Dear AHA Member,
With our national shows behind us, we look forward to our Annual Convention in Fort Worth capping a year of higher numbers at our national shows, more exposure for our breed than ever before, and innovative ideas to move our breed and Association forward. In this bulletin, I want to cover our upcoming Convention, Sport Horse and U.S. Nationals, the First Annual Trail Ride held in the Fall, Sweepstakes program update, finance status, various places we have had a presence, and what is on the horizon.


Convention is the time when we come together as voting delegates to help chart the course for our Association. I realize that for many, the Convention is a bit of a mystery with reports from delegates, and our review in Arabian Horse Magazine as the chief sources for comprehending what transpires. This year, you will have the opportunity to experience Convention when I present my “State of the Association” message to the delegates on the opening day. My message will be captured on video and be available on our website the next day. This marks a “first” for us and reflects my commitment to keep you informed in a very personal way. I hope you take advantage of this opportunity as I want to share with all of you where our organization stands and where we are going. We plan to take Convention and our democratic process to another level next year as we will be investigating the feasibility of placing the resolutions on our website, with the capability for you, our members, to indicate your straw vote on each one. Improvements in our Information Technology department will enable us to do this. While the delegates will remain those voting, for the first time ever we will have an idea how the membership feels on certain topics. I hope you will find this initiative just as exciting as I do.



For those of you who attended either our Sport Horse Nationals or our U.S. Nationals, you know that each show was a tremendous success. At Sport Horse, we had 100 more horses than anticipated, and at U.S. Nationals, we had over 1900 horses entered in the show, a much higher number than anticipated. While the figures are not in for the U.S. Nationals, the net for the Sport Horse Nationals is approximately $120,000 that is nearly $60,000 greater than budgeted and approximately $90,000 over last year. Numbers are important as they reflect success and profit for our organization. I attended both events, each one different and unique, and came away with a feeling of excitement at seeing our horses and exhibitors having the opportunity to present their horses in a venue suited to them. In each instance, we made efforts to attract the general public to see our horses. A steady stream of traffic was seen at Sport Horse in Lexington, Virginia on the Saturday when we had two clinics. There was a tremendous air of enthusiasm and enjoyment on the part of the exhibitors at this show. The numbers indeed show that we are providing a venue that many of our membership enjoy and have embraced.

In Albuquerque, we were blessed with great weather for the show, and our Finals Extravaganza that included barn presentations and outdoor presentations of *Aladdinn with opportunities for spectators to have their photo taken with this legendary horse. Two to three hundred people attended each of these. We unveiled our Judges Hall of Fame with a reception, and Friday night several of the judges were in center ring for recognition and thanks for their devotion and dedication to our breed and Association. On Saturday night, there were few dry eyes in Tingley Coliseum when *Aladdinn, at age 30, made his final public appearance. Capping opening ceremonies, Ron Armstrong from Michigan, sang “Proud to be an American” while the colors were presented in center ring. It was a night to be remembered. With our national venues completed, I want to thank all of the show commissioners for the work they do for each and every one of our national shows: The Youth Nationals, Canadian Nationals, Sport Horse Nationals, and the U.S. Nationals. The folks who serve on these commissions do an extraordinary job with our shows, working long hours, doing their best to make sure the show is a good one for you and presents our breed in the best light possible. When you have the opportunity, tell these commissioners how much you appreciate their efforts. They do a wonderful job!



Between the two national shows, I was actually able to spend some time on horseback! My wife Cindy and I traveled to Nebraska to ride in the Association’s “first ever” fun trail ride. It provided a welcome break and gave me the opportunity to spend time with folks who truly enjoy riding their horses in the great outdoors. It reminded me of how important it is to reach out to those who use their horses for recreational riding. We had folks who had trailered in from great distances on the east coast, as well as others from other parts of the country who spent many hours on the road to get to the ride. The weather was excellent, the views spectacular, and the camaraderie was great. Our clinician for the ride was Sheila Varian whose horse went everywhere, anytime, that Sheila wanted to go. She helped folks with their horses, encouraged reluctant riders and patted them on the back. I will never forget the beautiful sunsets and sunrises while enjoying the companionship of fellow Arabian horse lovers. The ride was coordinated by the Association’s Marketing staff and funded by the Market Development and Promotion Committee. Our Association plans more of these rides, and I heartily encourage you to sign up for one next year. I know I will be back!



