RUS NY Meeting to Focus on Uncertainties Being Caused By Coronavirus

Like so many others, committee members of RUS New York are preparing and navigating through this uncertain time created by Coronavirus (COVID-19). 

While many things are being canceled, some being rescheduled out as far as September, the reality is we cannot be sure our racing season will be held as planned. For now, everyone in the state is being told to stay home unless it is for “essential” reasons and the reality is this probably is not going away anytime soon even if the president loosens up restrictions. New York is being hit hard. 

We will be holding a meeting at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 5 via Facebook video chat to discuss these uncertainties and plans moving forward. If there is anyone that would like to get involved and is not on the video chat group already please contact RUS NY President Cathy Gearwar at fourgears@shoreham.net or call (802) 537-2145. She may also be able to arrange alternate ways of being involved if Facebook is not an option. 

It may seem like the least important time to get involved, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. We will need the support and commitment to the group more now than ever. Please get involved and we appreciate any support during these times. We thank all our fans and supporters and hope you and your families are staying safe. We hope to see you out at our events sooner rather than later! 

Meeting Set

RUS NY will be hosting a meeting on March 28th, 2018 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be hosted at member Heather Reese's house at 5913 Ennis Road, Durhamville, NY 13054.  

We would like to see as many people attend either in person or via Google Hangouts. Topics of discussion include: Tentative race dates, sponsorship's/fundraising, participation, and rules/regulations. This is an important meeting as the season is quickly approaching! Please contact RUS NY by email or a member if you would like to join via Google Hangouts to receive the link to participate. 

We hope you can join us as we anticipate the upcoming new season! 

Ashley Eldred

RUS NY President 

Annual Meeting Set

The RUS NY annual organizational meeting has been set for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27 at Jocelyn Gale’s house at 6157 Cooper Street, Vernon, NY 13476. If anyone cannot make the meeting, we encourage you to join via Google Hangouts. If you have not used this before, email Michelle Miller at mnmiller84@gmail.com for a link to join.

This meeting is very important for the future of RUS NY. As we reflect on this year, we will also be nominating people to serve on the group’s Management Committee.  If you would like to be a part of this committee, please make sure you attend the meeting in person or online. If you cannot attend for any reason, please contact a committee member with which position you or someone you’re nominating would like to be nominated for to be included in the ballot.

In the previous years, RUS NY has taken nominations for positions, and used a generated system online to create an anonymous ballot to elect officials. We will be using the same technique this year.  We are asking ALL MEMBERS to consider at least one skill they possess that can help RUS NY rather on the committee or not. We need as much support as we can get. The group must have at least seven people on the committee to keep RUS NY alive and running. Even if you do not want to be a  part of the committee and can still think of ways that you can contribute, please let us know and/or join the meeting.

Also, if you or someone you know is interested in contributing and/or riding, this is the perfect meeting to join in on, as we will be discussing the future of RUS NY as well. The sooner you get involved the better! Committee positions include: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer  and Directors. Things we need help with include but are not limited to promotions, fundraising, sponsorships, marketing/press, race coordination, networking, video and photos, education and outreach and help promoting the versatility of the standardbred breed.

RUS NY Seeks Involvement Going Forward

Racing Seems Far Away, But Planning Must Start NOW!!!

We have included the letter we sent out to all our members hoping to increase involvement. However, we need to reach non-members as well to increase membership and participation. Remember one does not need to ride to be a member. One also does not need to be from NY. If you have an interest in helping make the sport succeed and think you have something to offer please let us know. We can be reached via email at rusnewyorkseries@gmail.com. If you would like to learn more about membership and racing under saddle in New York and our group please visit http://rus-newyork.com. 

LETTER: 

The time has come for our group to reconnect and scrutinize this year's race season. As many know, our membership and participation levels we lower than any other year. RUS NY is a self-sustaining group, and without everyone’s involvement, the group cannot sustain on its own. We understand members are busy, and so we are reaching out to all of you to see who has interest in being a part of the team for the upcoming 2018 season.

As many know, our President, Michelle Miller, does not plan to run for reelection of the lead role of the group next year.  However, she will continue to be an active member. Therefore, we are also looking for individuals interested in being nominated for the available position as well as any other members interested in any other committee positions. We cannot nominate you or elect you unless we know you are interested.  We will have a year end meeting in December to vote on our Management Committee for the 2018 race season, and we encourage you to join us (date to be determined). Some things we look for in nominees are leadership, collaboration, self-motivation and creativity. We want to hear what you can bring to the table to help make our 2018 race season successful. If you do not want to run for a committee position but still want to help, we would like to hear from you too!

