President’s Letter to Members

Bom Dia!

There were 5 USMMA members (John Kelley, Lynn Kelley, Ellen Farmer, Aline Greene and Katie Baily)  who traveled to Brasil to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the ABCCMM National Show in July!  We all had a fabulous time at the show and also traveling around Brazil.  Their hospitality was wonderful and of course, once again, we learned a lot!

I would encourage every member to travel there!

This year the ABCCMM also invited members of the media from North America and from Europe to obtain more publicity and widespread recognition for the Mangalarga Marchador.  From North America.  RFD-TV and The Horse Show with Rick Lamb attended for several days and  filmed extensively. Jane Switzer, from the Horse Show attended the whole program of over 10 days!    All of them are very enthusiastic about telling others about the MM breed. Lynn Kelley  will also be writing press releases and magazine articles from the trip.  As the shows or articles come out, we will share them with you.

ABCCMM Presidente Magdi Shaat is very interested in the international presence of the Mangalarga Marchador  and we met two new MM associations from Italy and Argentina.

While we were there, we had several meetings with the ABCCMM, the Brazilian association, and also discussions with the EAMM, the European association about ideas and plans that would help us achieve our goals of promoting this magnificent breed.  Here are some of the ideas we discussed:

 

1.     Pat Parelli, probably the most well-known trainer around the world, to perform at the next MM National Show.  (This year they had Monty Roberts).   We will try to set up a meeting with Pat.

2.    Frozen semen and frozen embryo exportation. There is only one collection center currently, and the costs are such that only a few breeders will attempt this, but the plans continue to expand in this area.

3.   The 2012 USMMA clinic in Ocala FL.  The ABCCMM has offered its help and support to make this bigger and better.   Watch for more information coming out on this!  We’ll send a save-the-date email this month so you can mark off these dates in April.

4.    We requested an intern/exchange program where Mangalarga Marchador trainers, riders, vets, college students in equine studies from Brasil could apply and come to the U.S. or Canada for several months or a semester.   The ABCCMM asked us to draft a proposal for them to discuss with their board.

5.      The ABCCMM would like us to host a Sela de Ouro, a long ride using only Mangalarga Marchadors. We will be talking with the EAMM on how to structure it correctly as they just set their program up last year.   Some riders would qualify to ride in Brasil in 2012 in their Sela de Ouro.   (They would supply a horse for each rider)

6.   Project Vitrine in the U.S.  This is now a European program of five Brazilian Mangalarga Marchador stallions donated for 2 years for use in presentations and demonstrations promoting the breed.   The ABCCMM will explore this.   What they would require from us was not discussed, since we are not sure it will be possible.

 

All very exciting ideas, but at this point, just ideas that will need a lot of volunteer work to make them reality.

So, the best news is the media coverage we will receive from the event.    Our thanks to them for coming to Brazil!

The Mangalarga Marchador – a horse without frontiers!  Now it is more true than ever.

Best Regards,

John Kelley