My  name is Lisa Muffley and I am the newly elected Secretary of GERL. Most of you know that Tamma moved at the end of last year, so Cynthia moved into the vice-president position. That left the secretary position open, so I filled it at the January meeting. I will do my best to follow in Cynthia’s footsteps!

I have been married for 35 years to my wonderful husband Bob, who although has nothing to do with horses, willingly volunteers along with me. We have 2 grown children, Bobby is 33 and Morgan is 31.

I always had horses growing up, so when Morgan was 6 years old, I bought her a very gentle standard size donkey. I knew ponies could be a handful and dangerous until you learned how to handle them. So for 2 years she rode her donkey, Maude. Then someone told me about the United States Pony Club, and I enrolled Morgan. Pony Club originated in England, and “Pony” refers to the child, not the mount. Children are allowed to be members until the age of 21. But there are actually more horses in the clubs than ponies.

I became the club leader, which was called the District Commissioner, {D.C.},and I also was in the Horse Management program. At pony club rallies, parents are not allowed to help kids, so a barn full of 60-100 pony clubbers is overlooked by 5-7 adults trained in the horse management program. Believe me, it is much more interesting being in those barns, than gossiping with the parents! I also was the event leader for several of these rallies which took place at the International Horse Park.

After Morgan aged out, I continued volunteering, but it just didn’t feel as satisfying any more. There were so many parents of participating pony clubbers who could do what I was doing. So when a friend invited me to a GERL Challenge event, I knew I had found my new opportunity. I’ve been getting my feet wet, meeting people and volunteering at events, and I am an area coordinator for Clarke, Oconee and Madison Co. So hopefully I will be able to tackle this position and do a good job over time. If you have any suggestions, Please call, text or email me!

Thank you!