Hello from your new USMMA Facebook page administrators! We want to make the Facebook page more vibrant, up to date, informative, and a place that you will be proud to share with others. To do that we need your help. We came up with a few ideas that we want to share, but we hope to hear from members to see what you want. We had 4 main “areas” that need your contributions. 1. This one may be the most fun!! Every month we will post a “theme” for people to post pictures.This is not a contest; it is a way to share pictures of our wonderful horses with the public and our members. The only “rule” is that you are limited to 3 photos per member and it must fit the month’s theme. So far, the themes we have come up with are: (1) Sports (ie mounted archery, shooting, jumping, working equitation, etc); (2) your Marchador with children; (3) photos of horses standing against scenery (mountains, desert, etc); (4) being ridden (anywhere); (5) foals;(6) your Marchador in water (riding on the beach, in lakes, playing with your horse in water, etc); (7) holiday celebrations; (8) “foal firsts” (training, farrier, or other “first” with your foal or young horse). If you have more ideas for themes, please let us know! 2. Please share stories of you and your Marchador (with a picture if possible). Why did you choose a Marchador, what are you doing with your horse (Trail rides, mounted sports, introducing children to horses breed, equine assisted therapy – the potential of our horses is endless), and anything else you want to share. 3. If you see posts or information that you think we should share, please let us know. Recently we shared a notice of a free “Healthy Horses” conference from the University of Florida and MM videos from Brazil. Most of us do not speak Portuguese – if you do, we would love it if you could help us out and tell us what the Portuguese videos are saying by putting some information in the Comments of posts that are in Portuguese! 4. We want to open conversations about horse-related things such as “food and treats”, saddles and tack for your Marchador, and anything else you want to talk about. The goal is to have beginners and advanced horse owners/riders feel comfortable asking/answering questions and putting their opinion out for discussion. We will start a post every month or two and we encourage you to comment or ask questions. We will “moderate” to ensure that all comments are polite. If you want to start a discussion about a topic – go for it! The Facebook page can only be as good as our members make it. Please let us know your ideas, post often and “like” the page so the posts show up on your Facebook page too! We look forward to hearing from you all! Jean Allred, Alessandra Deerinck and Adrienne C. Scheck USMMA Facebook page administrators |