TEXAS MEETS WITH SOUTHWEST
Official Meeting Minutes
 

Board members from TXPFHA (Texas) and SWPFHA (Southwest) met on Sunday, June 3 at The Junction Restaurant in Huntsville, Texas to explore ways that both groups could work together.  Texas board members and visitors present were:  Cathy Starbuck, Mickey Beddingfield, Darla Gips and Elaine Mohr.  Also attending from Texas were Doug Gips, Richard Ledbetter, Martha Wells and Chuck Mohr.  Southwest Board members present were:  Carlos Tobon, Ed Smith, David Sanderson and John Tonetti.  Also attending from Southwest were:  Elizabeth Smith, Beverly Sanderson, Richard Weeks and Ken Sanders.

Ed Smith of Southwest submitted a tentative proposal to the group that, while not officially approved by Southwest, would serve as a basis to begin discussions.  Ed's proposal  called for maintaining one region in Texas � SWPFHA � but allowing TXPFHA to be an affiliate group within Southwest's organization.  In this way, Southwest would continue to promote the Paso Fino as it has in the past (with emphasis on shows) and Texas would continue to promote the pleasure aspects of the Paso which included pleasure riding, competitive trail rides, parades, fun shows, etc.  As part of the reciprocal benefit of this plan, Southwest would join with Texas to put out a joint newsletter, maintain a web site and share the Houston Livestock and Rodeo both under the names of Southwest and Texas.  Southwest would also consider contributing a certain dollar amount per year (to be determined by negotiations) and Texas would maintain the web site and continue publishing the newsletter.  Ed acknowledged that the strengths Texas has are Southwest weaknesses and that it is their hope we can all work together as one unit.

Southwest is concerned that should Texas become its own region, eventually the two groups would be in competition with each other and that the voting representation with the PFHA would be diminished.  Currently Southwest is the 4^th largest region.  Texas put forth that voting representation would not be diminished as long as Texas and Southwest worked together for common goals.  The number of votes cast would just come from 2 different regions. 

Carlos Tobon, President of Southwest, told the group he had asked the Southwest Board to submit proposals to him detailing how the two groups could work together yet remain one region.  He said that he would formulate a plan from those proposals.  Cathy Starbuck asked if Carlos he would provide two proposals to Texas � one proposal where Texas would be an affiliate club under the Southwest Region, and one proposal suggesting how we could work together should Texas win regional status in October.  Cathy also told the Southwest Board members present that she would take all proposals to the Texas membership for discussion and that it was up to the membership to decide whether they wanted to remain part of Southwest or continue pursuing regional status with the PFHA

This meeting was beneficial to both groups.  While not everyone agreed on each point, every person was willing to listen to both sides.  A dialog was begun and it was agreed that it would be beneficial to continue discussions with each group.