PRESIDENT'S COLUMN UPDATE — WEBSITE, January 5, 2012
What a great and exciting Wrangler National Finals Rodeo! Congratulations to Lindsay Sears the 2011 WPRA World Champion Barrel Racer! The top 15 barrel racers in the world that represented the WPRA at the Wrangler NFR did a tremendous job. These ladies traveled all over the United States and Canada this past year and were the face of our organization. I do not think that we could have been better represented. I was so impressed with these women at our Star Celebration when Pam Minick visited with each of them and asked questions about their year and their horses.

Our thanks to Las Vegas Events for the great hospitality that they extended to all of the contestants at the Wrangler NFR. Shawn Davis, the general manager of the NFR, works very hard to make sure the ground is good and consistent for all the events for 10 consecutive performances. This year more sand was added to the ground and most of the barrel racers seemed to agree that this was probably the best ground that they had run on at the National Finals. Our thanks to Shawn Davis for his hard work and expertise to make sure that the Wrangler NFR continues to be the best rodeo in the world.

This year at the Wrangler NFR, the WPRA again had a presence at the round table discussions during the PRCA convention. We centered our discussions around guidelines for good ground for the entire rodeo one day and tips for good ground at outside and indoor facilities the next day.

We had some excellent speakers and the presentations were very well received by the committees each day. They felt they received some excellent information and left with contacts for Safe Arena Footing, a new committee dedicated to safe arena ground conditions for all disciplines. Committees can call this group to ask for advice concerning their ground. We would like to thank all of our committees for their hard work throughout the year in preparing for their events. The committees are so important to our industry and without them there would not be places for our members and their talented equine athletes to compete and win money.

Forty eight committees received Justin Best Footing Awards at the WPRA Star Celebration held at the Wrangler NFR and it was your votes that allowed us to recognize these committees. All of these committees worked very hard to provide consistent and safe ground for the barrel race and the entire rodeo. These awards are much sought after by the committees and this program is very important to our association. When you are at a rodeo and the ground is good or improved, be sure to say thank you to a committee member and remember to vote for them.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo will be having a WPRA approved barrel race in 2012 that will count towards the WPRA World Standings. Houston met with us at the Wrangler NFR and indicated they were interested in having an approved barrel race. We were aware that the time frame for getting the approval finalized was very short, but Houston is a long time, valued partner of the WPRA and the board felt we should make this effort. Houston delayed the closing of their books one week to give us more time to notify our members. There are some changes in the qualifications this year. Houston will be limited to 40 contestants this year instead of 50.

Qualification for Houston will be as follows; 1) The top 5 in the 2012 qualification standings as of December 1st, 2) The San Angelo 2012 winner will qualify for Houston. San Angelo is open to all WPRA card members and that will give one more opportunity for one of our members to qualify for the RodeoHouston, 3) The previous five Houston Series Champion, 4) The remainder will come from the 2011 qualification standings. If there are any overlaps we will drop down in the 2011 qualification standings. In order to compete at Houston, you have to be a current WPRA card holder. Houston and the WPRA have agreed that in 2012 negotiations for an approval will begin immediately after the rodeo and an announcement will be made early in the year.

2011 was a year marked with much progress for the WPRA. The Association enjoyed continued financial stability which in a period of economic uncertainty was no mere feat. We approved and processed over 500 rodeos. More than 900 events were co-approved and processed, ranging from barrel races, futurities/derbies, to roping jackpots. The PESI program is flourishing and expanding. Five of the qualifiers at the 2011 Wrangler NFR rode horses that were PESI stallion prodigy. Our roster of sponsors is growing and we will work very hard to make sure that continues. We had three general membership meetings across the country this year, along with a meeting of the top 15 at the NFR. These meetings give our members the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns on different matters. Our board feels that the input from these meetings is beneficial to them when they vote on the different issues. Our first general membership meeting of the year will be in Florida in February. We also plan to send out more surveys on different issues. Our response was good and the information gathered in these surveys serves as a great benefit to our board when making decisions that affect the membership. The 2011 World Finals held in Lincoln this year continued its successful turnaround with increased participation and a positive bottom line. Lastly but most important, I believe you have a great board as I have said many times this year. I am so impressed with the way they strive to represent all the members in their circuits, but at the same time recognize that it is equally important to think of the future of the WPRA. This sometimes calls for a delicate balance and they seem to do it well. They function as a team and they are truly a pleasure to work with.

