REGION 1
Sara MacKenzie — Region 1 Director
Happy Thanksgiving Region 1. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the simplicity of a holiday focused on gratitude, family and friendship. As the days shorten and we prepare for the winter ahead, I find myself reflecting on my first year as your regional director. I find myself grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve you.
I am grateful for our thirteen Affiliate Organizations who locally spread the gospel of WE (AK Livin’ the Dream Ranch, Team Idaho, WECID, Idaho Panhandle WE, Warfield Park, WE Under the Big Sky, SWR, Run-A-Muck Ranch, WE East of the Cascades, Rising Hope Stables, Eugene, Appleatchee Riders, Walla Walla Valley WE).
I am grateful for our three professional instructors who teach, coach, and mentor across the region (Kimberlee Barker, Laura Stutesman, Trisha Keifer-Reed).
I am grateful for our three judges (Cari Schwartz, Tracey Erway, Kim Roe) and seven TDs (Julie Alonzo, Tracey Erway, Mark Klinger, Sarah McColm, Kim Shinn, Laura Stutesman, Dawn Swensson) who make our competitions possible.
I am grateful for my fellow Board members and the many USAWE committee members who do the behind the scenes work to help the organization achieve its vision of fostering local, regional, national and international working equitation through education, promotional activities and competition.
I am grateful for each of you, our region 1 membership, and the uncounted hours of volunteering, planning, sharing and supporting that you do daily.
And finally, I am ever grateful for the generosity of our horses – without whom, none of this would be possible.
I look forward to the year to come and the second year of my term. I hope our paths cross frequently. Please consider getting more involved! Many of the organization’s committees are looking for members and you may just have the skills we need! Please don’t be a stranger- reach out and let me know what is important to you and how I might be of assistance! I leave you with a poem for these short days and long nights.
Messenger by Mary Oliver
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird –
Equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
Keep my mind on what matters,
Which is my work,
Which is mostly standing still and learning to be
Astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
Which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
And these body-clothes,
A mouth with which to give shouts of joy
To the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
Telling them all, over and over, how it is
That we live forever.