Club History

At that meeting, the Club was established, and officers were elected: President, Marjorie Vliet; Vice President, Jim Curry; Secretary, Kay Peterson; Virgina Flint, Treasurer. Board of Directors: Barbara Naviaux.

The first Area VII Newsletter, edited by Barbara Naviaux, was published in March, 1997.

As of May 20, 1997, the Area VII club had grown to 15 members, plus a Club membership from the Valley Sierra Miniature Horse Club.

The second issue of the Newsletter came out in June, 1997. It featured a full-color cover and 24 pages of news, show results, ranch news, and advertisements.

In September, Volume I, Number 3 of the Newsletter was published. The club now boasted 20 regular members plus two Club memberships—Valley Sierra and Saguaro State Shetland Pony & Miniature Horse Club.

Volume I, Number 4 of the Newsletter, published in December 1997, included results from the Autumn Harvest Show in Ione, and news from the Show Committee that the club had applied to host the National Area Show at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds on June 13–14, 1998. Membership grew to 25 regular members.

Volume II, Number 1 of the Newsletter appeared in March, edited by Kay Peterson. Membership was up to 36 regular members, plus 2 Club memberships, Valley Sierra and Saguaro State.

Area VII hosted the National Area Show at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds in Antioch, CA on June 13–14, 1998.

Area VII and the Valley Sierra Miniature Horse Club produced a 1999 Stallion Directory, edited by Kay Peterson.

Volume III, Issue 1 of the Newsletter reported 44 regular members plus 1 Club member, Valley Sierra.

Area VII hosted the National Area Show at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds in Antioch, CA on June 5–6, 1999.

Area VII hosted the National Area Show at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds in Antioch, CA on July 8–9, 1999.

Area VII and the Valley Sierra Miniature Horse Club produced an expanded, 48-page Stallion Directory for 2001

Patty Steele took over Newsletter editing duties from Kay Peterson. Virginia Flint took over with the December, 2001 issue.

Area VII hosted a successful sanctioned "A" show, "Equine Escapades," at the Jahant Equestrian Center June 16–17, 2001.

In May, Bob Steele was forced to step down as President, due to other commitments. Officers for the remainder of 2002 were: Interim Presidet, Barbara Nauviaux; Interim Vice President, Jan Perkins; Secretary, Kathy Freeman; Treasurer, Virginia Flint. Board of Directors: Carolyn Carroll, Marjorie Vliet, and Jeannie Butler.

 A new club logo was submitted and approved.

Volume VI, Issue 1 of the Newsletter listed 84 members.

Area VII sponsored a sanctioned 2-day, 2-judge show for Shetlands and Miniature horses at Jan Perkins Arena near Wallace, CA.

Area VII hosted the ASPC/AMHR National Convention in Reno, Nevada at the Circus-Circus Hotel Casino. Highlights were the Trainers Auction, under the auspices of Belinda Bagby and her retinue of trainers. A record-breaking $10,772 was raised.

In March, the club hosted a schooling show at Ranchotel Horse Center in Vacaville, and plans were made to continue it as an annual event once again.

In June, Area VII hosted a three-day Area National show at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville, CA.

The Annual schooling show was held on March 28 at the Ranchotel Horse Center in Vacaville, CA.

The club again hosted the three-day Area National show, this time at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, CA.

At Convention in November, the club was awarded the 2009 Area National show.

Area VII Members won three 2008 ASPC Pony of the Year awards:
SSF's Apache's Legacy, Foundation Halter Pony of the Year, Carole Ann Ford
Pony Vista's Pow Wow, Modern Pleasure Halter Pony of the Year, Jennifer Radoi
Michigans Hart of An Apache, Modern Pleasure Performance Pony of the Year, Jennifer Radoi

37 ponies and minis gathered at Ranchotel Horse Center in Vacaville, CA for the Annual schooling show on March 29. This show was a fundraiser to help finance the Area National, and several members, particularly Joan Clements (Snack Bar) and Arlene Niegel (Basket Raffle) helped to make it a success.

A new For Sale section and a Stallion Directory were launched on the club's web site.