Many of you may be aware that I appointed a Sweepstakes Task Force earlier this Fall. The Board of Trustees, the body that has final approval of Sweepstakes program changes, did not embrace proposals by the Sweepstakes Commission. Several members of the Sweepstakes Commission resigned. I appointed Sue Meyer, Dean Meier, Dan Stevenson, Jan Decker and Lance Walters to work on a program and to submit it to the Trustees by early November. They worked diligently, reviewing the various proposals thus far, and produced a program that I believe will be warmly greeted by the membership. At this writing, we plan to unveil the new Sweepstakes program at Convention. I believe this is one of the single most important steps our Association has taken this year. I believe it will give breeders and exhibitors what they are seeking in a program, encouraging more breeding, more sales of horses, and the opportunity to win Sweepstakes money on all levels of showing. The beauty of the program is that, just as in our point system, there is allowance for adjustment as we progress with the program. Having the flexibility allows us to be responsive to you, the breeders and exhibitors. We want you to be pleased with the changes, embrace them, and help us make the program even better in the future. My thanks for those appointed to this important task force. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!



Fiscal 2006 is half over, and the results are maintaining at a level that, if continued, will result in a profitable year. Our net operating income year to date is just under $298,000, compared with a loss of $140,000 for the same period last year. This is an improvement of $438,000. A significant point is that revenues at the operating income level were over a half million dollars higher than the first half of last year! This is pretty astounding. How have we done this? Registry services brought in more money, largely from the amnesty program; as well as DataSource revenue; magazine, Sweepstakes and Futurity revenues are up; Partner Marketing (sponsorships) revenue is up; membership revenue is up; and, award revenue is up while expenses are down. We’re also seeing a $71,000 decrease in salaries and benefits due to organization restructuring. I believe we are definitely seeing the results of our efforts in two important cornerstones: Organizational Efficiency and Financial Responsibility. We’re working smarter and more businesslike, and keeping our eye to loss and profitability. My thanks to all of our staff for the improvement in our financial picture, and to Controller Jon Barnickel for giving us accurate summary reports which are helpful and enlightening to all of us.



In addition to our national shows, we had high visibility at two major public events, the Equine Affaire in Louisville, Kentucky where 50,000 people visited over three days. AHA staff partnered with Region 14 to produce a demonstration and have a booth along with a horse. This was followed by the national FFA Convention at the end of October in Louisville with AHA again partnering with the region with a booth space and a $2,000 scholarship provided by the Kentucky Arabian Horse Association. Nearly 55,000 youth visited over three days with 1,500 signing up for the scholarship prize. When the drawing for the scholarship was held on the final day, the aisles were filled with youth in blue blazers awaiting the drawing. These important outreach efforts emphasize our commitment to bringing our breed of horses and our Association to the general public, to the equine community and to the youth. It is important that we continue this.



I have an important appointment before Convention. I will be traveling to Tulsa, which will be the location of our U.S. Nationals in 2008. I will tour the site and visit with facility management, as they make ready for our nationals. Our continuing relationship with the folks in Tulsa – facilities staff and the convention and visitors bureau – is important. I realized even more at the U.S. Nationals in Albuquerque what a tremendous advantage being in one location will be to our Association. In many instances, we can purchase and store items and fixtures which we now spend large amounts of money to rent or to ship. The cost savings to the organization in future years will enable us to contain costs better and realize a larger profit for the Association. This is truly an example of applying best practices and operating more efficiently as a business. I am leaving directly from Oklahoma to drive to Fort Worth for the 2005 Convention.



When I start my bulletin to you, I begin with the thought in mind of being brief. There is so much happening in our Association that I want to share with you. Consequently, brevity falls by the wayside. I want you to feel the same sense of excitement that I do with the progress we are making, and more importantly how our mind set is changing as we indeed embrace new ways of doing things. As we continue on this path of recovery, I want to again remind you to step back and take a look at not what is necessarily of benefit to you personally, but what will benefit the entire membership and will put us in our rightful place as a responsive and innovative leader in the equine world. With your continued help, we can and are making a difference. As you know, communication is important to me. I make every effort to respond to the hundreds of e-mail messages and I truly apologize if for some reason I have not responded. There could be any number of reasons why I have not responded. One reason is I may not have received it and that may have been caused by firewall protection, security, virus protection or possibly I just did not receive it from my ISP. If it is an emergency situation, feel free to call me. If it is something that our AHA staff can help you with, call the AHA office, or e-mail info@ArabianHorses.org and your message will be forwarded to the appropriate staff person for response.

I look forward to seeing you at the 2005 Convention in Forth Worth! If you are not attending, don’t forget to check our website, arabianhorses.org for the report from Convention.


Sincerely and God Bless,