Page 79 - April 2016

marketing for equine professionals, balancing profitability and customer satisfaction, animal welfare, and teaching and coaching methods.
That afternoon, an Industry Issues Town Hall Meeting featured several panelists who spoke on some of the hard-hitting issues and problems facing the horse industry today. Kevin Ochsner, of Agcellerate LLC, emceed the Town Hall Meeting. His thought-provoking speech explained how the game is changing when it comes to the horse industry, and he offered various models of how people and companies anticipate and respond to change.
Other Town Hall speakers included AQHA Chief Marketing Officer Lauren Walsh, who gave an overview of the recently completed AQHA membership survey; industry consultant Patti Colbert, who spoke about Time to Ride and attracting new people into the industry;
and AQHA Director of Ranching Kim Lindsey, who talked about growth opportunities for the AQHA through several ranch horse initiatives. Horse&Rider editor Jen Paulson discussed the power and impact of social media in the horse industry, western performance horse trainer Al Dunning offered his advice on the role of trainer and owners in ensuring horse welfare, plea-
sure horse trainer Marty Simper talked about newcomers’ perceptions of the horse industry, and recently retired Quarter Horse jockey G.R. Carter Jr. spoke on welfare issues and concerns in the racing industry.
A panel discussion followed, with each of the speakers taking and answering questions from the audience. Throughout the meeting, Ochsner conducted an interactive audience poll. Using interactive clicker technology, he asked the audi- ence to answer questions such as how did you get involved in the horse industry? The results were immediately visible on the big screen and offered interesting insights on the demographics of the attendees.
Association Business
The General Membership Meeting presented much of the information found in the AQHA 2015 Annual Report, which was released the week following the convention. Huffhines and Blodgett both addressed the membership, with Blodgett giv- ing an emotional speech during which he thanked many people in the American Quarter Horse industry for their support after his wife’s near-fatal car accident. Karen was on hand to support her husband as he closed out his year-long presidency.
AQHA Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer Trent Taylor presented the association’s financial report. While the treasurer’s report has offered a bleak outlook in years past, those days seem to be behind the AQHA as it reported stable revenue and expenditures in 2015 when compared to the year prior. The AQHA 2015 Annual Report can be downloaded from the association’s website at www.aqha.com.
Taylor also gave an update on the AQHA’s database upgrades, which are back on track
and moving forward after the premature release of a new computer system two years ago. The AQHA’s technological infrastructure is nearly
a quarter-century old and relies on obsolete programming; upgrading the system to meet member needs in the future is a main goal of the AQHA in the coming years.
Committee meetings followed the General Membership Meeting, with the activities on March 12 ending at the year-end awards pre- sentation banquet. March 13 featured another full day of committee meetings, followed by the Hall of Fame banquet. (See page 67 for more in- formation on the 2016 Hall of Fame inductees.)
The final day of the Convention, March 14, began with the annual Membership Business Meeting. Each committee gave its recommenda- tions to the Executive Committee and members had an opportunity to discuss those recommen- dations in more detail.
The Racing Committee’s recommenda-
tion was to appoint a task force to study several issues. The proposed task force would: develop
a plan for adding uniformity in rules and penal- ties across all racing jurisdictions; foster more reciprocity across racing jurisdictions in the en- forcement of penalties; analyze the data collected by the MMVS; develop a plan for conducting outreach and providing education to the racing jurisdictions in order to persuade them to put
in place more robust policies for performance- enhancing drugs in racing; and formulate a proposal for the implementation of hair testing by and in conjunction with racing jurisdictions. All committee recommendations will be heard by the Executive Committee at its next meeting in late April. Following the committee recommendations, the election of directors was held and the 2016 Executive Committee was introduced. They are: President Sandy Arledge, First Vice President Ralph Seekins, Second Vice President Dr. Jim Heird, Member Stan Weaver and Member Butch Wise. (Read more about the Executive Committee members on page 72.)
When Arledge addressed the membership as the new President, she explained five areas she plans to focus on during her presidency over the next year.
She said: “Communication – the hardest thing we do. We must be able to effectively communicate with our breeders, exhibitors, racing enthusiasts, recreational riders, and the membership at large. We must be nimble in response to queries and issues that our member- ship faces on a daily basis. Our members must be able to contact the ‘right person’ to assist them with their specific needs. Our website and blogs must continue to be updated routinely, and our phones should be answered in a timely manner.
“In keeping with the foregoing, the next item on which I want to focus is education. The issues
of the day must be kept in front of our members in an easily accessible and understandable format. We must continue to push to educate our mem- bers who breed, whether it’s one mare or many mares, on the perils of genetic diseases and how to protect their herds from them. Hopefully, our breeders will listen to the statistics, realize how breeding the greatest majority of mares to a few stallions will continue to narrow the gene pool to the detriment of the breed going forward. “Refining perception. Through my travels
and in conversations over the past few years, it appears that some of our membership has lost confidence and trust in AQHA. This troubles and saddens me tremendously. Our organiza- tion is a great one, staffed by dedicated and loyal employees who want to do the best possible
job for you. We are blessed with passionate members who believe in this association and volunteer countless hours of their time. While there have been some challenges, namely the economic downturn and the failure of a com- puter system, perception is reality. It is critical that we, the leaders of this Association, take the time to listen to your concerns and update you on that which is in the forefront at AQHA. It is our responsibility to do all we can to enhance the relationship between our members and the AQHA office. I am heartened by the feedback I’m getting at this convention, where the posi- tive and upbeat atmosphere is evident.
“In addition, I am committed to reinvigorat- ing the affiliate and international programs. For a variety of reasons, those areas have languished in the last few years, but remain of critical importance to the American Quarter Horse Association. We must be able to reach our grassroots members around the world, and the affiliate program was instituted to achieve that goal. Reinvigorating the affiliate program, listen- ing to the needs of the states, provinces and international affiliates will help us achieve the goals of effective communication by reaching out to those who may not have a daily, weekly or even yearly reason to contact AQHA.
“The international program can be made more nimble by seeing that more forms and information are available in the language of the countries we serve. We can make huge strides in assisting our international members by making registrations and transfers easier for our foreign affiliates. Perhaps, with the help of our foreign affiliates, the AQHA Professional Horsemen’s Association can be enhanced as a world-wide organization, increasing the number of AQHA Professional Horsemen around the globe.”
Arledge has an ambitious schedule ahead of her, as does the AQHA. Be sure to attend next year’s Convention, March 17-20, 2017, in San Antonio, Texas, to see how well those goals were met and, more importantly, to be a part of the positive changes the AQHA is making moving forward.
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