We would also like to hear from our riders and trainers. What were the greatest achievements this year? What can we change? Any rule changes and/or proposals? Who plans on racing next year? How can we make racing better? While we all know we can only keep asking for sponsors and donations for so long, we need to really work together if we want to survive, and eventually become a wagered event.

There was a drastic reduction in fair series participants this year. The proposal in which grants RUS NY the funds to accommodate those races, needs to be sent in by November. We know the fair series is a long ways away; however, if you know that you plan to participate and would like to see the fair series again next year, please let us know as soon as possible as we need to justify participation.

While there is a lot of business to discuss, we would like you to join in our meeting Monday, October 23rd, 2017. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. online on Google Hangout and can be joined at this link: https://hangouts.google.com/group/zlyvRUT9Z8CyCyE43. If you need to run a test to make sure it works please contact Michelle Miller at mnmiller84@gmail.com. If you cannot get online please let Michelle know where you are from and she will see if any other members are nearby you can get together with. Michelle will be connecting with everyone at her parent’s house to ensure good internet service. Anyone interested is invited to join her there. Please message her for an address.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that people plan to join us for the Oct. meeting as we need to know who plans to be involved in order to know how to move forward with the future of this group.

We do not want to perceive the entire season negatively as we were asked to go to more fairs, come back to tracks we raced at and even host more races at some of those tracks. However, we cannot commit to doing so unless we know we can put up the riders and horses.

Key Dates to keep in mind:

Nov. 19-USTA  District meeting in Saratoga and NYSS awards ceremony. The President of the new company that took over NYSS business said he would be in contact with Michelle soon about the awards ceremony. Please try to attend the district meeting to support RUS. Although we do not believe there are any new RUS proposals on the table this year the ones from last year still are up in the air as a Special RUS Committee was formed.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Ashley Eldred

RUS NY Secretary

RUS NY Sets Meeting

RUS New York will be hosting a meeting at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 23 at Jocelyn Gale’s home.

Those who plan to participate in RUS NY events are highly encouraged to attend. RUS NY Committee Members will be seeking volunteers for the organization’s first “fun show” on May 21 at Pure Country Campground in New Berlin. Final planning will take place during this meeting along with going over other very important topics such as rules and regulations, race dates and much more. 

Racing will begin before we know it and the goal is to get as much in place for the season as possible. 

Gale resides at 6157 Cooper Street in Vernon N.Y. Those who cannot physically attend are encouraged to contact Michelle Miller at mnmiller84@gmail.com with their email and phone number. We will be inviting people through Google Hangout Video Call so that we can include as many people as possible. If this form of communication does not work for everyone we may be able to figure out an alternative way to get everyone involved (we have a few that use FaceTime) so please contact Miller as soon as possible.

RUS NY Meeting Date Changed

RUS New York has changed its February meeting to Sunday, Feb. 19 instead of Monday, Feb. 20. 

The time and place will still be the same: 5:30 p.m. at Jocelyn Gale’s home. 

This is a very important meeting  as there is much to be discussed such as sponsorships, the fair series, racing rules and much more.  Anyone who wants to participate in RUS NY events are highly encouraged to attend.

Gale resides at 6157 Cooper Street in Vernon N.Y. Those who cannot physically attend are encouraged to contact Michelle Miller at mnmiller84@gmail.com with their email and phone number. We will be inviting people through Google Hangout Video Call so that we can include as many people as possible. If this form of communication does not work for everyone we may be able to figure out an alternative way to get everyone involved (we have a few that use FaceTime) so please contact Miller as soon as possible.

RUS NY Calls Meeting, Important To Be Involved.

RUS New York will be hosting a meeting at noon Wednesday July 27. The meeting will be held at Jocelyn Gale's house at  6157 Cooper Street in Vernon N.Y.  

For those who cannot be present please join us via Google Hangout, FaceTime or even phone. This meeting will discuss upcoming races, fundraising, conditions and participation. All attendance is highly recommended.

Contact Michelle Miller about connecting via internet or phone at mnmiller84@gmail.com.

For those who can't make it Wednesday via in person, video chat or phone, please send anything you would like discussed to our group email at rusnewyorkseries@gmail.com or speak with a member of the Management Committee that will be able to participate.