The American Quarter Horse Journal – Due to the recent outbreak of equine herpesvirus-1, many horse shows have experienced reduced exhibitor numbers and some shows – particularly National Cutting Horse Association events – have been canceled. As a result, the AQHA Executive Committee has extended to June 26 the Adequan Select World Championship Show qualifying period, which was to end May 31. This step is in addition to lowering the Adequan Select World qualifying points, which the Executive Committee announced on May 18.
Additionally, due to the cancellations of all cutting events through June 5, qualifying points for Select cutting have been lowered to one-half point, and AQHA will continue to monitor future cancellations based on NCHA’s recommendations.
“Several major shows held this last weekend experienced drastically reduced exhibitor numbers,” said AQHA President Peter J. Cofrancesco III. “Major shows in California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Texas, Washington, Alberta and other states or provinces have had low exhibitor turn out and some in those locations have already canceled shows scheduled for this weekend.
The American Quarter Horse Journal – To better utilize the talents of the professionals within the American Quarter Horse show industry, two American Quarter Horse Association standing committees have been replaced with a new committee: the AQHA Shows and Professional Horsemen Committee.
“This is a great integration of professional horsemen,” said AQHA President Peter J. Cofrancesco III. “It’s a forward-thinking recommendation that was considered and approved at the 2011 AQHA Convention and allows professionals on the AQHA Professional Horsemen’s Committee to have input into the programs, events and areas of the show industry where they can have the greatest effect. It streamlines certain areas of the rule-change development, recommendation and adoption process, and it better utilizes the talents and expertise of the professional horsemen pool.”
Cofrancesco is quick to point out that the new committee brings together the strengths of both the previous show and professional horsemen’s committees.
“We compliment the Professional Horsemen’s Committee for everything it did to get the AQHA Professional Horsemen’s Association up and running,” he added. “With this integration of the two committees, AQHA will be able to develop more programs, membership ideas and more professional horsemen who can be utilized on AQHA committees and task forces for various initiatives.
The American Quarter Horse Journal — The American Quarter Horse Association will be recognizing a new level of exhibitors at four of its world championship shows this year.
At the 2011 Built Ford Tough AQHYA, Adequan Select, Bank of America Amateur and Fedex Open world championship shows, AQHA will recognize the top three Intermediate exhibitors in each youth, amateur, Select and open class.
“This is a great way to introduce some of the show or competition-leveling concepts that AQHA has been exploring over the last couple of years,” said AQHA President Peter J. Cofrancesco III. “Recognizing the Intermediate exhibitor is a way to shine the spotlight on exhibitors who have worked hard to qualify for our world shows and are tough competitors at our world shows year after year, but don’t make it into the top 10.”
The American Quarter Horse Journal, May 12, 2011 — Beginning in July, AQHA will begin publication of a brand-new digital magazine, the Q-Racing Journal, targeting the Association’s racing owners, breeders and fans. The digital magazine will be available at www.aqharacing.com, and its inaugural issues will be open to everyone, not just subscribers.
Q-Racing Journal will be a monthly digital publication dedicated to coverage of the American Quarter Horse racing industry. It will feature news, history, industry topics and race statistics.
“We believe that with the mobility of the racing community, a digital racing publication makes the most sense, then our American Quarter Horse racing enthusiasts can access the information they need from where they are – from Fort Erie to Los Alamitos,” said AQHA Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Jim Bret Campbell. “Eliminating the expenses of paper, printing and postage allows us to provide a beefier racing-oriented publication that contains the stories, information and statistics that our readers have told us they want, as well as affordable advertising for the racing industry.”
Another advantage to producing a digital racing publication is that AQHA will be able to better tie each issue of the magazine to the events – races and sales – that are going on at the time of publication.
The American Quarter Horse Journal has featured American Quarter Horse racing since its inception. In 1988, the Quarter Racing Journal was launched as a stand-alone publication. Later renamed The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal, the award-winning magazine returned to the Journal in 2010.
For advertising opportunities, contact Racing Account Executive Jim Persinger at (806) 378-4386 or email at jpersinger@aqha.org.
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Balance over your horse’s center of gravity in the two-point position.
By AQHA Professional Horseman Shane George with Christine Hamilton for The American Quarter Horse Journal
The red shaded areas in this photo show common problems riders have with the half seat: hands and arms too far back, poorly positioned or swinging lower leg, and rounded shoulders and back. Journal illustration.
There are two basic seats for a hunter rider: full seat and half seat. For the hunters and jumpers, it’s important to have the ability to use both.
In a “full seat,” you have contact with your seat in the saddle. You sit on the horse’s back, riding each stride in a collected manner. It’s the seat you use in rail work.
In a “half seat,” you get up off your seat, out of the saddle and find a balance that’s a little more forward. It allows you to get your balance up and over your lower leg and over the horse’s center of gravity in his shoulder and wither. It’s a dynamic position, giving the rider more flexibility in how he moves with the horse.
