Perspectives<\/p>\n
The years since 1968 have brought many changes to the Orinda Horseman’s Association.
\nThe Orinda girls for whose horses the pasture was first leased have grown up and gone
\ntheir separate ways. Only a few of them remain as proprietary members.<\/p>\n
The major highly contentious problems of the earlier years, health maintenance of the
\nherd, group and individual feeding, work requirements, rotation of the herd among the
\npastures and other problems discussed in this paper, mostly have been resolved, at least
\nto the satisfaction of the majority of the members. The Association has by the end of the
\n1990’s reached maturity. Processes for decision making have evolved on a democratic basis.
\nSince the issuance of the EBMUD policy directives announced in Mr. Robert Nuzum’s letter
\nto the OHA on 2\/9\/93 for “No Net Impact” pasture management, there has been
\nincreased involvement of representatives of EBMUD in management of the leased properties.
\nThe Association has worked cooperatively with the District toward achieving the policy
\nobjective.<\/p>\n
With respect to internal administration, the current association President, Fred Goff,
\nhas delegated assignments to its members who have the incentive of earning work credit for
\nperformance, and hence are held accountable. This management style appears to be
\neffective, and well received by members. Members are working more closely together in the
\ninterest of the whole OHA.<\/p>\n
The involvement of young people in horsemanship was an important element to the EBMUD’s
\ndecision to lease property to OHA in 1968. President Morris Older, in his report to the
\nmembership, 9\/25\/94 noted that “there are fourteen kids, under 16 years of age, who
\nare now riding. They are an important part of the OHA, and it is encouraging that they are
\nparticipating.”<\/p>\n
The encouragement of young riders again should be reemphasized as an important
\nobjective of the Orinda Horseman’s Association. Several members, notably Gailyn Johnson,
\nemphasized the need for a Youth Program. It is suggested that a committee of three, one of
\nwhom is a Board member be appointed by the President to develop such a program and that
\nmembers volunteer the use of gentle, older horses for training purposes. Adult
\nsupervision, of course would be essential.<\/p>\n
To encourage all around riding skills, the Association’s arena needs to be taken more
\nseriously. Members desirous of developing skills in arena events have been disappointed
\nover the years with the condition in which the arena is maintained. The surface at first
\nwas hard and rocky, damaging to horses hooves and so it was decided to rototill the
\nsurface and to improve texture by spreading manure and wood chips. Years ago, Laurie
\nAllen, in charge of getting the ring in shape for use, proposed buying sand to cover the
\nsurface but the board found that solution to be prohibitively expensive so no action was
\ntaken. In June 1995, Fred Goff completed a research report setting forth options for
\nresurfacing the ring along with cost estimates. He presented his report to members, but
\nthe record does not show any action to date so the riding ring has fallen short of
\nexpectations..The improvement of the surface of the arena should be a high priority, and
\nthe Board of Directors should be prepared to make funds available for this purpose.
\nPerhaps a new approach to the EBMUD for capital improvement rebate funds to improve the
\narena for youth training would strike a sympathetic response.<\/p>\n
The Association is approaching thirty years of age. Members have benefited in many
\nways: they enjoy an idyllic location to engage in their favorite pastime at low cost;
\nopportunity to develop leadership and management skills; and importantly, to work
\ncooperatively and constructively to achieve mutual objectives. With the Orinda Horseman
\nAssociation’s members continued commitment to work together the succeeding years will
\nprove to be as challenging and successful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perspectives The years since 1968 have brought many changes to the Orinda Horseman’s Association. The Orinda girls for whose horses the pasture was first leased have grown up and gone their separate ways. Only a few of them remain as proprietary members. The major highly contentious problems of the earlier years, health maintenance of the… Read More »Perspectives<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":147,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220\/revisions\/819"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orindahorsemen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}