In May, the club hosted the Area National Show, a three-day event at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, CA.

At the end of September, the club partnered with Oakland's Metropolitan Horsemen's Association to host a schooling show for miniature horses and ponies at the Sequoia Arena in the Oakland Hills. It went very well for a late-season show and the first time in a new venue, with more than 50 spectators enjoying the event. MHA expressed an interest in doing two shows for minis and ponies next year.

At Convention, Jim Curry was presented with the 2009 ASPC/AMHR Peoples' Hall of Fame Award.

The Annual Schooling show at Ranchotel in Vacaville on March 28 was well-attended. Lisa Schmidt kindly donated her services as our judge.

Jennifer Radoi relocated from southern California to Missouri. John Killacky and Larry Connolly left San Francisco for Vermont. They purchased Fog Ranch's Pacific Raindrop from Pat Michielssen and Mimi Woolem, so they now have a pony of their own. All three of these folks were valuable members of our club, and they will be missed.

Our Annual Schooling Show was moved from Ranchotel in Vacaville to Clay Station Horse Park in Wilton. Originally scheduled for the end of March, torrential rains—and a fire at Show Secretary Susan Wroe's house two nights before the show—forced us to reschedule this show in early May. We enjoyed the facilities at Clay Station, and especially Debi Packard's delicious lunch.

In July, our club teamed up with The Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek to host a schooling show at the ECWC arenas at Heather Farm. The show was well-attended by both exhibitors and spectators, and both clubs were very satisfied. We hope to join with ECWC for more shows in 2013.

Larry Weaver resigned as President after the Annual Meeting in January. Vice President Nancy Turner became President. At the General Membership Meeting on April 20, Julie Mabie was appointed to fill the position of Vice President, and Lynn Blackwell was appointed to fill the Director postion vacated by Julie.

On March 17, due mainly to Nancy Turner's hard work, we held a clinic at the Russian River Riders' Hoof Beat Park in Healdsburg. The turnout was small, but those who attended were very enthusiastic and thought it was a day well spent. Dr. Michelle Beko, DVM, gave an excellent presentation on preventive horse care, including vaccinations and parasite control. Adam Dunaway, an experienced farrier, very ably explained—and demonstrated—how to do a proper trim, and then helped willing participants try it for themselves. Cris Anderson demonstrated how to safely harness and hitch a horse. We had a great St. Patrick's Day lunch—corned beef and cabbage, carrots and potatos—provided by Nancy's sister, Arlene. Nancy donated the cost of the facility rental, the presenters all volunteered their time, and Nancy and Arlene covered the cost of the food.

The annual Fort Ord Drive took place on Saturday, October 19. The drive was followed by a BBQ and Potluck at Julie Mabie's Whisper Equestrian Center.

Our first meeting of the year took place on Saturday, January 4. It was hosted by Pat and Linda Anastasio at their ranch, Bellota Miniatures, in Escalon. We had a potluck and a ranch tour, and the meeting was well attended.

Ranchotel Horse Center in Vacaville generously let us use their meeting room for our General Membership Meeting on March 15. Ranchotel was also the location of our Spring Schooling Show on March 30. We had a total of 24 horses, which was a great turnout considering that it poured the day before the show. We had perfect conditions on show day, but there were ducks swimming in the large outdoor arena so we showed indoors. New members Tina Jacobson and her daughter Eva made their show ring debut, and so did Sherry Ward's new pony, DZ Voo Doo.

Julie Mabie and Chris Carengello made the long trip to Riverside to show ponies at the Pacific Coast Miniature Horse Club's AMHR/ASPC show on April 19.

Pat and Linda Anastasio were kind enough to host our August 23 meeting at their ranch. The weather was perfect, so we were able to have our meeting and potluck under the shade trees in Pat and Linda's back yard. Roger Ward gave us an excellent presentation on trimming and hoof care.

Our 2014 Annual Meeting, scheduled for December 10, 2014 at the Anastasio's, was postponed because several Board members were unable to attend. Because of this, the election of a new member of the Board of Directors was also postponed. Pat Anastasio's term expired at the end of 2014.

