Welcome to the Georgia Draft Horse Association

PRESIDENT : JOHN AYERS
VICE-PRESIDENT: JULIE LANNING
SECRETARY/TREASURER : ROXANNE JANES

Please contact any officer or Board member
if you have questions, comments or suggestions.
Remember, the GDHA is YOUR club!

Our Purpose and Goal

The Georgia Draft Horse Association is a non-profit organization with the primary objective of
promoting the use of draft horses throughout the State of Georgia.

Our goal is to bring individuals with a love for these magnificent animals together at a variety of events and
venues where they can exhibit and enjoy their horses in the company of like-minded people.
We offer a number of events throughout the year including shows, field days, riding days,
harnessing & driving clinics, seminars and demonstrations.
Membership is open to any person interested in the breeding, showing,
use or promotion of draft horses and is unrestricted as to residence.

History
The Association was originally formed in the mid-1980's by a group of people
interested promoting and using draft horses and mules in Georgia.
Then known as the Georgia Draft Horse & Mule Association, many programs were set up
involving shoeing, grooming, harnessing and training the horse and mule for work and pleasure.
There were field days, wagon trains and draft horse and mule shows where the public was invited to
observe, with the main objective being social and promotional.

In 1995 the name of the association was changed to the Georgia Draft Horse Association with the purpose
being much the same as the original founders - supporting and promoting the draft horse, establishing friendly
relationships between members and promoting the exchange of knowledge and ideas pertaining to draft horses.

In the past the association has introduced thousands of people to draft horses via the
Gwinnett County Fair through exhibits and shows.
In 1994 the association was invited to the National Fairgrounds & Agricenter in Perry, Georgia ,
where our draft horses were exhibited to the public. Since that time, we have held a
Class C Draft Horse Show each year in mid-October at the Georgia National Fair.

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GEORGIA DRAFT HORSE ASSOCIATION

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No. 1 January, 2010

FROM THE SECRETARY :
Hello everyone and Happy New Year. We had our annual meeting on January 9^th.
Of course it had to snow theThursday before, so attendance was down some.
We elected:

John Ayers as President
Jill Malone as Vice President
Roxanne Janes as Secretary/Treasurer

Your 2010 Board members are:

John Ayers 678-753-0737
Carla & Jack Beckom 770-358-2678
Barbara Branch 706-677-2712
Ken & Roxanne Janes 770-479-7110
Jill Malone 770-735-1549

If you have any concerns feel free to contact any board member and they will try to help you. I would like to remind
everyone that your membership application and dues were due January 1st , so please fill out your application and
get it to me. I hope everyone has a successful foaling season and those of us that have geldings Happy Driving!

Sincerely, Roxanne Janes

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FROM THE PRESIDENT:

Well first of all I would like to wish all very Happy New Year. We have had some very cold northern type weather.
The cold weather we have had makes me think I AM up north. All of the brood mares are showing evidence of foaling.
I wish all of you good tidings in this foaling season. Before you know it, foals will be on the ground, it will be summer,
we will be cutting grass, and everyone will be looking for a cool spot to rest. Blink twice and fall will here! Blink again,
it will be winter and we will be wondering what happened to the past year.
This brings me to the main point of this letter; time is very important to me and we are wasting time arguing over
something that lasts two days of the entire year. I am here to tell you I have too much going on (as do many others)
to waste valuable time arguing. It seems to me that we should change our name from the Georgia Draft Horse
Association to the Perry Show Association. I was at the very first meeting of the GDA many years ago and there were
10 or 12 members then. Since that time the association has grown but we lost more members over a horse show than
anything else. We have a show chairman with six committee members. These seven people make the final decisions
regarding the show – FINAL! The show chairman spends endless VOLUNTARY hours to make this show a success.
This is a very difficult job. We can send all of our suggestions to the show committee and they make the final decision.
We live with the decision whatever it may be, whether we like it or not! When the show is over, I would rather have good
friends than a blue ribbon or trophy. I have four important things in my life – God, family, friends and then my horses.
I would rather play with my horses than eat. I refuse to lose a good friend over a horse show because it was not run
my way. For years we have been trying to change our shows so everyone could have a class suitable for them and it
is a very tough job. Someone else should worry about the rest of the year.
All of your opinions are very important to me as president and none will go unnoticed. We elected the show committee
to handle the show and we must let them; we must also abide by their decisions. If you have a negative opinion or you
are upset about something do not take it out on another member – send a letter or e-mail to the show committee. All
things in life will not go your way and the world does not revolve around me (at least that is what Anna says – although
it is still under discussion!).
There was a good friend of mine that told me once that if you always do what you have always done, then you will
always have what you have always had. Folks, let us try to make this association one we can be proud of for many
years to come. In closing this letter, do not forget that in the January meeting we all decided to send names and infor-
mation on a potential riding judge for Perry; this information needs to be sent to Carla Beckom or one of the board mem-
bers via letter or e-mail on or before January 30 . Pursuant to the board reviewing all of the information, they can make a
final decision that we WILL be happy with.

John Ayers

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THE NEWSLETTER STAFF:
Roxanne Janes (770) 479-7110 (rjanes@alltel.net)
Lawana Smith (770) 422-5142 (DoubleSFarm@aol.com)
Rebecca Cannon (423) 339-0694 (fairwindsclydes@gmail.com)

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