I – Our Legislative Activities
As you know, Virginia’s General Assembly is currently in session, and the Virginia Horse Council has been lobbying diligently for (or against) bills to best protect our common equine interests:
v Sunday Hunting: Many thanks to everyone for traveling to Richmond, sending emails, asking others to send emails and calling legislators. We won this year, but it will just keep getting tougher. VHC is developing a list of friends on this issue to keep communications going. Please send us (info@virginiahorsecouncil.org) an email of people or organizations who want to be included.
v Constitutional Amendment re Eminent Domain: The VHC has fully supported this bill, which we believe protects our constitutional right to protection of our private property against the abusive use of governmental eminent domain, and we are pleased that it has received approval from the General Assembly and will be on the November ballot as a referendum. We urge you to vote YES in November!! Protect our property, protect our trails!
v Legislative Reception: This year’s very successful VHC Legislative Reception was held at Old City Hall in Richmond on January 26th.
v 2012 Legislative Trail Ride: This year’s Legislative Trail Ride will be held at Montpelier May 11th-13th. Our last year’s Legislative ride was extremely successful, and we are confident that this year’s ride will be even more so. Not to be confused with the VHC’s History Trail rides for our members, this invitational trail ride’s purpose is to educate our legislators about the equine industry. If you or your organization is interested in helping to sponsor this event, please contact the VHC office for more information.
II – Our Trails
v VHC Summer Trail Ride: June is being discussed as the month for another VHC trail ride, and the Trail Ride Committee is working on the details. We will be sending out more details about the location, date, etc. within the next two months. Our members will be alerted in plenty of time to get organized to join us.
III – The VHC’s Exhibit of the History of the Horse at War
v Last November the VHC staffed a booth at the Virginia Equine Extravaganza. In addition to the regular booth the VHC also presented its pictorial history of the horse at war. The exhibit chronicles the horse’s participation in wars ranging from the Civil War to the modern conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The exhibit first made its debut at the Washington International Horse Show in the fall of 2010. The exhibit was also presented at the VHC annual trail ride.
We estimate that between the various venues approximately 5,000 people viewed the exhibit.
IV. – March: Up-coming Events
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v Member Event: March 14th and 15th, Our Culpeper members CFC Farm & Home Centers are having two “CHILI AND CHOCOLATE” educational seminars, one in Warrenton and one in Culpeper, that they would like to invite our members to attend (space is limited, so confirm early, please).
Click on the attached pdf files for detailed information concerning these two excellent educational seminars.
For more information on the VHC, please visit our website:www.virginiahorsecouncil.org