Club Officers: President, Nancy Turner; Vice President, Julie Mabie; Secretary, Linda Anastasio; Treasurer, Michele Nelson. Board of Directors: Jim Curry, Pat Anastasio, and Gail Byrnes.

Show Committee: Linda Anastasio, Robert Blackwell, Lynn Blackwell, Susan Browning-Wroe, Gail Byrnes, Jim Curry, Michele Nelson, and Julie Mabie.

This was the most active year we've had since 2006, the year we hosted the ASPC Convention in Reno. We ended this year with 89 memberships.

Our 2014 Annual Meeting was rescheduled for January 17, 2015, and was held at Jim and Vicki Killfoil's Lost Spur Ranch in Jamestown, CA. This was a potluck and ranch your as well as our Annual Meeting, and was reasonably well attended.

In March, we had a Clipping and Show Grooming Clinic with Tracy Yost, hosted at Karen Farlow's Blue Oak Farm in Clayton. The turnout was light, but largely due to Gail Byrnes' hard work gathering raffle prizes, it was a financial success for the club and a very nice day for everyone who attended.

We finally solved our equipment trailer storage problem! Karen Farlow generously agreed to store our club trailer at Blue Oak farm for no charge, and also to bring it to the arena at Heather Farm Park for our schooling shows. Nancy Turner picked up the trailer at Ranchotel in Vacaville—it had a flat tire that needed to be repaired—and hauled it to Karen's. Gail Byrnes and Michele Nelson did an inventory and repaired some of the broken jumps. Gail scrubbed all of the jump poles and added striping to all of the ground poles.

We hosted a series of three schooling shows in April, June, and August at the Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek at Heather Farm Park. Richard Erickson and Jacob Elliott generously sponsored our High Point Awards, which were cash prizes of $100 and $50 for High Point Champion and Reserve High Point Champion in each division (junior and senior). The first show, held on Easter weekend, had a satisfying turnout of 33 horses. The second show on June 6 was smaller, only 13 horses, but was still a financial success due to the great raffle put together by Gail Byrnes and the income from the Snack Shack. The Blackwell/Browning-Wroe/Benner group donated all of the food and ran the snack shack, as well as running the show office and working the gate.

In June, we signed a contract with Murieta Equestrian Center for a two-day ASPC/AMHR show, California Classic 2016, to be held there April 23–24, 2016. Gail Byrnes will be the show manager.

The NorCal Miniature Horse Club added an AMHR show to their Wine Country AMHA Show at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. The AMHR Show was on Friday, June 19, preceeding the AMHA Show on Saturday and Sunday, June 20–21. Sharon Housley, a member of both clubs, was the major force behind the AMHR show.

In July, Jacob Elliott and Richard Erickson hosted our summer picnic and BBQ at their Double E Ranch in Galt. We had a great turnout and hope to make it an annual event.

Club Officers: President, Susan Browning-Wroe; Vice President, Linda Anastasio; Secretary/Treasurer, Michele Nelson. Board of Directors: Robert Blackwell, Dennis Haney, and Gail Byrnes.

Largely due to the efforts of Gail Byrnes, California Classic 2016 took place at the Murieta Equestrian Center April 23–24. We had a total of 57 horses—not as many as we had hoped, but not bad for our first sanctioned show in five years. We made a modest profit, and immediately began planning for California Classic 2017.

We ended 2016 with 67 memberships.

Club Officers: President, Susan Browning-Wroe; Vice President, Linda Anastasio; Secretary/Treasurer, Michele Nelson. Board of Directors: Robert Blackwell, Nancy Turner, and Jacob Elliott.

After almost a year of planning and weeks of obsessively watching the weather forecast, California Classic 2017 took place at Murieta Equestrian Center and was a great success. A total of 87 horses showed, up from 57 in 2016. We were especially pleased with the number of youth exhibitors who participated at this show.

We lost two long-time members this year. Barbara Naviaux passed away in October, and Pat Michielssen in November.

We ended 2017 with 44 memberships.