WPRA elections will be held in the spring. You will be receiving your nomination ballots in January, if the term for your circuit director is expiring. It is very important for everyone to participate in the election process.

Good luck in the coming year of competition and travel safe to those early winter rodeos.

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN UPDATE — WEBSITE, November 1, 2011
The World Finals held in Lincoln, Neb., at the Lancaster Events Center was a very exciting event this year. The entries were up in nearly all of the events and contestants drove to Lincoln from all over the country. All of the 12 circuits were represented. We had team ropers that came from as far away as Virginia.

There was amazing talent in all of the different divisions. The special Saturday night performance, which was new this year, was well received. It was Tough Enough to Wear Pink night and there was a big crowd, with several standing room only fans, which made it fun. There were great times in all three of the roping events in the bonus round on Saturday night with the World and Reserve Champions being recognized after the events. The crowd loved the roping and appreciated the talent they had and the opportunity to watch.

We crowned the Junior World Champion that night and presented her championship to her in the arena. It was a great story and truly a family effort to win the championship with her grandmother hauling her horse on different occasions. Congratulations to Kylar Terlip on Fire Powered Jet and her family. We finished the evening with the exciting Pro Futurity Slot Race, which was won by Cindy Smith a former NFR qualifier on her good young horse Wood B Smoking Fame.

The WPRA would like to congratulate all of the World Champions in all the divisions and the event winners. Complete coverage will be available in the December issue of the Women's Pro Rodeo News. Also our thanks to our staff from our office - Janet Cropper, Kelsey Larson, and Mindy Anderson - who took the entries and then went to Lincoln to help run the office. Robin Hoffman and her staff were the event coordinators and also did a great job. Susie McConaghie, the futurity/derby director, continues to grow that division and had a very successful event this year. Jessica Moore's baby was due any day and she and her family ran off the roping end without a hitch. I think that is above and beyond a roping director's duty. Thanks Jessica to you and your family. Katie Hollingsworth secured many of the all important sponsors for the event. There were many nice awards for all the divisions that different people helped to get. Our thanks to all those who played a part in making this event so great. It takes a tremendous effort by many people to put on this event and the WPRA board very much appreciates your hard work.

We had a general membership meeting at the World Finals with a lot of good input. It was really nice to have all of the different divisions of the association represented at one meeting. Thanks to those who took the time to attend. The WPRA Board of Directors had a strategic planning meeting at the World Finals and it was a great opportunity for many of the board members to see the Finals and get a feel for how it was run. Several of our directors competed. I think they were all very impressed with the event and had a good time.

Congratulations to Sue Smith, the winner of the Justin Boots Championship. She made her final winning run on Sept. 24 to a packed house. It was a great performance and the barrel racing was close which made it exciting and the crowd loved it. A win at Omaha also, moved Britany Fleck into the top 15 and secured her a spot at the NFR.

The All American Finals concluded the same weekend as the World Finals. What a great week for WPRA barrel racing. Thirty barrel racers, who had qualified from All American Rodeos throughout the country, came to Waco to compete for over $60,000 in prize money. After 10 performances the field was narrowed from 30 to only eight for the last performance and then to four in that same performance. What an exciting format that the crowd loves to watch. Sherrylynn Johnson a former NFR qualifier from Oklahoma came away with the win and Jewels DeNapoli from Florida was a close second. Congratulations to these ladies and all the qualifiers.

Many of the Circuit Finals have been held and half of the slate of barrel racers to compete at the Ram National Circuit Finals has been determined. It is shaping up to be a good barrel race in Oklahoma City in 2012. Congratulations to the qualifiers from the Badlands, California, and Turquoise Circuits, who had already crowned their champions at press time.

