Well, I can’t believe this is my last President’s message for the year! I guess the old saying is true, “Time flies when you’re having fun!” I have really enjoyed being the President for San Mateo County Horsemen’s Association this year and I hope that you have been pleased with my performance while serving the membership. I thoroughly appreciate all of the kind words spoken to me and my wife, Sarah, along the way; this Association is very important to the both of us and we wanted to do right by all of you. When I was nominated as President in the Fall of 2004, everyone knew that if I was to take on this monumental role, Sarah would be my right hand woman; she has truly put her heart and soul into everything she’s done and for that I am truly grateful.

Fortunately, I have also had the wonderful assistance and guidance of SMCHA’s Board of Directors and the Executive Board. Our Board of Director’s continue to go out of their way to maintain the highest quality of service to SMCHA’s membership. Being an active volunteer for such a large Association can sometimes be an enormous task, but we are fortunate to have such a fabulous group of dedicated individuals at the helm! Thank you all for your time, energy and support over this past year; mere words cannot express my gratitude to you all!

I wish to extend my sincerest appreciation to those of you on the Junior Committee who have breathed life back into the Junior Program! You have all gone out of your way to create exciting events for our Juniors to participate in. The Committee felt it was necessary to get the direct guidance from the Juniors themselves; so at the first gathering, the Junior members were handed a survey and asked to prioritize what events they wanted to have during the coming year. Well, we just had our final scheduled event, the overnight camping and play-day at Driscoll Ranch, and it was a huge success! Sarah and I were only able to make it for dinner that night, but we brought our three year old granddaughter along with us and we had a most enjoyable evening! We carved pumpkins, did craft projects, watched some of the kids ride in the arena (earlier that day they had gone on a trail ride – complete with a treasure hunt), ate dinner and roasted marshmallows! Two other equally exciting events held throughout the year were the Junior Team Penning Clinic held at Rancho Viejo and the Junior Gymkhana Play-Day held at Driscoll Ranch. Both were equally exciting and very well attended. In fact, at the Gymkhana Event, we received two new Junior memberships and seven new Family memberships! I can’t wait to see what’s in-store for next year! 

Our Horse Show Committee has outdone themselves this year! We continue to have a fantastic showing of participants in both our Western and English Schooling Shows at Webb Ranch. But this year our NorCal Western and English Show was phenomenal! Over the years, the NorCal Show began outgrowing the Mounted Patrol Grounds; due to the large number of horses and riders. So, this year the Horse Show Committee made arrangements to have the NorCal Show at the Horse Park at Woodside! The event was very well attended and the participants were very pleased with the change in venue. The great thing about the Horse Park is that we have a lot more room to grow for our future needs. I wish to extend our appreciation to the San Mateo County Mounted Patrol for graciously allowing us to utilize their facility over the years; without their support, many of the activities we have provided to our membership wouldn’t have been possible. I also wish to thank the numerous sponsors for the NorCal Show; your overwhelming generosity enabled the Horse Show Committee to put on one heck of a show!

The Western Riding Clinic continues to be very popular with our membership and I was glad to see that this year was no exception. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure a Coast-side location for our Clinic, but we are hoping to have one available next year. A lot of hard work and preparation go into planning this wonderful Clinic and I wish to extend my sincerest appreciation to all those who made this event so successful; especially those of you who are on the Western Riding Clinic Committee and all of the instructors who taught our participants!

Even though our Spring Ride was called off due to the “threat” of rain, a lot of preparation was still done by the Ride Committee that went unrecognized and unrewarded by the smiles on the faces of those of you who would have attended the ride! Fortunately, the Committee had the opportunity to shine when they organized the Jack Brook Horse Camp event! The campout was very well attended and everyone appeared to have a tremendous time. The Presidents’ Ride has not yet occurred at the time of me writing this, so I can only hope that the ride is not canceled due to rain and that our Ride Committee is able to give our membership a very enjoyable trail ride and a delicious barbecue lunch to honor our Past Presidents!

“The San Mateo Horseman” Magazine continues to be a great publication! The articles are very interesting and informative, and the photos paint an accurate picture of how much fun our SMCHA events are to attend! I really wish to thank all of you who work so hard at making the magazine what it is today and to those of you who write the articles and make the magazine so enjoyable to read! Finally, I also wish to extend my appreciation to those of you who advertise in our magazine.

Above all, I want you to know that I have really enjoyed getting to know many of you this year! I have always known that the equestrian community was filled with good natured, enthusiastic, and warm hearted people, but it was so wonderful to find those qualities amongst all of you! I will treasure the friendships I have made along the way and the conversations I have had with many of you during the different events. I wish to personally thank those of you who came and participated in our Clarkia Trail Clean-Up Days and the Jack Brook Horse Camp Workday. We all can identify with busy schedules and little, or no, free time to spare, but you went out of your way to sacrifice the few hours needed to preserve the Clarkia Trail and the Jack Brook Horse Camp so that others could continue to enjoy their beauty. There are also many of you who are working tirelessly at maintaining access to County trails for all equestrian riders. I have tried to convey the message to our membership that we need our equestrian voice to be heard and that the more of you who speak, the more of you who will be heard by the County Supervisors. We need your help, because once the trails are closed to equestrians, or opened to bikes and dogs, they will never go back to the way they were. It will be a decision we will all have to live with; whether we like it or not.

On that final note, I want you all to know that I have truly enjoyed everything about this experience and I look forward to continuing serving this Association in the many years to come! 

Happy Trails
Al Filice
President SMCHA