From a business standpoint, several topics were discussed this week. Below is an overview:

AQHA business and services and improve customer service in the future.
Evaluating the dynamic growth of various parts of the equine industry focusing on speed events.
Developed a crisis communications team for AQHA to be prepared for any situation to protect our members and horses.
Working with the United States Equestrian Federation and the American Association of Equine Practitioners to develop recommendations for an onsite biosecurity plan at major events.
Reviewed recent changes within the AQHA publications department. A new sales team has been fully formed and strategy for developing revived circulation using the new Ranch Horse Journal and Performance Horse Journal is underway.
Reviewed Awards Recognition Concepts, an AQHA subsidiary. We are thrilled in the addition of new clients that are generating new revenue through ARC.
Discussed ideas for how to strengthen and grow the Bank of America Challenge Championships, which are scheduled for October 29 at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Los Alamitos, California.
Approved and moving forward with affiliate workshops in 2017.
Discussed tentative education topics for the 2017 AQHA Convention, including microchipping advantages and modern technologies for horse health. Other topics are under review.
Approved edits that better explain the rules of ranch riding.

For the project, accepted AQHYA members will receive a nominated weanling from an AQHA Ranching Heritage Breeder. Those who do not receive a donated foal can still purchase a weanling from a Ranching Heritage Breeder. The AQHYA members work with and train their foals, then show them at an AQHA show. Ultimately, the project participants have the chance to win back their investment in their foals through scholarships.

Youth members had two days to create their designs using a colorful array of Nutrena® SafeChoice® & ProForce® bags along with miscellaneous twine, lacing, ribbon, paint and embellishments! As part of the challenge, participants had to recruit a model and showcase their design throughout the grounds, collecting donations as “votes” for their design. From “Cap Gun Cowboys” to “Fabulous Fairies,” these youth designers pulled out all the stops for their 2016 Nutrena® designs!

All AjPHA members automatically receive an “entry” into the Farnam Breeders’ Trust Youth Scholarship program every time they show a Breeders’ Trust-nominated Paint Horse in APHA Youth or Novice Youth classes during the yearlong eligibility period. Entries accumulate per judge, per class, and were collected between April 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016.

“It was very successful. We had 103 entries in the buckle classes alone. I know there was a small group that came just for those classes, but their trainer convinced them to do the Youth classes as well,” Heather said. “In talking to people, some were very hesitant about Paint shows to begin with, but they made a lot of friends along the way.”

Reining 6611 Para Reining Grade 4 6612 Para Reining Grade 3 6613 Para Reining Grade 2 6614 Para Reining Grade 1 6634 NRHA Novice Horse Open Level 1 6639 NRHA Novice Horse Non Pro Level 1 6671 NRHA Green Reiner Level 2 Cutting 9970 Congress Open Cutting Futurity 9971 Congress Non Pro Cutting Futurity * […]

Four men were inducted in March during the 2016 AQHA Convention: AQHA Past President Johannes Oreldinger of Grosswallstadt, Germany; the late Paul Curtner from Jacksboro, Texas; Ben Hudson of Morgan Mill, Texas; and Floyd E “Sunny Jim” Orr of Pueblo, Colroado.

In honor of his substantial legacy to the breed, an American Paint Horse Foundation endowment has been created by the Simons family. Upon completion, the endowment will support additional scholarship money in Western pleasure classes at each AjPHA Youth World Championship Show, which takes place annually ​during the summer in Fort Worth, Texas. Zippos Sensation ​has sired 956 APHA-registered foals to date—469 of which have established APHA show records. While they have tallied more than 170 world championship and 162 reserve world championships—25 of those honors have been specifically in Western ​pleasure.