Day 2 AQHA Convention Recap- With Mary Brown
EC Blog by: Mary Brown
Good Afternoon!
I just wanted to start by introducing myself. My name is Mary Brown, and I’m from Cleveland, AL. I’m a Professional Horseman and I currently own and operate a boarding and training facility in Cleveland, RiverBend Farm. My mother, Donna Casey, and I flew out to San Antonio on Thursday, and we’ve been busy ever since. From checking into our hotel to checking out all the sites and then attending meetings, we’re having a blast.
On Friday, March 17th, we attended the Equine Industry Workshops and heard from amazing speakers. We started with Dr. Stephen Schumacher, who spoke on the AQHA drug rules and how to stay compliant. The most talked about drug was Equioxx, which is similar to Previcox (canine form). We then heard from the Bank of America Speaker regarding financial fundamentals like setting goals, budget basics, building an emergency fund, managing debt, and saving. Our third speaker was Dr. Jim Heard, a legendary judge. He wanted to speak positively on what we as Professional Horseman have done for AQHA and the horse industry. He loves what he’s seeing, not only in the arena, but also in the warm up pen. He feels that AQHA is setting the bar for animal welfare. We need to continue to focus on the good. Our last speaker was Al Dunning, another amazing horseman. He gave advice, not only about being a great trainer, but also about being a great businessman and a great person. He spoke about making a brand for yourself and getting sponsors.
The town hall meeting was next after a mad dash to stuff my face with some lunch. In the meeting, we talked about the decline of our youth. It was a little sad to see that our youth numbers have dropped so drastically all around the board. We had seen it at home in Alabama, but to know it was everywhere was a little disheartening. We looked at statistics regarding youth that had answered surveys. We’ve seen a 20% drop since 2008 in our youth. But, we listened to the panel and our current Youth President talk about ways that we can fix this and move forward.
Austin, with the National High School Rodeo Association, spoke about how they gave out $1.8 million dollars in scholarship money, and we know this could definitely be a way of bringing in some youth, to help them pay for college when the price of schooling is only going to increase. Roxanne Deran, founder of the IEA (Interscholastic Equestrian Association) talked about somehow making it to where children wouldn’t have to own their own horses to show. There are limitations to this in AQHA.
We moved onto Public Policy and Ward Stutz spoke regarding legislation in the horse industry and how great of an impact this could have on horse owners in the future. In the next two years, we as an industry have to be the best we can be to prevent animal activists from trying to shut us down. Seeing Sea World locations and Ringling Brothers shutdown, what’s next? Rodeos? We have to find a way to educate people on animals, livestock, and horses.
One of the next biggest topics was microchipping horses. There are several organizations already mandating this process: Jockey Club, European Union, US Trotting Horse Association, and the US Hunter Jumper Association. Is AQHA next? Dr. Tom Lenz spoke regarding several good things that can come from this: ID, disaster prep, health certificates, and breeding.
We finished the evening by sipping on Shamrock Ritas while enjoying the Presidents’ Reception and mingling with our fellow AQHA Directors and Professional Horseman.
