The Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) has joined forces with some of the equine industry’s top brands to reward new and returning ApHC members who purchase their 2010 memberships by Dec. 1, 2009!
Signing up for an ApHC membership by Dec. 1 not only ensures that members receive the January issue of Appaloosa Journal, the 2009 World Championship Appaloosa Show coverage issue, but they also qualify for a random drawing to win one of 100 prizes totaling more than $10,000!
Prizes include: Two LA105 John Deere Riding Lawn Tractors, one each – $100 Gift cards to Sherwin-Williams & Office Depot, Toshiba Mini-Netbook, Moxie Equestrian Bamboo Cooler & Moxie Bodyguard Scrim Sheet, Sets of 2 Classy Numbers Show Saddle Blanket pad numbers in Sterling Silver from Three Feather Enterprises, Wireless Barn Cam 500 System, Grooming Kits from Horse Spa & Merial, Emergency Roadside Kits from Liberty Mutual, two Saddle & two Bridle Racks from Lonestar Barns, a pair of Ariat Boots, Sterling Silver SR Gold Earrings, Cowboy Magic Grooming products, Santana Show Halter from Kathy’s Show Equipment, two sets of 1:32 scale die-cast collectable Featherlite trailers (truck included), two Featherlite Vests, great products from Schneider’s Saddlery (Pinnacle Hunt Bridle, Billy Royal Show Headstall, Assorted Ultra Grooming Products, Ultra Rapid Scrub II), premium advertising packages with MyHorseForSale.com, wonderful gifts from Montana Silversmiths (earring & necklace combo’s, necklaces, bracelets, and an assortment of women’s and men’s watches) and Official Appaloosa Pro Collection merchandise from Tioga Territory.
New ApHC Membership Option
The Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) is proud to offer a new option for new and renewing ApHC members! In addition to the traditional one calendar year membership for $55, Appaloosa enthusiasts may now save time and money with the three-year membership option for only $140!
New and renewing ApHC members that select the three-year option will enjoy all of the same benefits traditional one-year members enjoy including the Appaloosa Member Advantage Program, subscription to Appaloosa Journal, monthly e-newsletter, voting privileges, discounted rates for ApHC services, opportunity to participate in exclusive activities, free Appaloosa e-mail service and so much more!
Remember, new and renewing ApHC members who sign-up by Dec. 1, qualify for the random drawing to win one of many prizes totaling more than $10,000!
Thought you might like some occasional “housekeeping” updates. We’ll try harder to make this a habit.
• World sale consignments total: 97 horses, about a 50/50 split between select and incentive sale horses. Work on the catalog has begun.
• The World Show premium book is at the printer.
• The deadline for earning points to qualify for the World Show is this weekend. All show results must be in the office on or before September 10. There are a number of shows for which we haven’t received show results. Please encourage regional show organizers to get their results in so points can count toward qualifying for this year’s World Show.
• BOD meeting motions (from a special meeting on August 20th) are in the works and will be made available ASAP.
• Regional Club and International Partners’ membership lists updates due September 10.
• Work has begun on the October Journal; work continues on the 2010 calendar.
Introducing the ApHC memorial class sponsorship
The ApHC is proud to offer the membership a way to remember Appaloosas and enthusiasts who have gone to greener pastures with the ApHC Memorial Class sponsorship at the 2009 World Championship Appaloosa Show. The Appaloosa or person would be honored in the following ways: naming rights of the selected class, class announcement, listing in the Show Sponsor section of the ApHC web site, half page ad in the World Spotlight (daily newsletter), acknowledgement in the January issue of Appaloosa Journal and a beautiful plaque that will be presented to the winner of the selected memorial class. Please contact the ApHC Marketing Department at 208-882-5578 ext. 235 for details.
The Board of Directors has established a site selection committee to review bids from cities/facilities interested in hosting the National Show in 2011 and beyond. Currently, ApHC is under contract with the State Fairgrounds of Mississippi to host the National Show at that facility through 2010. The site selection committee is reviewing bids from four potential sites and expects to make a recommendation to the Board of Directors by the end of 2009 regarding which bid to accept.
The Pinto Horse Association of America invites all Appaloosa horses to join the fun this fall at the Pinto Congress in Tulsa, Okla., Nov. 4-8.
