Yearly Archives: 2011

The Ohio Quarter Horse Association has released the futurity and sweepstakes book and entry materials for the 2011 All American Quarter Horse Congress, held this year October 7-30, 2011 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, Ohio.

The book will begin hitting mail boxes next week, but it is also available online at www.oqha.com/congress. The Congress Futurity and Sweepstakes book contains information for the following classes:

- Coughlin Two Year Old Snaffle Bit Western Pleasure

- Three Year Old Snaffle Bit Western Pleasure

- Three Year Old Non-Pro Snaffle Bit Western Pleasure

- Markel Western Pleasure Maturity

- Three Year Old Hunter Under Saddle

- Wenger Barrel Racing Sweepstakes

- Pole Bending Sweepstakes

- Amateur Versatility

- Open Reining Futurity

- Intermediate Reining Futurity

- Limited Reining Futurity

- Prime Time Reining Futurity

Nominations for performance futurities (except for Reining), sweepstakes and versatility, are due April 1^st. Reining Futurity nominations are due April 15^th.

Entries for stakes classes, including the new Three and Four Year Old Trail Stakes Class are due August 25^th, with regular entries.

Questions should be sent to the Ohio Quarter Horse Association at 740-943-2346 or [email protected].

Links:

2011 Congress Futurity & Sweepstakes Book

2011 Congress Futurity & Sweepstakes Entry Form

2011 Congress Reining Futurity Entry Form

The Glover Family, owners of the Three-Time All American Quarter Horse Congress Champion Stallion, VS Code Red, has announced a special discount offer to breeders in Europe, Australia and Canada for frozen semen shipments. “Recognizing the expense involved in shipped frozen semen to our breeders outside the United States, we are offering a $250 USD discount for breedings booked by March 31 for this 2011 breeding season,” said Debbie Glover. “Initial reports of the frozen semen quality are excellent, and we are very pleased with the interest in VS Code Red with the breeders in Europe.”

VS Code Red stands at High Point Performance Horses in Pilot Point, Texas with frozen semen available through Select Breeders in Europe. Mare owners may contact High Point Performance Horses at (940) 440-2006 or David Maisonette, the European Agent for VS Code Red at (33) 673 331 532 or [email protected] for breedings and information.

Information may also be found on www.vscodered.com and be sure to like VS Code Red on facebook to keep up with all of his news and to see photos of the 2010 foals.

By AQHA Professional Horsewoman Carla Wennberg with Christine Hamilton in The American Quarter Horse Journal

Reiners and dressage riders both incorporate a good topline stretch when they work a horse. It’s simple: Allow the horse to stretch down with his neck, reaching down to his knee. In doing that, he stretches the entire topline muscles from his neck on down the back. When he stretches his neck forward, the back comes up and makes a better stride and topline.

It’s a great exercise for every event, but it is just a warm-up; it is not how your horse’s head should be carried all the time.

Click Here to read entire article

Reporting live from the AQHA Convention in Grapevine, Texas, GoHorseShow.com is excited to report on the festivities, parties, general membership meeting and committee meetings held on Saturday and Sunday at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center. With a gorgeous backdrop of this one-of-a-kind Texan themed convention center, we saw and met with some of the major industry leaders from the American Quarter Horse Association.

Peter J. Cofrancesco III of Sparta, New Jersey, was elected president of the American Quarter Horse Association today during the 2011 AQHA Convention in Grapevine, Texas.

Cofrancesco, the second-youngest AQHA member to serve as AQHA president, and the only past president of the American Quarter Horse Youth Association to serve on the Executive Committee, is realizing his lifelong dream to serve as AQHA’s president. Cofrancesco has a long heritage in the American Quarter Horse business. His father, Peter J. Cofrancesco Jr., was an AQHA director and established Peter J. Cofrancesco Farms Inc. in Sparta, New Jersey, which is now owned by Peter’s mother, Peggy Cofrancesco.

