Page 100 - April 2017

story courtesy AQHA • photo courtesy The American Quarter Horse Journal
The American Quarter Horse Association Executive Committee was elected at the 2017 AQHA Convention in San Antonio. Though AQHA operates primarily upon the decisions of its members through the board of directors, the five-person Executive Committee is responsible for implementing these important decisions and governing AQHA between the annual meetings of the membership and the board.
The AQHA Executive Committee – consist- ing of a president, first vice president, second vice president and two additional members – is elected each year by the board at the convention. Each member serves a term of one year until
the selection of his/her successor. The Executive Committee convenes quarterly at AQHA Head- quarters in Amarillo to conduct business and consider all disciplinary matters.
PRESIDENT RALPH SEEKINS
Ralph Seekins of Fairbanks, Alaska, has been an AQHA director since 2006 for Washington/ Alaska and was elevated to director emeritus
in 2016. Seekins has served on the AQHA Marketing and Membership Committee, the Foundation Council and the AQHA Public Policy Committee. Seekins has owned American Quarter Horses since 1995, when his daughters convinced him and his wife, Connie, that they really needed horses. His early horse years were spent in Wyoming and Montana and included ranch work and sprint racing. The family’s first two American Quarter Horses were home- trained and went on to earn AQHA Open Champion titles, Youth Champion titles, Youth
Supreme Champion titles and one Youth Versa- tility award. Over the years, the Seekins family has raised and trained horses that have earned nine AQHA Champion titles, three AQHA Supreme Champion titles and two versatility awards. For more than 15 years, the Seekins family has used their American Quarter Horses in the Helping Hooves therapeutic riding program for riders with disabilities. Ralph and Connie have four children – two sons and two daughters. All the children and their families live in Fairbanks. Aaron Seekins has four sons
– Austin, Brandon, Gabe and Zachary – along with one daughter, Shelby. Ben Seekins and
his wife, Tamie, have sons Christian and Caleb and daughter Larissa. Daughter Andrea and her husband, Ryan Reinheller, have twin boys, Jakan and Logan, as well as three daughters, Rebecca, Tricia and Sarah. Daughter Beth and her husband, Paul Austin, have three daughters – Emma, Leah and Madison – and son Isaac.
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT DR. JIM HEIRD
Dr. Jim Heird was an AQHA director for Colorado in 2009 and became a director for Texas in 2011. He has served on the judges, international and show committees, and on
the show council and AQHA Animal Welfare Commission. Dr. Heird was the chairman of the judges committee, 1989-1991; show committee, 2008-2010; international committee, 2013- 2015; show council, 2008-2011; and the Ani- mal Welfare Commission, 2011-2015. He was the former extension horse specialist at North Carolina State University, a former instructor/
professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock and held various dean/director positions at Colorado State University for the colleges of agricultural sciences and business and equine sciences program. Dr. Heird is currently execu- tive professor and coordinator of equine initia- tives at Texas A&M University. He also holds the Dr. Glenn Blodgett Equine Chair at Texas A&M. Dr. Heird was on the executive commit- tee of the National Western Stock Show and is an ex-officio director of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. Dr. Heird is an honorary vice president of the Uruguayan and Argentine Quarter Horse associations. He was an AQHA judge from 1977 to 2015 and has judged 13 AQHA World Championship shows, multiple international championships and two National Reining Horse Association futurities.
He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee and has a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University. He and his wife, Dr. Eleanor Green, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M, live in College Station.
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT STAN WEAVER
Stan Weaver of Big Sandy, Montana, has been an AQHA director since 2011. He is a former member of the studbook and registration, public policy and Hall of Fame selection committees; Foundation, marketing and ranching councils; and served as chairman of the ranching coun-
cil. He was also instrumental in developing the AQHA Ranching Heritage Breeders program.
Weaver has bred American Quarter Horses for more than 30 years and has registered more
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