Brittany Pozzi will lead the field of the top 15 barrel racers in the World into the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. As usual it was a race down to the wire for those last few positions. Tammy Fischer wound up in the 15th position. Midway through the year, after a 19 month layoff, Tammy returned to competition on her good horse Roundpen who has carried her to several NFRs and she rose quickly in the standings. We have three former World Champions in the top three positions, eight past NFR qualifiers and four first time qualifiers. It should prove to be another exciting NFR. I along with barrel racing fans everywhere will be looking forward to watching these talented riders and horses compete in 10 performances in Las Vegas with a world title on the line.

Good luck to everyone who has begun the 2012 rodeo season and good luck to those who still have your Circuit Finals remaining.

Travel safe,
Jimmie

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN UPDATE — WEBSITE, October 3, 2011
The 2011 point year has ended and we are beginning the 2012 year. I hope many of you are planning on attending the World Finals in Lincoln, Neb. Our total entries are up and we are looking forward to a great event. We will be having our last general membership meeting of the year at the World Finals. If you are in Lincoln for the finals, plan to attend. These meetings are a great way for us to get your input which will help the directors when they make decisions that affect the entire membership.

We have discussed the 30 hour replacement rule at the membership meetings. Many of our members have had the opportunity to move into these rodeos when there were turnouts. With this rule, it is important to remember to enter these rodeos whether you qualify or not because you just might get in.

We had a good membership meeting at Pendleton and I want to thank all the members that took the time to attend. We had good input from the members that came. It was great to see some friends that I had not seen in a number of years and we appreciated the great hospitality from the Pendleton Round-Up Committee. What a legendary rodeo! I had never been and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is so much history and tradition there. It is truly one of the last of its kind and they do love the barrel race there. You can read the minutes from the meeting online.

Just a reminder to everyone, that you have only two releases for the year. Use them wisely and keep up with how many you have used. Turnouts are a problem in all the events including ours. Committees are counting on you to be there when you enter and when there are turnouts, it hurts their rodeo.

It is a very good idea to always check to see if there are any special ground rules for the rodeo posted in the rodeo office or online. Also if you are entered, be sure to read the ground rules for the All American Finals, RNCF, and the Wrangler NFR.

We have three new sets of timers that have been donated to the WPRA. They are two timers in one unit. We are very excited about trying these timers at the World Finals and the All American Finals. Our thanks to the donor.

Congratulations to our members who have qualified for their Circuit Finals, the All American Finals, and the Wrangler NFR. Hope to see you in Lincoln at the World Finals. Good luck in the coming year and travel safe wherever you may be going.

Jimmie Munroe

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN UPDATE — WEBSITE, September1, 2011
The general membership meetings in Cheyenne and Salinas went very well. We received some great input and suggestions from the members. I enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting members that I did not know. The minutes from these meetings can be found on our web site if you would like to read them. I am looking forward to our next general membership meeting in Pendleton on September 13th after the slack. If you are in the area, I hope you will try and attend.

In August, I attended my first Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund Meeting since being elected President. I very much enjoy serving on this board. They continue to do so much good for all rodeo contestants and their families including barrel racers. What a great group of people who volunteer their time to serve on this board and Justin Boots is to be commended for initiating this program in the late 1980's. They were the first to address helping rodeo contestants and their families financially who had suffered catastrophic injuries.

The competition year is winding down with many year-end finals right around the corner. The Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Justin Boots Playoff in Puyallup, Wash., will be taking the top 24 in the Tour standings and the top 12 from Puyallup will advance to the Justin Boots Championship in Omaha, Neb., for the final stop on the Tour. In October, the top 30 in the All-American Standings will be traveling to Waco, Texas where the All-American Finals will be held. The barrel racers will be competing for almost $67,000.00 in purse money. The year is also drawing to a close for the circuits. Hope you have kept up with your rodeo count and have gone to enough rodeos in your circuit to qualify. The first circuit finals will be held the last weekend of September in Las Cruces, N.M. and the next two will be held in early October in Minot, N.D. and Lancaster, Calif.. If you would like to compete at some of these different finals that I have just talked about and have not qualified, be sure to enter because you have no way of knowing how far they might have to drop down in the standings to fill the event.