Cofrancesco is chair of the Grinnell Group of Companies, which includes several entities, including solid waste and recycling, real estate and concrete products manufacturing. Cofrancesco was American Quarter Horse Youth Association president in 1991. He and his wife, Carmen, have three children, Ireland, Peter IV and Emma.

Gene Graves of Grand Island, Nebraska, was elected first vice president. Graves is auctioneer of Diamond G Auction Co. and is a Realtor for Century 21. Johne Dobbs of Champaign, Illinois, was elected second vice president. Dobbs, a director from Illinois, owns Johne Dobbs Equine Insurance. She is the second woman to serve on the AQHA Executive Committee.

Johnny Trotter of Hereford, Texas, begins his second term as a board member. Trotter, a director from Texas, is president and chief executive officer of Livestock Investors Ltd.

The newest member of the AQHA Executive Committee is George Phillips, 61, of Sumrall, Mississippi. Phillips is a longtime breeder of American Quarter Horses and past president of the Mississippi Quarter Horse Association. He has served on AQHA’s board of directors, as a member of the Association’s public policy committee and as a “Q-Contact” who fostered relationships with members of Congress. Those roles were a good fit, considering his background.

Phillips received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Southern Mississippi and his law degree from the University of Mississippi.

In 1980, he was named the U.S. Attorney for the southern district of Mississippi. The U.S. Department of Justice’s website has this to say about him: “George Phillips began in 1980 as the nation’s youngest U.S. Attorney and concluded as its most senior in 1994. He once declared he’d rather have been a cowboy and proved as proficient at rounding up criminals as he was at rounding up horses in private life. One of Mississippi’s “Untouchables,” he earned the reputation as tough on public corruption by helping convict over 50 county supervisors in Operation Pretense. He also received national recognition for his work with the District’s Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee. Phillips’ statement to prospective assistants characterizes the history of the office: ‘If put to a pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.’ ”

He was one of only two U.S. Attorneys to serve two terms on the U.S. Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, and in 2007, his former office named an award for him: the George L. Phillips Distinguished Community Support Award, in recognition of the positive impact he had on the office, particularly in the area of law enforcement coordination.

Phillips also served as special counsel to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran for six years.

Phillips was director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics before being named the state’s Commissioner of Public Safety in 2005. Hurricane Katrina struck not long after his appointment, and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour lauded Phillips for setting “a high standard that will stand as a model for other states in dealing with large natural disasters.”

In 2008, Phillips was appointed the Mississippi state director for USDA Rural Development.

Connie Price of Connie's Customs show apparel has donated a gorgeous one-of-a-kind made vest for the March to the Arch live auction that will held this weekend at the show. The show has raised more than $120,000 total and has supported cancer research by the American Cancer Society and the University of Oklahoma Cancer Institute. This year’s funds go to the Children’s Hospital of St. Louis.

"I thought it was a wonderful thing to do since we have all lost so many loved ones with this disease," Connie said to GoHorseShow.com. "I, like others have lost family and friends with cancer. It's just a heartfelt good feeling to be a part of doing this for others in hope that a cure will be found. This is a great show, with great people working hard and donating their time for a great cause. I am honored to be a part of it."

The March to the Arch Show held in Lake St. Louis, Missouri was set up by Doug Landon who is a cancer survivor. Doug and Lana started this show to raise money to be donated to different institutions for cancer research and needs. Since the inception of this show, Connie's has always donated something to be auctioned at the show to raise money for the cure. make sure to stop by her shop and check out all her latest show clothes and merchandise for sale.

[NPI Float="left"]/Media/4/jpg/2011/3/b3d6763b-031e-fc92-7d3c9c0cc0aedb46.jpg[/NPI]McDonnell Pediatric Cancer Center

More than 3,000 new cases of childhood brain tumors are diagnosed each year, mostly in infants and young children. Brain tumors are the second most common childhood malignancy and the most common solid tumor among children. Unlike many other cancers where the cure rates have improved significantly in recent years, most brain tumors still have an almost uniformly fatal outcome. Those who do survive the aggressive surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy treatments often are left with severe handicaps, learning disabilities or hearing and vision losses.

