Letter from the Publisher


A MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION Maryland’s Horse Month


By Neil Agate, MHC President Like just about every aspect of our lives this year, 2020 has been crazy


for the Maryland Horse Industry. With a myriad of changing restrictions and cancelled events, just caring for our horses has been a challenge, let alone running our businesses and promoting our great industry here in Maryland. One sliver of hope for our community has been the focus on social distancing, which has shone a light on riding as a relatively safe way of exercising when many other forms of exercise have restrictions. Being able to take a riding lesson or go on a trail ride is an easy way to exercise while social distancing and keeping us all safe. Earlier this year, a number of Maryland Horse Industry leaders were


part of the Governor’s pandemic recovery committee. As we endlessly discussed all aspects of the horse community, and how to get us all back out with our horses, we had a number of discussions about how this would affect Maryland’s traditional horse month of October. October is usually one of our busiest months with many horse shows,


races and other events every weekend during this fall month. Tis year many of these organized activities have, at best, had to be severely cur- tailed and many have been outright cancelled. So like many events and activities, we started to talk about how to highlight those activities that were proceeding and how to enhance this month of equine activities by providing online information and virtual activities to highlight the horse in Maryland. Te horse community has been working with the Maryland Office


of Tourism on highlighting a number of educational and experiential activities on one community site, marylandhorse.com, with the goal of introducing new people to the horse community and helping them get involved with horses. Te Maryland Horse Council along with Te Equiery and METS have been working on a number of contributions to Maryland Horse Month including an online educational series of webinars with the University of Maryland to introduce newcomers to the horse industry. Te series will cover finding a lesson program, what to wear and bring to your first les- son, what to think about when buying or leasing a horse and what to look for when thinking about buying a horse property. More details, dates and schedule can be found on page 43 of this issue. We have also combined a series of articles from Te Equiery on lesson


and trail riding barns with our online stable directory to provide a one single destination to easily find a riding program appropriate for all sorts of needs. In addition, the staff at Te Equiery have scanned our archives and


pulled together a series of horse related day trips and activities that can be enjoyed during these times of social distancing. Tese day trip ideas can be found both on equiery.com and marylandhorse.com. Te Mary-


land Horse Industry Board has also generated a list of socially distant tourist destinations, which can also be found on marylandhorse.com. Our very active MHC Farm Stewardship committee has worked dil-


igently to enhance and expand the information available to the horse community on making our horse farms truly sustainable and healthier for both horses and riders. An ever increasing listing of easy tips for a sustainable horse property as well as informative blog posts will be avail- able on the committee’s updated webpage. Other features that will be highlighted on MarylandHorse.com in-


clude a calendar of events that can either be attended in person or live streamed during the month. We would like to send out a challenge to our readers to participate in as many of these activities as possible. See page 44 of this issue for a fun game… prizes to the winner!


Upcoming for MHC Elections


By Kim Egan, MHC Nominating Committee Member Te time is drawing near for MHC members to vote on a new Board


of Directors. MHC hold elections for its Board of Directors every two years. Te Board consists of no more than 25 members, and as required by the MHC by-laws, is comprised of the proportionate number of rep- resentatives from each of the three MHC membership categories, i.e., Association, Industry Professional and Individual memberships. Te Executive Committee has appointed a Nominating Committee


to develop a slate of candidates to present to the membership. Mem- bers will received that slate at least 30 days before the November annual meeting. You can see a list of the current Directors at https://www.md- horsecouncil.org/about-us/governance/board-of-directors. Keep an eye out for the virtual meeting information for this important event in the MHC calendar!


METS Benefit Show! By Emily Stakem, METS METS would like to send the biggest thank


you to the Maryland Open Horse Show Series and Joan Bosmans for their willingness to host a benefit show on our behalf. Te show will be held on October 4. Joan has been a supporter of METS since the beginning and has taken own- ership of four METS horses so far. We appreci-


ate the generosity of the MOHSS Junior Board and everyone involved in the planning of this fantastic event! To learn more about the MOHSS please visit their website at https://mohssinfo.com/. If you would like to become involved with METS or host a benefit


show of your own, please contact us at info@mdequinetransition.org or 410-970-6474.


Join the Maryland Horse Council!


The Maryland Horse Council has a unique membership structure, which allows it to represent the broadest spectrum of people involved with or interested in horses. Our membership consists of five membership categories: Association, Industry Professional and Individual.


All Members enjoy a yearly subscription to The Equiery with their Membership! join.mdhorsecouncil.org www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580 THE EQUIERY A MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | OCTOBER 2020 | 7


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