How much your seat is out of the saddle depends on what you’re doing at the moment. If you’re in between jumps in a course, you might ride with your seat up but closer to the saddle, almost hovering over it. But if you’re going over a jump, your seat will be clearly up out of the saddle.
The American Quarter Horse Journal, May 11, 2011 – American Quarter Horse Racing’s all-time leading money earner Stolis Winner got back to the winner’s circle Saturday at Remington Park and back into the AQHA Racing-Horseplayernow.com National Top 10 poll this week. Winner of Sunday’s Bank of America Remington Championship Challenge (G2), Stolis Winner improved his bankroll to $2,221,911 and vaults to No. 6 in the 2011 balloting.
Louisiana Senator and Good Reason SA remain 1-2 in the rankings for 3-year-olds and older this week. Meanwhile, Freighttrain B ran Sunday in the Heritage Place Derby (G2) trials and posted the third-fastest qualifying time to solidify his spot at No. 3 in the national poll. Sam Houston Classic (G2) winner The Louisiana Cartel won his third-straight race of the year Saturday and moves up two spots to No. 4.
Meanwhile, Mighty B Valiant leap-frogs Valiant War Hero to top this week’s national rankings for 2-year-olds. Unbeaten in three career starts, Mighty B Valiant dominated his Heritage Place Futurity (G1) trial on Sunday. Also among the juveniles, Fast Prize Jordan debuts in the poll at No. 9 this week after a sharp trial win for the Heritage Place Futurity.
The American Quarter Horse Journal — In many cases, AQHA rule changes are the result of recommendations from AQHA members or the various AQHA standing committees.
Once approved at convention by the respective AQHA standing committees, the rule changes are then reviewed by the AQHA Executive Committee and approved by the AQHA Board of Directors. The Executive Committee has the final word on all rule changes except changes to the Association’s bylaws and any rules and regulations pertaining to the registration of horses.
AQHA members are invited to nominate an equine veterinarian’s selfless service in AAEP’s Good Works Campaign.
Do you know a commendable veterinarian?
More than likely you do. According to a 2009 equine welfare survey by The American Association of Equine Practitioners, 71 percent of its members had donated resources or services to assist the equine community in the past year.
Now there’s an opportunity to recognize these veterinarians. AAEP has invited American Quarter Horse members, owners and organizations to nominate veterinarians for the AAEP Good Works Campaign. This campaign celebrates the “good work” of veterinarians who devote time and expertise beyond the scope of their everyday practice to help horses and the equine community.
Throughout 2011, the AAEP Good Works Campaign will spotlight AAEP-member practitioners whose volunteer efforts are improving the health and welfare of horses. Each month, AAEP will select a veterinarian nominated by a horse owner or organization for special recognition.
Monthly honorees will be considered for the 2011 Good Works Award, to be presented during the 57th Annual Convention in San Antonio. The nomination form is available online.
The American Quarter Horse Journal, April 13, 2011 – Louisiana Senator leap-frogged Good Reason SA in balloting this week as the new No. 1 in the AQHA Racing-Horseplayernow.com national poll for older horses. The two top shortliners of 2011 had been nip and tuck in balloting for the past few weeks and pollsters this week gave the edge to the former No. 2. Louisiana Senator won the Leo Stakes (G1) at Remington Park on March 26 for his second victory at the meeting.
Meanwhile, Rylees Boy debuted at No. 5 this week, one of three new horses in the Top 10. Also breaking into the poll for the first time this season were PK Fire at No. 8 and Fall For It at No. 10.
Gerardo Ochoa’s Rylees Boy captured Sunday’s Bank of America Sunland Championship Challenge (G2) at Sunland Park as a prompt favorite, his second consecutive win in the race. Meanwhile, Mike Abraham and Alfonzo Pasquel’s PK Fire shocked the field as the 37-1 winner of Sunday’s El Primero Del Ano Derby (G2) at Los Alamitos. Brian Hyde’s Fall For It, meanwhile, continues to improve and prove herself a bargain $6,250 claim as Saturday she advanced to five-for-nine lifetime with a win in the La Primera Del Ano Derby (G2), also at Los Alamitos.
Learn about this horse disease and how to prevent it.
The American Quarter Horse Journal — It is a disease that lurks in a horse’s blood, with tiny protozoa attacking red blood cells. Equine piroplasmosis is common in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, including parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, but is considered a foreign disease in the United States, and efforts are underway to keep it that way.
Currently racetracks in 11 states require negative piroplasmosis tests before horses are allowed onto the backside. Beginning July 1, all horses entering the grounds for any AQHA world championship show will also be required to present a negative certificate dated within six months.
“As the industry leader, AQHA needs to be vigilant and establish testing requirements to ensure any case of equine piroplasmosis can’t be traced back to an AQHA event,” said Tom Persechino, AQHA executive director of competition and breed integrity. “We’re encouraging all exhibitors to contact their veterinarians to schedule these tests. If the tests are completed around the second week of July, that horse will be eligible to show at the youth, select and open/amateur world without requiring another test.”
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