The WPRA World Finals will again be held in Lincoln, Neb., at the Lancaster Event Center. After coming off of a very successful year in 2010, the WPRA World Finals is looking forward to an even better event this year with over $80,000 in added money. There is an opportunity for all our members to come and compete for large purses and have a great time. Events include a barrel race for WPRA card holders, a permit-only barrel race, a junior barrel race, a futurity/derby for your young horses and three roping events. World Champions will be crowned in the Junior, Futurity/Derby, Team Roping, Breakaway Roping, Tie-Down Roping, and All-Around. There will also be a separate event (including all three roping events and barrel racing) that will count towards the 2012 All-Women's Standings. It will be good way to get a head start for next year. The WPRA card holder barrel race will count toward the 2012 standings that will be used for qualification into the limited-entry rodeos, but will not count toward any other standings (WNFR, etc). However, in order for it to count, the contestant must have competed at a minimum of 10 WPRA/PRCA Rodeos. I will be looking forward to seeing you at the WPRA World Finals. Hope you will be there.

The ballots for the Justin Best Footing Awards will be mailed to you in the near future. Be sure that you vote. This is a very important award and we want to make sure the committees, that work hard to make sure their ground is in excellent condition and consistent for every performance, are recognized. One of our members at the Salinas general membership meetings had a very good suggestion. When you see a committee person out in the arena on a tractor working the ground, it never hurts to go up and thank them for their efforts in making sure the ground is safe for the entire rodeo. A big "Hats off" to the Bonifay, Fla. committee. Their rodeo is held each year in October on a football field. This year they are going to take up the grass turf around the barrels and work up that ground for the rodeo. After the rodeo, they will have to replace the turf for the remainder of the football season. This is all to insure the safety of the horses and riders.

The humane issue in all equestrian disciplines is under such close scrutiny today. We must patrol our own event, so that people outside our industry will not try to do this for us. The over-all picture that we present of our event is very important to our association and the sport of professional rodeo. Our members are excellent horsewomen and ride some of the best horses in the sport. Our horses are also some of the best taken care of on the road. That is the image we always want to portray.

The last few months of the year are a very busy and sometimes a stressful time for many of our members as it is for the ladies who work in our office. My thanks to them for their hard work and the great job they do for our association.

Good luck to everyone for the remainder of the year.

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN UPDATE — WEBSITE, August 1, 2011
The rodeo season is at it's height with the Fourth of July run completed and a great deal of money left to be won the rest of the month. I hope everyone had a great Fourth and if you spent it barrel racing, I hope that it was a profitable holiday.

Your board is working very hard to continue to open the lines of communication between the association and our members. One way we plan to do that is to send out membership surveys. We have just received the results of the first survey and we feel the response was very good. If you would like to see the results of the survey, you can go to the web site. The surveys will let us know what is on your mind and how you feel about certain issues. I think they will help the board as they make decisions that affect the entire membership. We have started to put together topics for the next survey and would like to have your input.

The ground rules for the World Finals have been approved and are on line. The World Finals Committee is working very hard to make sure the event is even more successful this year. The World Finals offers something for all our members whether you have a card, permit, roping card, or Jr. membership. There is also a futurity and derby for members who have young horses. You can find out more about the World Finals on our web site and be sure to read the press release to find out all the particulars and plan to attend. The money won in the WPRA barrel race at the World Finals will count for the 2012 standings that will be used towards qualification into the limited entry rodeos. It WILL NOT count towards any other standings (WNFR, etc). In addition in order for it to count, the contestant must have competed at a minimum of 10 PRCA/WPRA rodeos during the 2011 rodeo season.

Also many of you may be entering and competing at the All-American Rodeos through out the country in order to qualify for that finals. You have to be in the top 30 in the standings and to have competed at 30 All American Rodeos to be able to qualify for the finals. It is another great opportunity to qualify and compete at a finals with a large purse. The money won there will count toward the 2011 standings that will be used for qualification into the limited entry rodeos. The WPRA would again like to express out thanks to Mary and Troy Gibbs for making a generous donation to the purse at the All- American Finals.

