PRESIDENT'S COLUMN UPDATE — WEBSITE, May 1, 2013

What a month it has been since I wrote my first letter after returning to the office of President of the WPRA! The Association has grown by leaps and bounds since I retired in 2003. It took many hours each day, of my first two weeks in office, for our Executive Secretary, Janet Cropper, to get me caught up on all aspects of the WPRA business. We now have the Futurity Division, the Junior Division, the PESI Program that we did not have before. Along with these new programs come new members, new directors, new rules, more sponsors, more bookwork , and a lot of growth for the WPRA. To function more efficiently with the new growth, the Board now has committees that meet by conference calling to address specific areas of WPRA business. The full board meets monthly, or more frequently if needed, also by conference calls. By the way, yes, we get a very good rate per minute on the calls! The committees are: the Business Committee, the Magazine Committee, the Rodeo/Competition Committee, the Marketing and Sponsorship Committee, and the Rule Book Committee. These committees work very efficiently and take their findings and recommendations back to the full board. Meeting by telephone has saved the WPRA a lot of money over the past several years. We are currently having one face to face meeting a year in the spring when the new board is seated.

The Spring Board Meeting was held in Colorado Springs April 23 and 24th. I took this opportunity to go to the Springs a couple of days early to meet the office staff, the PRCA and get to see our office. I was very pleasantly surprised by all! Our office is very nice and meets our needs well. It is just a block from the Courthouse and downtown, and was occupied by a law firm before we purchased it in 2008. Built in the 1960's, it is very unique building with a lot of charm! It is large enough to meet the needs of our growing Association and allows each employee to have their own comfortable office. We also purchased the building next door for a rental property. This has proven to be a very wise decision as the tenant has signed a five year lease.

The PRCA staff made me feel very welcomed, as I happened to arrive during their employee appreciation breakfast, so I got to renew many old friendships. The Commissioner and I met and got caught up on all the rodeo business involving the WPRA and PRCA. He was a very gracious host, and I greatly appreciate him taking the time to meet with me. Kay Bleakly and I also had a productive meeting discussing everything from Rodeo Pay to timing the barrel race.

Congratulations to Brittany Pozzi on her big win at the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo. What an exciting barrel race it was! Carlee Pierce won the first two rounds, the average, and won the most money of the weekend. However, it was Brittany Pozzi that took command in the semis and the final round to take home the $20,000 voucher for a Ram truck of her choice, a beautiful Twister saddle, a gorgeous Montana Silversmith buckle, and $19,125! Congratulations also goes to Cindy Smith for a third place win which gives her the Calgary qualification from the RNCFR. Since Pozzi and Pierce were already qualified, we dropped down to third to get the qualifier. A big hats off and thank you goes to the PRCA, Ram Rodeo, and Express Lazy E Sports Productions for such a great event!

Steve Thorton and his crew at Safe Arena Footing are on target to reach their goal of making the ground at the Calgary Stampede safer and more consistent than it has ever been before. They have had two conference calls with six contestants that have competed at Calgary many times to get their opinion on the ground and how to make it better. These contestants offered very valuable information based on their experiences at Calgary. The SAF crew is extremely knowledgeable in all types of ground and what it takes to have safety and consistency. Remember they are always willing to help you or a committee improve the ground conditions at the rodeo or at home!

Your directors are constantly working toward getting the limited entry rodeos to open their entries in the barrel race. Turquoise Director, Sarah Kieckhefer has gotten Prescott to open their entries this year. Melanie Luark, Mountain States Director, has also reached an agreement with Cheyenne to drop their limits. Good job to those two directors! Let's hope more limited entry rodeos will follow these examples.

Thank you to all members who have submitted a rule proposal for 2014. We have received many proposals, and they will be given careful consideration by the Rules Committee and the Board. There is still time to get a proposal in before the May 15th deadline by visiting www.wpra.com or calling your director.

Have a winning May, and most of all, be safe!

Carolynn Vietor

In order to lead our Association forward, and pull together for one goal, I will do my best to improve the communication between the membership and the Board. Hopefully, the "Members Only" login page will become a reality in the near future. This would give us an avenue to inform the membership of the important issues at hand in a timely manner, and also gain feedback from them. By the time you are reading this column, the Board will have met in Colorado Springs, and decisions will have been made that will affect all of us. I will do my best to get the information on the outcome of this meeting out to the members as quickly as I can, but also feel free to contact me or your circuit director if you have questions or concerns.

It is very exciting to see the WPRA World Finals going back to Texas. Waco and their fabulous Extraco Events center should be a perfect match for our finals. The dates are set for October 23-27, so start making plans to attend. You'll be glad you did! It will be great to see all our ropers again, but I must say it won't be the same for me without the roughstock riders! At least this time, I won't be terrified like I used to every time Jan Youren got on a bareback horse!

By the time you receive this issue, many of you will be headed to California for the Silver Tour Rodeos. Hope the rains hold off so that everyone has dry ground. If you don't head to California, there are still lots of good rodeos in Texas including a WPRA Qualifying Tour Rodeo in Corpus Christi. Where ever you decide to go, good luck and be safe!

In closing, I would like to thank all of you who supported me in this election. Thank you for the confidence you have in me to be President once again. I promise to try to keep you informed, listen to your concerns, and do my best to do something about it! Please feel free to contact me any time.

Carolynn Vietor