Registration News

June 17, 2004

Region 9 Director Reports on April Breeders Forum

The AHA Registration Commission held a Breeders Forum for Owners and Breeders of Arabian, Half Arabian and Anglo Arabian horses in Fort Worth on April 3, 2004. The American Paint Horse Association graciously offered their facility to us for this forum free of charge. This facility was filled to capacity with owners and breeders. The meeting got underway after a delicious lunch donated mostly by the Arabian Horse Trust. Robert Fauls ably chaired the meeting. Among Commission members assisting with conduct of the meeting were Lollie Ames and Grace Greenlee. Other Commission members were present and helped make this meeting exciting and spirited. This was an open forum for questions and concerns to be aired. The Breeders and owners were enthusiastic and asked and got answered many important questions.

The registration of Arabians, Half Arabians and Anglo Arabians is now all done on one integrated system in AHA. The turn around time for registering your horses in AHA is the fastest in the horse industry. The folks doing this job in AHA are very efficient and competent at what they do. The AHA Registration Commission and personnel want to be very responsive to your needs in registering your horses and are available to answer your questions.

This meeting is a good example of the outreach and promotion programs coming out of AHA. Not only may you go to AHA for help but AHA is coming to you for advice and input. The AHA Market development and Promotion Committee Chair, Cynthia Richardson, was there making her presence known and heard by the audience. Much work is in process for promotion of our beloved horses and their welfare. These programs will become more visible this year. Promotion tapes and brochures have been developed by this committee and are available for distribution. I get a new sense of can do , want to and enthusiastic dedication to the job of promoting our horses coming not only out of AHA but from the groundswell of enthusiasm from owners and breeders present at this meeting. Breeders and owners from one horse back yard to large multimillion dollar operations were in this audience. I noted commitment and enthusiasm from all segments of our breed. We are all in this journey together and this audience expressed and recognized this fact. The days of joining up sides to fight each other are hopefully behind us giving way to cooperation, helping each other and realizing if you trash one segment of our horses and the people who love them, you are doing harm to all breeders and owners and the welfare and value of our horses. These are the types of comments coming from this meeting.

I am proud of Region 9 for being one of the hosts of this event. I am delighted to see the cooperation of AHA, the AHA Registration Commission and the American Paint Horse Association in hosting this meeting with Region 9. Would you believe some of the most enthusiastic members of the audience were employees of the American Paint Horse Association, who own, breed and ride Arabian Horses? Also, equally enthusiastic, were some people who owned Quarter Horses but are switching to Arabians, expressing the mind, bonding and beauty of the Arabians as part of the reason for the switch. But their most important reason for their switch to Arabians was the fact that their Quarter Horses were getting beaten by Arabians in endurance and some other events. Much credit must go to Debbie Fuentes, a fine lady, of AHA for her work in planning and seeing this event was well publicized and organized. Debbie can be reached to answer your questions at 303-696-4518 or debbie.fuentes@Arabianhorses.org.