Club Officers: President, Jacob Elliott; Vice President, Susan Browning-Wroe; Secretary, Melissa Berschens; Treasurer, Michele Nelson. Board of Directors: Richard Radulovich, John Gracey, and Robert Blackwell.

California Classic 2019 took place April 21–22 at Murieta Equestrian Center, and it was an amazing success! A total of 124 horses showed—up from 87 in 2017.

We ended 2018 with 47 memberships.

Club Officers: President, Jacob Elliott; Vice President, Susan Browning-Wroe; Secretary, Melissa Berschens; Treasurer, Michele Nelson. Board of Directors: Richard Radulovich, John Gracey, and Robert Blackwell.

California Classic 2019 was held at Murieta Equestrian Center. We had 92 horses, but because of rising expenses and not enough sponsorship, we didn't make a profit. We lost $1,300, which isn't bad, considering that our expenses were over $15K. The next California Classic will be 2021—we applied for and were awarded the Area National Show in 2020.

The Area VII quarterly newsletter ceased publication after the Spring 2019 issue. Michele Nelson, the editor from 2007–2019, stated "This newsletter is time-consuming to put together and expensive to print and mail. It has so little real content these days, most of which easily can be found on social media—I don’t feel that it’s worth the time and expense any longer."

We ended 2019 with 48 memberships.

Club Officers: President, Jacob Elliott; Vice President, Susan Browning-Wroe; Secretary, Melissa Berschens; Treasurer, Jim Curry. Board of Directors: Gail Byrnes, John Gracey, and Robert Blackwell.

This was "The Year of Living Dangerously" in many ways. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to cancel our National Area Show, and Shetland Congress was also cancelled. We were awarded the National Area Show in 2021, scheduled for April 16–18, 2021 at Murieta Equestrian Center.

In August, Casey Campbell's Wingate Training Center was in the path of the LNU fire in Vacaville. His house burned to the ground, but miraculously, no humans or animals were injured.

In December, we got word that Marjorie Vliet, one of the founders of our club, passed away at the age of 97.

We ended 2020 with 29 memberships.

Club Officers: President, Jacob Elliott; Vice President, Susan Browning-Wroe; Secretary, Melissa Berschens; Treasurer, Jim Curry. Board of Directors: Linda Anastasio, Robert Blackwell, and Erin Henson.

We hosted the National Area VII Show April 16–18, 2021 at Murieta Equestrian Center. 96 horses showed, and even with the pandemic still in progress, and with expenses totalling $19,267.79, thanks to generous sponsors we only lost $370.

We plan to host California Classic 2022 at Murieta Equestrian Center April 23–24, 2022.

We ended the year with 44 memberships.

Club Officers: President, Camryn Day; Vice President, Linda Anastasio; Secretary, Vicki Veiga; Treasurer, Michele Nelson. Board of Directors: Robert Blackwell, Susan Browning-Wroe, and Jill Wright.

We decided not to host the California Classic this year because we didn't have the personnel to do an effective job.

Camryn Day, Susan Browning-Wroe, and Robert Blackwell organized a Liberty Clinic on August 28 at Clay Station. Kim Sterchi was the clinician, and it was a very successful event. We hope to host more clinics next year.

We ended the year with 24 memberships.

Club Officers: President, Camryn Day; Vice President, Linda Anastasio; Secretary, Vicki Veiga; Treasurer, Michele Nelson. Board of Directors: Robert Blackwell, Susan Browning-Wroe, and Jill Wright.

We hosted two events this year. In May we had a successful meet-and-greet event for the public, "Mini Madness," with the Twin Lakes Driving Club in Orangevale. In October, we had a really fun "Hoofbeats & Haunts" Halloween schooling show, at the Sacramento Horsemen's Association arena.

We ended the year with 20 memberships.

Club Officers: President, Camryn Day; Vice President, Robert Blackwell; Secretary, Vicki Veiga; Treasurer, Michele Nelson. Board of Directors: Susan Browning-Wroe, Lynn Blackwell, and Jill Wright.

We decided to take the plunge and revive our California Classic show, last held in 2019, at Murieta Equestrian Center. At this writing (February 2024), planning is well in progress.