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AQHA RACING UPDATE
Whether at a horse sale, AQHA Convention, or at a track, I look forward to seeing you in 2023!
DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES AND GOVERNANCE
I’m not proud of it, but there were many years that I did not exercise my right to vote. My excuse: the nomadic lifestyle of a horseman.
However, when I became disenchanted with some winners of our state and federal elections, I decided that I could only assert my opinion if I got involved, paid attention to the candidates, and cast my vote. I’m proud now to wear my “I Voted” sticker during elections, knowing I did my part to affect the outcome.
Having conducted the AQHA Racing Champions Announcement Ceremony, I imagine some of you were excited about the winners, and some were not. I think this is
no different than the elections that determine our state and federal leaders: it’s the result of a democratic process. AQHA Racing Champions are currently determined by votes cast by
a committee appointed during the AQHA Convention. The AQHA Racing Committee appoints 11 members from their body, and the AQHA Racing Council elects 10. Those 10 can be members at large. The group convenes in a closed meeting, and their votes are published after the AQHA Champions are announced.
So, maybe you are like me, and after years
of not being involved in the democratic process, you think it’s time to get involved. I encourage you to do so! The AQHA Annual Convention will be held at the Omni Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, February 23-27. More information can be found at aqha.com/aqha-convention. Know that you are welcome to attend the Racing Committee
meetings, all you need to do is register for the Convention itself. If you would like to become a member of the Racing Committee, that’s great! Reach out to me, and I will get an application sent to you. Appointments are made by the incoming AQHA President after the Convention.
While we are on the topic of the AQHA Convention, the link referenced above offers insight about all the meetings, festivities, and even offers meeting agendas. Please look at the information and consider coming. Your involvement could have a positive impact on our industry.
Speaking of a positive impact on our industry, I stay busy with different initiatives to help protect both our industry and our horses. A couple years ago I wrote in this column about our pursuit of a study regarding bleeding in Quarter Horses. I wanted to seek scientific evidence to
see if Quarter Horses might be more vulnerable to bleeding due to the sprinting nature of our races, and leadership supported my wishes.
We also want to look at the impact races in higher altitudes has on has on our breed. My end-goal: To see if science will support breed- specific justification to administer the controlled therapeutic medicine furosemide to Quarter Horses in jurisdictions where regulation does not allow it. Unfortunately, the project got tabled when I lost funding. But I have good news: I have found another source of funding and we are engaging in planning discussions now to move forward with the study. So, it’s premature to give
specifics, but in the coming months, if you are at a track where information is being collected for this purpose and your trainer is asked to scope your horse (at no charge to you), please afford them the opportunity to do so. We need to collect all the data we can in this endeavor to protect
our horses. No information will be shared with the regulatory body regarding specifics of the horse. And, if you are a praying person, pray that it works out that science provides a means for us to protect our equine athletes from bleeding as we move forward in a new era of regulation.
What do I mean by “New era of regulation”? You might think that the prohibition of race day medication (i.e., furosemide) is limited to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, and that right now, we in the Quarter Horse business are not vulnerable to HISA’s oversight. The future of HISA is in the courts, but regardless
of that matter, jurisdictions such as California are harmonizing their rules and regulations
to be aligned with what HISA and HIWU (Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit – who oversees the medication policy) has proposed. So, the threat of losing furosemide is imminent, and I hope this study, if the data supports the premise, is one step towards protecting our horses’ wellbeing.
With that I close. Lots of work to do regarding the endeavors mentioned in this article, and other tasks. Whether at a horse sale, AQHA Convention, or at a track, I look forward to seeing you in 2023!
February 2023
by Janet VanBebber, AQHA Chief Racing Officer
Dustin Orona Photography
SPEEDHORSE February 2023 23