The Gibson County Saddle Club benefits greatly from its volunteers. To encourage more volunteerism, and to "share the load", we have a new Point Policy in place for 2008. Points accumulated during contests now require volunteer points, earned hourly, at all our events.

To qualify for any awards you must be an annual Member (no temporary members). Points will start to accumulate on the date that your annual membership is paid.

Members MUST accumulate the minimum amount of work hours to qualify for any year-end awards. More information is available below about the required minimum hours that must be accounted for. You may have anyone work for you, as long as they sign in and out with their name AND your name. It is YOUR responsibility to sign up for the positions, or to find someone to work your required hours, and to sign in and out!

Points will be given in the following categories:

There will be two work notebooks. One book will be at the registration table, and one in the concession stand. The book in the concession stand will only be for the concession stand. The other book at the registration table will be for all other jobs.

If you have the most points in a horse show class, in open arena, at game night or at team pennings, but you do not have all of your work hours in, you are not eligible for your Year-End awards!

If you sign up to work at an event and that event is cancelled, the seasonal hour requirement still applies! If you haven't met the requirement, the minimum hours must be met at other functions, in order to get your work credit. You should sign up for more hours than you actually need to qualify, in case an event gets cancelled.

You may want to sign up prior to the event (except for scheduled workdays) . There are only a limited amount of jobs available at each event. If you wait to sign up at the event, there may not be any spots available and you will need to find another time to work.

Open Arena Nights

Fees: $2 per member or $5 for one-day temporary membership

Points:

• 5 points for attending

• 5 points for each non-member you bring.

A "friend" must either pay the temporary membership fee for that night (and ride their horse), or sign up for annual Membership. Previous GCSC members do not qualify for points, and any friend can only earn points on their first visit. Any other visits through the year by the same friend will not qualify.

Awards given – (Year End Awards will only be given to members 18 & under)

• Attendance Award

• In the event of a tie, we will add attendance at game nights. If there is still a tie, we will add attendance at shows, pennings, and work days, etc.)

To qualify for this award, a member must ride at 5 of the 8 scheduled Open Arena nights and work at total of 3 hours at any GCSC event or workday, and sign in at every Open Arena. (The attendance requirement will be adjusted if there are rainouts).

Game Nights

Fees: $2 to enter any and all games for the night or $5 for temporary membership

Points:

• 5 points for attendance and participation
  5 points per game participated in

Awards given: (Awards will only be given to members 18 & under, but anyone can participate)

• Participated in the most games
  Won the most games throughout the year
  Lost the most games throughout the year (came in last place)

To qualify for this award a member must participate in 3 out of 5 game nights and work 3 hours at any GCSC event or workday, and sign in at every game night you participate in. (The attendance requirement will be adjusted if there are rainouts)

Horse Shows

Fees:

• Members: $3 per class OR $15 for as many classes as you want at a show (Except open classes)

• Non Members pay $5 per class for regular classes

• Open Classes $10 per entry for members, $15 for Non Members

Fees for the April Points Show/Teapot show will be slightly different in the Open Classes. Fees for these classes will apply to members and non-members alike. The Teapot Committee will provide the added money, and will set entry fees for all of these classes, and all the proceeds from Open classes will go to the Teapot Festival. Points will be given at this show just like at the rest of the shows.

Points:

• 6 points for 1st place
  5 points for 2nd place
  4 points for 3rd place
  3 points for 4th place
  2 points for 5th place
  1 point for participation

Class Awards for Shows – a class must have at least three entries (combined classes do not count) in at least 3 shows for that class to have a year-end award given. The Top 2 (or more) places will be given in each class, depending on how much money we have.

To qualify for class awards, you must participate in at least four of the six shows, and meet your eight-hour work requirement.

Overall High Point Award

This is for the member who is all about the GCSC! There will be one award to be given in the following categories:

Pee Wee – ages 10 & under
Youth – ages 11-17
Adult – aged 18 and over

To qualify for the High Point Award, a member must participate in the minimum of each of the Saddle Club Shows, Open Arena nights, Team Pennings, and Game Nights & work the minimum of the work hours required at each of the above events that qualifies you to win year end awards in each of the events (total of 18 work hours) and sign in at each event you participate in (with the exception of shows and pennings, where your paid entry fee is your sign-in)

Work Hours

You must work a minimum amount of hours to qualify for year-end awards. The amount of work hours is different for each type of event we are giving awards in, but you can work your hours at ANY event the GCSC has.

For example: If you are only working towards Horse Show class awards, you have to have a minimum of 8 hours work to qualify for year end awards, but you do not have to earn your work hours only at Horse Shows. You can add to your required time at game nights, open arena nights, at the Team Pennings, or any other Saddle Club workdays that we schedule during the year.

Most jobs accrue work hours for time worked, with the following exceptions:

Groundskeeping – earns 4 work-hours per month. (if mowed twice a month)
Working the Arena before and during Horse Shows – earns 2 work-hours per show (requires arena prep and dragging during the show). Earns 4 hours if the arena is watered prior to show.
Working up the Arena before other events – earns 1 work-hour for each event.
Buying food and setting up concession stand before shows - earns 2 work-hours each time
Clean Up Concession Stand after shows – earns 1 work-hour any time we use the stand
Facilitator for Game Night – earns 4 work-hours per game night
Open Arena Facilitator – earns 3 work-hours per open arena night