The McDonnell Pediatric Cancer Center conducts both clinical and research programs designed to identify key genetic features and the biological nature of different tumor groups, which will lead to improved diagnostics and therapies. The goals include development of treatment strategies that will extend lives or cure children with brain tumors while minimizing the deleterious effects of cancer therapies optimizing the quality of life.

St. Louis Children's Hospital has provided specialized care for children for more than 129 years. The hospital is affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine, ranked the number three medical school in the country by US News & World Report. In 2009, Parents magazine ranked St. Louis Children's Hospital #5 among their 10 Best children's hospitals in the country. In 2005, St. Louis Children’s Hospital received the Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor for nursing excellence. St. Louis Children's Hospital is a member of BJC HealthCare. For more information visit www.stlouischildrens.org.

The American Quarter Horse Association has released the 2010 AQHA Annual Report today for download. The report contains complete statistics on AQHA membership, horse registrations, show and race statistics and much more.

Also in the report, AQHA President Johannes Oregeldinger explains his 2010 goals and initiatives, including:

1. Increase participation in shows

2. Engaging ranches to be more involved with AQHA

3. Animal welfare

4. International growth

5. Genetic defects

6. AQHA’s world shows and the new Battle in the Saddle

7. FEI and Reining

Download your copy today.

Here are the top 10 membership states/provinces/countries:

1. Texas 41,186

2. California 17,970

3. Oklahoma 14,019

4. Colorado 8,876

5. Ohio 8,384

6. Missouri 7,464

7. Alberta 7,382

8. Florida 7,163

9. Germany 6,780

10. Kansas 6,224

“I encourage all AQHA members to read through the 2010 AQHA Annual Report and get a better idea of the Association’s functions and goals and how we operate as a business dedicated to serving our members in the best ways possible,” said AQHA Executive Vice President Don Treadway Jr.

Texas H.O.R.S.E. announced today its enthusiastic support for a constitutional amendment and implementing legislation filed in the Texas Senate by Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa - SJR 33 and SB 1118, and in the Texas House of Representatives by Representative Beverly Woolley - HJR 111 and HB 2111. Senator JeffWentworth is listed as a co-author of the bills filed in the Senate.

If approved by the legislature, the constitutional amendment will be voted on by the citizens of Texas on November 8, 2011. Following its approval at the polls, the amendment will authorize video lottery gaming (also referred to as slot machines) at the 13 licensed horse and greyhound racetracks in Texas, and provide that the 3 federally recognized Indian tribes in Texas are not prohibited from operating video lottery machines on their tribal lands. The implementing bill filed today will define the administration and regulation of video lottery gaming when the constitutional amendment becomes effective.

The legislation will pave the way for an industry that will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes annually for Texas. Just as importantly, it will provide the tools to allow the Texas racing industry to compete on a level playing field with all the states bordering Texas, whose respective governments all gave their racing industries the support and mechanisms with which to effectively devastate our industry in Texas during the last decade. Additionally, this legislation reaches out and provides much needed support to the non-racing segments of the horse industry, establishing a Performance Horse Development Fund, and Texas will be unique in that regard. This means that the benefits of this legislation can potentially impact all 254 counties in Texas, down to the local rodeos and other local horse events.

In addition to providing substantial tax revenues to Texas, the ultimate benefit will be to help revitalize the enormous equine agricultural industry in our state, resulting in many thousands of additional jobs and hundreds of millions of dollar in economic impact annually. Texas has always been looked to as the "home of the horse"; it is part of our heritage. This legislation will go a long way towards giving the Texas horse industry what it needs to regain its rightful status as the best in the nation.

To learn more about this legislation and how it will benefit you go to www.texashorseweb.com