AHYA Enews


April 2009
Regional Youth Team Tournament Arabian - A Different Kind of Animal 2009 Horse of the Month Dates & Deadlines AHYA Convention 2009 Theme is in! Would you like to be an AHYA Officer? AHYA is Looking for Activity Sponsors for Youth Nationals! Arabians in 4-H Are you a Scout? Gettin' you connected! Horse Safety Rules


	Regional Youth Team Tournament Don't forget to start rounding up your friends before your first big show this year and get your RYTT team together. Start by grabbing an entry form off the website, filling it out and sending your $10 team entry fee. Contact your Regional Youth Team Tournament Secretaries or AHA for more questions! Arabian - A Different Kind of Animal 2009 Creative Contest theme is 'Arabian - A Different Kind of Animal.' Think: Arabians disguised as lions, tigers and leopards, or Arabians traveling thought the jungle with monkeys and wildlife all around! Enter unlimited categories for just $10. Compete in Creative Writing, Art, Photography, Computer-Generated, and Audio-Visual. Entries are due by June 1. You can download your form and read all about the Creative Contest rules on ArabianHorses.org/youth. It's never too soon to get started on all of those awesome projects we receive each year. 2009 Horse of the Month Do you have an outstanding Arabian or Half-Arabian horse that you feel deserves extra special recognition? If so, enter him or her in the AHA "Horse of the Month" Contest! Just email or mail us at least one great photo of your horse and one to two paragraphs telling us why your favorite four-legged friend deserves to be the AHYA Horse of the Month! Dates & Deadlines May 1 Regional Youth Team Tournament entries are due. June 1 AHYA Creative Contest entries are due. June 1 AHYA Convention delegates eligibility deadline. June 15 AHYA Officer Candidate applications due to AHA. June 25 AHYA Convention delegates forms due to AHA.


	AHYA Convention 2009 Theme is in! The 2009 AHYA Convention theme will be AHYA on the Loose! It's going to be wild and crazy this year with animal prints galore! As always, the AHYA Convention theme tends to trickle into the barns all week. How wild can you make Albuquerque?


	Would you like to be an AHYA Officer? If you think that you might be interested in running for AHYA office, please submit your AHYA officer candidate application today! Technically, candidate applications aren't due until June 15, but if you would like to start your campaign now you can submit your application and be posted on the website so that delegates all over can get to know you before Convention in July. For election procedures and more information on AHYA, refer to the AHYA Constitution, Chapter 25 of your AHA Handbook, before submitting your application.


	AHYA is Looking for Activity Sponsors for Youth Nationals! We got your piggies, your stick horses, hippology and more planned for the 2008 Youth National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show. Your AHYA Board is looking for activity and t-shirt sponsors. Think it would be cool to have your barn listed on all of those qualifier t-shirts? Or maybe your family would like to sponsor the Ice Cream Social? Download a Youth Activity Sponsorship form today from the AHYA website by clicking here.


	Arabians in 4-H AHYA is enjoying all the stories about your involvement in 4-H with your Arabian horses! We are even posting these stories and photos in Modern Arabian Horse magazine! The AHYA would love to hear how you and your Arabian, Half -Arabian or Anglo Arabian are making waves in your local 4-H program. Are you a member of AHA and also compete successfully in 4-H horse projects like Hippology, Horse Bowl, or on a Judging Team? Do you volunteer your horses for 4-H judging contests? We want to know about Arabians in 4-H! Send your stories and photos to youth@arabianhorses.org. Are you a Scout? Are you a member of Girl Scouts of the USA or Boy Scouts of America? AHYA would like to hear about how your involvement with horses has played a roll in being a scout! Do you attend scout camps in the summer? We want to hear all about it! Send your stories and photos to youth@arabianhorses.org.


	Gettin' you connected! Have you checked out how many friends and fans AHYA has on MySpace and Facebook these days? Come check it out!


	Horse Safety Rules If I've Told you Once…. Time and again, your parents, barn buddies or riding coaches have nagged you about these horse safety rules. But it won't hurt you to hear them again. Don't run your horse back to the barn. That's how you teach your horse bad manners. Don't wear inappropriate clothing. Flip-flops are for the beach, not the barn. When cleaning out your horse's hooves, don't drag the hoof pick toward yourself and the horse. And for goodness sake, take off that loose jewelry! Don't tie your horse too low. Remember, tie to the eye. Don't walk under your horse while he's tied. If he spooks, you're in trouble. Don't dig your spurs into him! Need I say more? Don't undo the front cinch before unbuckling the back cinch, unless you want your saddle hanging upside-down. Don't wrap the lead rope around your hand. And what did I tell you about that loose jewelry?

AHA is a major equine association serving 37,000 members across North America. It registers and maintains a database of more than one million Arabian, Half-Arabian and Anglo-Arabian horses and administers approximately $4 million in annual prize money. AHA produces championship events, recognizes close to 400 Arabian horse shows and distance rides and provides activities and programs that promote breeding and ownership. For information about Arabian, Half-Arabian and Anglo-Arabian horses, call 303-696-4500, e-mail info@ArabianHorses.org or visit ArabianHorses.org