At the 2008 AHYA Youth Convention, the new Youth Executive Committee was elected. AHA, Youth Programs and AHYA are excited to have the following ladies working hard all year for Youth Programs and the Arabian horse! Welcome aboard!
President: Annalise Himmel, Schriever, Louisiana
Vice President: Katie Pelphrey, Louisville, KY
Secretary: Nikki Burns, Silex, MO
Treasurer: Maral Otabachian, Basalt, Colorado

Calling all overachievers! You know who you are: the good student, the volunteer, the role model, the die-hard Arabian horse lover… All rolled into one totally fab package!

Apply for the honor of becoming the 2008 Youth of the Year! The winning youth will be honored at the AHYA and AHA Conventions as well as during Youth Nationals. This person may also be featured on the cover of Modern Arabian Horse magazine.

Download a nomination form today. Be sure to have your Regional Director or Director at Large sign the application before submitting it to AHA. Forms must be postmarked by September 1. Don't miss out on a great opportunity. We know you're out there!

The Arabian Horse Youth Association is pleased to announce that Universal Trailers has generously signed on as the new AHYA Youth Sponsor by donating a 2009 ES20 Exiss Sport 2-Horse bumper pull slant load trailer for this year's raffle fundraiser. Universal trailers, headquartered in El Reno, Oklahoma manufactures and sells Exiss, Sooner, and Miley Trailers. Raffle tickets were available at the 2008 Youth National show, held July 25-August 2nd in Albuquerque, NM and will also be sold at the 2008 U.S. Nationals in Tulsa, October 17-25. Contact AHA Youth Programs, at youth@arabianhorses.org for more information.

AHYA would like to thank all of our 2008 Activity and Qualifier T-shirt sponsors! A big round of applause goes out to:

Hesten Park & the Hoffman Family Region 9 Long Meadow Arabians & Exxpectation SPEAH Jim and Christy Egan & Results Region 10 Region 1 Minnesota Half AHA Minnesota AHA Wisconsin AHA Chesapeake Training Center & Virginia Godwin Bennett Fine Jewlery www.TheHatLady.com Region 5 Youth Association Ashley Anderson & O Man O Ran Region 6 Youth Region 9 Youth

Region 13 Rooker Training Stable Region XI Region 15 AHA Region III Youth 2008 Pacific Royal Autumn Classic Arabian Horse Show Region 4 AHA The Arabian Horse Society of SD Youth Zia Graphics Performance Plus Arabians LLC Star Motors, LLC Will-O-Bar Arabians Green Acres Ranch Inc. Baldwin Stables LLC Region 8 Youth Bluegrass AHA Region 17 Cross Winds Arabians

I like that one! No, wait-THAT one! OK, well, hmmm…. I dunno. How can I figure out why that horse just won her class? Learn to judge and you'll answer your own questions- and everyone else's. Find out about Arabian Horse Judging.

The Arabian Horse Judging Contest will be October 24th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. AHA offers winners approximately $7,000 in scholarships and incredible prizes like saddles! Entries are due September 22nd. Find out more today!

October 24th Arabian Horse Youth Judging Contest, US Nationals, Albuquerque, NM
October 25th Arabian Horse Youth Judging Contest Awards Breakfast, Albuquerque, NM
October 26th AHYA Board of Directors Meeting, Albuquerque, NM
November 1st AHYA Silent Auction donated items due to AHA
November 30th Regional Youth Team Tournament results close

Tell us about your fave activity held during Youth Nationals, and you'll be entered to win a beautiful Arabian horse poster from AHA! Spill the beans on why you love the AHYA Convention, Hippology Contest, Flying Pigs, Stick Horse Workshop, Novice Judging Contest, Parade of Regions, Daily Hoof Print, Dog Costume Contest, Dog Races, or Ice Cream Social.

Send your comments to youth@arabianhorses.org by September 10th.

The 2008 Summer Olympics have just gotten underway in Beijing, athletes from all over the world are there representing their countries in at least one of the 302 events in 23 sports. Dressage, Eventing, and Show Jumping are the three Equestrian disciplines recognized at the 2008 Olympics.

• The original Olympic Games were first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece and were celebrated until AD 393.
• The modern Olympic Games were inaugurated in Athens in 1896, and are held at the beginning of every Olympiad.
• An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece.
• The games were originally a summer sports event until 1920.
• In 1924 the first ever Winter Games began in Chamonix, France.
• Until 1992, Summer and Winter Games were held in the same year. Since then, the summer games are held during the first year of the Olympiad, and the winter games are held during the third year.
• The Olympic Rings are the most widely used symbol of the Olympics. They were chosen to represent the unity of the five inhabited continents. The colors, white, red, blue, green, yellow and black, were chosen such that each nation has at least one of these colors in it's national flag.
• Equestrianism made its Summer Olympics debut in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
• Current Olympic disciplines are Dressage, Eventing, and Jumping. Each discipline has both individual and team medals awarded.
• Other equine disciplines to be held at the Olympics include Polo for 4 Olympic games and Vaulting appeared only once in the 1920 games.
• Equestrian Disciplines are the only Olympic events that involve animals. The horse is considered as much a athlete as the human rider.

Several people have asked about reining being a part of the Olympics. The 2008 or 2012 Olympics were supposed to be hosting reining. Looks like we might have to wait until 2012! The World Equestrian Games in 2010, will feature eventing (which combines jumping, cross country jumping, and dressage), endurance riding, vaulting, reining, combined driving, dressage and show jumping. Should the Olympics feature these games too? Email us what you think!

Are you a stall-bound horse? Want to amuse yourself and your human? Well, here are some fun activities for you!
Smoosh The Bedding
In this game, you can attempt to mix your bedding, poop, and hay all together. You do this by walking all around in your stall, until you get a good, even mixture. Some horses walk in circles, or back and forth in a straight line... experiment with different styles to see what you like best. Again, this provides entertainment and exercise for your human, because they will have to clean it all up.
Roll in the stall
Attempt to get a good roll, in your stall. If your stall is big, this is easy; however, the smaller the stall, the more difficult it can become. The object is to roll, well, without getting stuck. There is some danger involved in this game, as you could roll up near a wall and get stuck (but then, your human will rescue you-- be sure to do this near food time just in case!).