This is the first year for the 30 hour replacement rule. We only have it in place at the limited entry rodeos. We would like to know if you think this is a help and how many of you are actually taking advantage of it. The PRCA has extended this rule into more rodeos and we will be discussing the possibility of doing the same thing. The rodeo committees are vitally important to the rodeo industry. Without the rodeo committees there would not be venues for the contestants to showcase their talents. They work very hard to put on their events and they need us to be there. We want to do anything we can to help prevent turnouts.

Some of you have asked questions about the WPRA office's priorities and specifically whatever happened with the development of a new data base. Let me catch you up on where we are. The effort to re-build the data base was started in the summer of 2008 and continued through all of 2009. During that time the scope of the project kept changing, as the staff learned more about the office's operational functions and how to process all the transactions needed to run the association. While data base code and a test environment were delivered in February of 2010, it was apparent more investments would need to be made to keep up with the evolving activities of the office and the technology needed to support a customized solution. The project was stopped so the WPRA could re-access the practicality of a customized solution. Much value resulted from the project. As an example the office re-worked/streamlined rodeo & jackpot approval & results processes, they developed better procedures for tracking results, standings, releases, etc. and lastly they learned how to do more work efficiently with less staff. Delivering a new data base is one of our goals during the next 6 months. We will keep you informed on how this situation is progressing. One of the items the WPRA received from this project is a new and improved web-site that has improved the communication with the members. We are committed to providing better service to our members with greater efficiency.

Have a great rest of the summer. Travel safe and good luck.

7/1/11 Message from President Jimmie Munroe and Vice President Jerri Mann.
Hope you had a terrific 4th of July and got to enjoy some of the Cowboy Christmas cheer that was was abundant this past holiday weekend!

Both Jerri and I, just wanted to give you a “heads up" on some exciting additions the WPRA office has made to our web site in an effort to improve the flow of information to you... read more

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN UPDATE — WEBSITE, May 2, 2011
In my first communication to the members of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association as the newly elected President, I would like to thank those who encouraged me to run, and supported my nomination. To those of you who had the confidence in my leadership experience to vote for me I say a heartfelt thank you. It was encouraging to see a large voter "turnout" which says to me the membership is very interested in the direction their association is going. My intent is to represent every segment of our association and work in harmony with all our members, the Board, the sponsors, the rodeo committees and the PRCA. I especially look forward to working with all of the WPRA Board, many of whom I've never met.

Obviously it will take some time to become familiar with the WPRA staff, their various functions and to get a feel of what needs to be addressed first. I will be meeting with some present, past and future sponsors to see what mutually beneficial relationships we can establish and/or make stronger. As the heavy rodeo season rapidly approaches, I will be asking each Circuit Director to take a close look at each of her rodeo approvals, as they relate to slack, to see if anything can be done to eliminate potential conflicts with other rodeos and to solicit the help of others concerning any problems that may have occurred at particular rodeos last year. I will also be asking the staff to take a closer look at each approval for accuracy before it is published on our web site or in the Women's Pro Rodeo News. With the high cost of fuel, we need to eliminate needless trips by WPRA members if a change of slack times or other measures could benefit everyone.

Our first board meeting will be May 21-22 in Colorado Springs. We will have an agenda on the web site prior to the meeting. I know that I along with the directors would like your input on any of these items. If there is something you would like to have discussed at the meeting that is not on the agenda, please contact us and we will review it. After the meeting there will be a synopsis of the meeting on the web site. I would like for you to start thinking about rule proposals and rule changes for 2012. We have a deadline of June 1 to submit these proposals. If we can remain on schedule, we could possibly have our rule books ready in October to go out with our membership cards. This is a goal we should work toward. You can submit these proposals on the WPRA web site.

I want to thank Kathi Myers for her dedication to the WPRA for the past eight years. I have recently met with Kathi and she is committed to assure the transition goes as smoothly as possible and I certainly appreciate her efforts.

I would encourage anyone, whether you supported me in the election or not, to feel free to discuss with me any issues that you have about our association. Your comments and suggestions are important to me. As a reminder, the President of the WPRA does not have a vote. That is why it is very important to communicate with your Circuit Director who does.

I look forward to serving as your President.

Jimmie Munroe