Delegate Reports From the 2007 AHA Convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Toni Marie O'Daniel - todaniel@cadets.com
The Convention this year was in Tulsa Okalahoma. Home of the 2008 US Nationals. It was a lot of fun being out there and having the state wine and dine us to let us know that they really appreciate us coming to Tulsa for our Arabian Nationals. Going to the Tulsa Fairgrounds was the highlight for me since I had never been to the US Nationals before. (Alright, the show wasn’t going on, but it was still lots of fun…) The food was incredible, and the fairground staff really put on a great show for all of us.
I like to focus on the youth when I am at convention, since they are near and dear to my heart. This year there were a few highlight, but mainly some very depressing news about finances that the youth association has to deal with for the upcoming year. Here are some of the highlights that I can tell you about.
There were 56 recognized teams form 14 regions, and 15 non-recognized teams form 7 regions were represented at the youth team tournament. It was one of the biggest years since youth judging started. The teams were unbelievable and Region 10 sent both a team from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Both teams were in the top 10 teams of the tournament.
The youth of the year is Kirsten Kimbler from Region 6. She gave a beautiful speech in front of the whole convention and at the end was given a standing ovation. She is up for two different awards from USEF, and has a great chance at obtaining these awards. Junior equestrians of the year were Dalton Budd of Michigan and Alisha Kinney of Arizona.
The Hippology contest at youth Nationals had 125 contestants. Thanks went to Region 10 for sponsoring the contest. The novice judging contest has 63 contestants, and also was a big success. The stick horse contest/workshop had 40 kids ages 6 and under building their favorite stick horse. Thanks to Hesten Park and the Hoffmann family for their sponsorship of this contest. The Youth Nationals also had an Ice Cream Social that got a little wet, but was moved inside and was a big success. The new activity this year was the Pig raffle called: “ When Pigs fly” People would purchase these little pink plastic pigs and then at a set time all of the people who purchased pigs would throw them from the side of the arena bleachers into the middle of the arena where there was a round Pink Pig bottom. The people who got their pigs into the round circle would receive money. This was much harder than it seems. I think there were 3 winners the first day and 4 winners the 2nd day. Everyone loved it, and for next year they are going to buy more pigs because of it’s success.
The trailer sales were good, but only sold $1,300 at youth nationals. The trailer raffle always starts at youth Nationals and then goes onto US and throughout the year. Sales were way down this year due to the increase of the ticket price. Next year they are looking at lowering the cost of the tickets. Well, Lets start over here… Next year, we do not have a trailer to raffle off due to Sooner not getting enough publicity off the raffle. They have exhausted the Arabian market, so the youth committee has started a committee to look into what we can use next year to raffle off. The youth also ended up having to pay for the three saddles that are usually donated to the Youth Nationals, which took the whole budget that the youth had. This is a real burden for the youth since the money that was approved and budged for the youth will not be coming in. At the 2006 convention, the youth committee with the approval of the Youth Nationals committee approved that a percentage of the earnings from the Youth Nationals would be returned to the youth committee to help fun some of the activities that the youth are involved in. Somehow, this was forgotten and the youth never received any monies from the show, so finances were way down. The youth committee put together a committee so that we could write a resolution stating that a certain % of the earnings would go back to the youth activities committee every year. This committee will work on the resolution this year and present the resolution at next years convention. Unfortunately, due to the cost of the raffle items that had to be paid for, and not getting things donated, the youth committee is in horrible financial shape for the upcoming year. The remainder of the meeting was used to get committee’s together to work on how we are going to fund youth activities for the next year. Also, the youth use to get budgeted monies from the Marketing and Development committee to help fund things for the youth. This year, due to circumstances, the budged money that usually goes to the youth will not be available. Again, another financial blow for the youth. We can’t expect the youth to just fund raise all the time. AHA needs to allow the youth to have a line item in their budget to help the youth budget. Hopefully with the resolution being brought forth next year, AHA will realize that the youth of today, are AHA’s leaders of tomorrow, and they have to support them.
Next years youth winter board meeting will be with the AHA convention in Reno. A committee was formed to look at the logistics of how this could be accomplished, and keep the youth busy and having fun for the convention time. Activities will be planned for the youth in the evenings apart from what the adults are doing. It should be a good trial for all that are involved. The youth will be allowed to go to the open meetings as well as attend the convention if they would like. This will also help the families of kids who are having financial issues sending their kids to the winter board meeting. Hopefully regions will step up and give rooms or travel for their youth to convention.
As I sat at the last day of the convention listening to the bureaucracy of the adults, I couldn’t help but think about our youth that had just received awards earlier in the meeting that could have run a more efficient, effective and fun meeting. Please take time to help those AHA youth members around you. They really are our great future for the Arabian breed.
It was a long, but good convention Tulsa will be somewhere that everyone should enjoy for the nationals. The resolutions that were passed once again shows that people need to read up on what is really going on in the Arabian industry and vote not for how your friends might want you to vote, but how your region, and member clubs feel that you need to vote. If you want all the fun about the resolutions, please read Laura’s report. It gets into the niti griti of the voting and resolutions.
Thank you for again sending me to the convention. I voted the way that you as MAHA members asked us to vote, and sometimes it worked, and other times, it didn’t. Please remember that all AHA members are invited to sit in at the convention in the back and see what really goes on. It is an interesting week, and I always enjoy going. Thanks again.