AHA Convention: Denver CO
Toni Marie O'Daniel - todaniel@cadets.com
This was my 5th Convention being your delegate for MAHA. After five Conventions, I know what to expect at our conventions. This year at least was better than the last year with dealing with resolutions from the floor. Even if things didn’t go our way, people seemed to be better informed than in previous years due to the fact that we made sure that we talked about pertinent resolutions in meetings prior to the voting.
As usual, resolutions were not brought up to all the AHA committees that should have had specific resolutions that would apply to them. One of the most pertinent resolutions that was not addressed by AHA in either the awards committee, or sweepstakes committee was the double judged show resolution. Committee members or people who were at the meetings did bring up this resolution. I was amazed at how many people were not informed about the resolution and how it would affect each committee.
The awards committee decided to worry about it at a later date. Well it is now later, and AHA will have double judged shows. The cost for the awards committee will increase due to the fact that people can now get double the points for legion awards as well as rider awards. This means that the awards committee will be giving out more awards, and I know that this is not included in their 2009-2010 budget. Sweepstakes did talk about this resolution and did not take any action on this. They stated what will happen is that the points will be diluted from where they would have been this year, prior to the resolution. For Example- instead of getting $10/Point, it would be maybe $6 or $7/point depending on how many entries were enrolled. We really won’t know what will happen until next year at this time.
I was very proud of our Region at Convention. When the double judged show resolution was passed, we as a Region decided to wait a year till we have any of our shows be double judged. This is a positive and a negative for our shows and region. It will allow shows like NMAHA to stay around for more years. With the economy the way it is, a double judged show could really hurt the small shows if shows before theirs decided to have a double judged show (Like our MAHA Fuzzy Wuzzy Show in March). On the other hand, there will be people who might go to other regions due to the fact that they can get double the awards points and double the sweepstakes points in other regions. We will just have to wait and see how this does affect our shows this year.
OK, off my soapbox…. The awards committee was very busy at convention. They are looking into possibly adding another level to the Legion awards. This will be looked at this coming year and possibly by next year, will have another level for people to work towards. People who are in the achievement awards programs like to keep trying for more awards. Right now, if they achieve the top award, they drop out of the program, which means that the awards program looses revenue from these people.
Another exciting award that is being looked at is the Horse Hall of Fame, which would be located in the new museum in Kentucky. The awards committee will be working with the committee for the museum to see if this is possible in the new space. The awards committee has a sub group working on the criteria right now, and hopefully we will be able to have this idea come to fruition this next year.
The Marketing Development Committee showed the delegates an excerpt from the new Arabian horse documentary that will be released this year. I have owned Arabian horses for over 35 years, and never realized that W.K. Kellogg founder of the Kellogg corporation, loved the Arabian horse. In 1925, Mr. Kellogg started his 325 acre Arabian horses ranch in Pomona, CA, and on Sundays would have spectators out to see the beautiful Arabian horses. Once he passed away, he left the ranch to Cal Poly, and it become one of the top tourist attractions before Walt Disney resorts were designed. Go to www.csupomona.edu/~equine/ranch/index.html and get more information on this great man and what he did for the Arabian horse. You can learn something new each day.
The last night of the Convention we had the Presidents Banquet. The food and entertainment was wonderful. Our very own Ann Benson and Laura Mickelson received National awards from AHA and the Region. How lucky are we to have not one, but two such incredible people in our club. It is so nice to see them get the recognition that they so rightly deserve. Thank you to Brian and Dean for all your work to nominate these two individuals. Just think, you two could get a Regional or National award for helping out with our clubs and regions. (Or, you can just come help out and have a lot of fun with other people who love the Arabian horse just like you do.)
Next Years convention is in Reno, NV. It should be lots of fun. Remember, if you are interested in being involved with MAHA more than you are now, please feel free to contact anyone of the Board members or Delegates. We would love to have new people help us out. I hope 2009 brings prosperity to you and your families.
Toni Marie