Who are we?
We are a group of horse trial (and related sports and activities) enthusiasts who want to have fun, enhance our riding and horsemanship skills, enjoy social activities and start our young horses (and/or tune up our older ones!) at a “grass-roots” level. Some of us have never evented at all, some of us have not ventured beyond the Beginner Novice or Novice levels of eventing at unrecognized or recognized events and others have progressed through the Intermediate level and beyond. Many of us also belong to larger regional and national equestrian organizations, but our focus in this group is local/regional. Most of us live in Oregon or Southwest Washington and that is where our focus lies, but we welcome members from around the Northwest.

What do we do?
Our purpose is to promote the sport currently known as “horse trials” and/or “eventing” via educational and other activities designed to increase the general understanding of, enjoyment of and participation in the sport of eventing and its various components, including dressage, cross-country jumping, stadium jumping and related activities.
Members contribute our time, skills and knowledge to organize clinics and other activities that will help our members and other participants enhance our skills and learn more about the sports that compose the various elements of horse trials.
Our annual meeting and elections are held in January of each year and we hold meetings (sometimes in a “formal” style, sometimes while with our horses in a “mounted meeting” format) on at least a quarterly basis. Meeting dates and locations will be posted on our website and/or made available via our email list.
Planned activities for 2007 include a clinic in February or March, an early season event derby and/or combined test, with additional events later in the year. Any profits we make from these activities will be reinvested in future activities. Our goal is to generate some level of profit from these event derbies and combined tests so we can then employ these funds to subsidize some of the expenses required to organize/host clinics and other educational activities. Provided we are able to achieve this goal, we will be able to offer various discounts to members who participate in NWHTA activities.
The number of activities we will be able to organize/host is dependent on the number of members who can volunteer their time to help organize and run these activities. The more members who are involved, the more clinics and activities we will be able to support. Instructors and clinicians for our educational activities will be both local and national.
Clinics and activities will be posted on our website and members will also be notified via our email list.

How do we communicate?
Communication with and among the membership of NWHTA is primarily web-based and via email.  A newsletter will be distributed via email and/or posted on a website at least quarterly.  A web-based email group is open to members only and monitored by the Secretary - anyone using the web-based email group for advertising, solicitation, political, religious or other purposes deemed inappropriate by the group moderator will have his access to the site revoked.

What’s in it for you?
Fun, new friends, an expanded equestrian network and the satisfaction of “giving back” and helping to support and educate each other in this great sport!
Do you have a favorite clinician/instructor that you want to share with others? Help us organize a clinic! Do you want to go on a trail ride at one of our great local trails but you want someone to join you for company? Post a message on our bulletin board or call new friends and get a group to go! Do you happen to own a riding facility and want to hold a clinic or activity but can’t do it on your own? Join our group or let us know – maybe we can make it happen together! Do you want to travel to a recognized or unrecognized event but you’d prefer to travel with and/or camp with friends and share expenses (like fuel costs!)? Join NWHTA and chances are you’ll meet someone else with the same interests!

History:
Many of us have fond memories of OCTA (the Oregon Combined Training Association). OCTA was founded in the 1970’s and its creators included some of the top riders in our sport. Several of these individuals are still active and well known regionally and nationally as trainers and riders today – including Kevin Freeman, Carey Evans and Lee Jorgensen. At one time, OCTA was over 100 members strong and organized various competitions. However, as its members became more interested in specific sports, such as dressage or jumping and also became more involved in other specialty organizations or those with a national focus, OCTA’s membership numbers dwindled to the point where it was no longer a viable organization.
The state administratively dissolved OCTA over five years ago and the remaining handful of members sadly said their final goodbyes to what was left of OCTA in 2003. Substantial funds remained in OCTA’s bank account, and in accordance with the nonprofit articles of incorporation, these funds were donated to USEA Area VII with many strings attached so that the funds would be used only for clinics and educational activities in Oregon and Southwest Washington and would not be commingled with the Area’s other funds.
During the past several years, it became clear to many in our equestrian community that without OCTA, the number of clinics and other educational activities that OCTA used to host nearly disappeared. It’s difficult for any one individual to organize a clinic or event, but a cohesive group of individuals working together is better able to organize these types of activities.
Therefore, a number of us who were formerly involved in OCTA have joined together to create the NWHTA. We are all aware that any volunteer organization is only as strong as its members who are willing to put in the time and effort to help each other and others, who then also become interested and want to join in the fun.
We hope you will join us!