From the President

Happy Frosty Days to FOSH Friends!

Our fantastic editor, Stephanie, has put together a wonderful Sound Advocate for you to enjoy during the next few winter months—unless you live in Florida, that is. There are several articles on clinics and with FOSH offering grants to defray the cost of a clinic or show, you may get some good ideas on what would be popular in your area, whether dressage, youth, Working Equitation, distance riding . . . ? Now is the perfect time to look for a facility, and reach out to your equine contacts to see what sounds good in 2023. The grant form is published in every issue along with our college scholarship form.

If you are considering Working Equitation, FOSH continues to be an avid supporter, and on a recent call of some of their members, I was impressed with the number of clinics, shows and even schooling shows that were being discussed and the considerations given to avoid conflicting dates. Check out their calendar at www.usawe. org as we get into 2023 to see if there is a local event. As events are still in the works, not everything is posted yet. During 2022, USAWE competitions continued to gain popularity, and they welcome gaited horses. It’s interesting that entries in traditional horse shows are declining, but WE is expanding—people are enjoying themselves!

We were saddened to learn that Kirsten Kuzmanic, an IJA judge and an Executive Advisory Council member, passed away in November. Kirsten was a dressage expert and generously shared her knowledge with us. We will miss her kind, generous spirit.

Did you notice there is a different photo with my President’s column? I wanted to show off our new rescue donkey, whom I’ve named Eli. Eli is a 12-year-old gelding whom we adopted as we had two extra stalls due to two horses passing this summer. Prior to arriving here, he lived at the Humane Society of Missouri in Union recuperating a couple months before becoming available for adoption. HSMO’s adoption list has horses, goats, pot-bellied pigs, sheep, ducks and even a flashy, 12-year-old gaited Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse gelding offered for a confident rider!

As this Congressional session closes down, we were happy to see the PAST Act pass the House in November. We recognize that it takes a long time for bills to pass in Congress and appreciate that there is still momentum and enthusiasm to reintroduce PAST until we get the job done!

Stay warm and if you have your camera handy on a snowy day, we would love photos of you and your horses—maybe we will use it for next year’s Winter cover.

Best, Teresa

Teresa Bippen FOSH President Tbippen1957@yahoo.com