got it straightened out and on track.  We put him and the mare out in the pasture yesterday and it was so much fun to watch them.  He was running and bucking and giving the mare fits.  All I could think of was – what a miracle and spring is finally here.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Memorial Day circuit in late May.  If you have any questions or comments regarding OPEA, please feel free to email me at WKMNSI@aol.com or phone at 918-633-8575 (cell) or 918-455-2022 (home). 

Bill Miller

Past letters:

OPEA President’s Letter (March 2010)

Dear OPEA Membership,

As your 2010 OPEA President I want to say that I am excited about serving this year and look forward to another fun show season.  We will be having our Memorial Day show in Chickasha on May 29, 30, and 31; the Labor Day Show and Go-For-The-Gold Futurity in Tulsa on September 4, 5, and 6, and the Thanksgiving Classic Show in Chickasha on November 27-28.  We are also kicking around the idea of a Palomino-Open show in Claremore on August 7-8.  As in the past, the OPEA board and show committee are dedicated to seeing that we provide good facilities and a fun show atmosphere for our exhibitors.  So I want to invite everyone who has showed with us in the past and those that are new to Palomino to come join us.

As you all know PHBA, OPEA, and the horse industry in general have been going through some tough economic times over the past few years.  It is through your support of our association with memberships, show class sponsorships, and participation in our shows that we are able to continue to provide the venue for you to show your Palomino horses.  I want to encourage everyone to continue this support of OPEA and let us know what we can do to improve the association.

One thing that we are diligently working on this year is getting the OPEA website updated to provide you the most current information on our shows, contacts, news items, show results, etc.  While this is a work in progress, I hope you will find the OPEA information you need.  If not please contact me.

Also this year, you will see a change in the show office.  I am very sorry to say that Linda Morree stepped down at the end of last year as our show and club secretary after 23 years serving OPEA.  She and Jerry (her husband) have been strong supporters of OPEA and I personally want to thank them both for all their hard work.  They will both be missed a great deal, but I’m sure we will see them around at some of the shows.  As OPEA members, please let them know how much we appreciate everything they have done over the years.

Our new show secretary will be Donna McMorris.  Donna lives in Claremore with her husband Jeremy and 5 children.  Donna is the current show secretary for the Oklahoma Buckskin Asso. and is very excited about the opportunity to serve in this capacity with OPEA.  Our interim club secretary is Libby Crandell, who also has and will continue to serve as our accounting support.  Donna and Libby thank you so much for stepping in to fill these positions.  Also, I want to express gratitude to all of those that have stepped up to serve on our board of directors and committees for 2010.

One reminder – the PHBA National Convention is quickly approaching.  This year it will be held in Fort Worth, Texas March 24-27th .  I hope to see many of our OPEA members there having fun, but also working hard to help insure the future of PHBA continues to be the association you want it to be.

That is about it for now.  If you have any questions or comments regarding OPEA, please feel free to email me at WKMNSI@aol.com or phone at 918-633-8575 (cell) or 918-455-2022 (home).  Again, I look forwarded to serving as your 2010 President.

Bill Miller