The Pinto Congress will host the Color Breed Cash Challenge, a series of events where Appaloosas, Palominos, Buckskins, Paints and Pintos will compete together for cash prizes.
Open to any horse registered with ApHC, PHBA, APHA, PtHA, IBHA or ABRA, the Color Breed Cash Challenge classes include halter, western pleasure, English pleasure, trail and longe line. Even Solid-Bred Paints, Breeding Stock Pintos and Good As Gold Palominos are eligible to compete in these events.
Complete rules and entry forms are available at www.pintocongress.com/forms. For questions, email congress@pinto.org or call (405) 491-0111.
Please help me welcome Hannah Hathaway to the crew at the Appaloosa Horse Club. She’s starting today as advertising manager for the Journal and will be involved in sales, production and general customer service. Hannah is a grad of Washington State University with a degree in agricultural communications, public relations. She’s a resident of Lewiston, Idaho, and in her spare time she ventures into the world of break-away roping.
August 15 is the deadline to purchase a slot in the Yearling Fillies Halter and/or Yearling Colts/Geldings Futurities at the 2009 World Championship Appaloosa Show in Fort Worth, Texas!
This exciting addition to the World Championship Show will pay out up to $28,125, depending upon the number of slots sold. A slot for either futurity is available to the tune of $1,250. Twenty slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Five additional temporary slots may be available.
Don’t miss your chance to win big money at the 2009 World Championship Appaloosa Show, Oct. 23-31! To purchase a slot, please call (208) 882-5578 ext. 400 or visit www.appaloosa.com.
Release from Cornell University:
What makes your horse different from the horse in the stall over? Why doesn’t a Kentucky Derby contender walk like a Budweiser Clydesdale? Why don’t either of them look like Thumbelina, the current Guinness World Record holder for the world’s smallest living horse? The domestic horse comes in a range of sizes, shapes, and temperaments—from the tiny American Miniature Horse to the massive draft breeds, humans have historically bred horses for both aesthetic and functional qualities. For the horse in particular, size and conformation have been two major driving forces for the development of the diverse breeds we see today. Horses have been bred to pull carts, jump fences, or run a mile-long race. When horse breeders look to improve these abilities in their stock, they are often selecting for changes in genes, called alleles, that affect body size and conformation.
Allele variation in several genes has already been shown to contribute to body size diversity in many species. As body size genes affect fundamental developmental processes such as cell growth, they can sometimes be correlated to other diseases, like the tumor growth seen in cancer. By exploring the genetics of body size in the horse, we hope to improve not only the livelihood of the horse population, but also better understand the genetics of diseases that affect all mammals, including humans. Furthermore, when we investigate body size genes, we will look for genes that contribute to breed-specific traits in the horse, especially conformation and skeletal qualities valued by breeders.
Body size and complex disease genes can only be identified through the DNA analysis of hundreds of horses from many different breeds and types. Your horse has a unique pattern of genes that, when compared to other horses, can give a clue to the genes and interactions that control body size. DNA can be isolated from almost any cell in the body, and in this case the skin tags from a routine tail hair pull will supply more than enough DNA for us to analyze. In addition to this hair sample, our study will require a profile photo, 3-generation pedigree, and 35 measurements of your horse. These measurements will help us judge the size and conformation of your horse relative to other horses, and are an essential component of our study. The entire process should take only about 15 minutes of your time per horse. All information is strictly confidential.
Every individual horse is an important contribution to our study and another step towards improving the quality of life for both horses and humans.
For more information, please contact the Brooks and Sutter Genetics Labs at (607) 254-8217, equinegenetics@cornell.edu or at (607) 253-3592, sutterlab@cornell.edu.
We hope to hear from you!
This weekend’s fund-raising trail ride for the Appaloosa Museum was a great blend of pleasant diversions. The opportunity for friends of the Museum to get together is certainly a primary reason for people to make the trip to Deary, Idaho. The Palouse Hills Pony Club grounds is a beautiful spot. The trails are scenic and made better this year by recent rains to dampen the dust and boost the scent levels. Some of us, of course, simply show up for the Dutch oven dinner on Saturday evening. Whatever the motivation, the Museum benefits and Appaloosa connections are strengthened.
I got lucky and served as a judge of the Dutch oven creations. Believe me when I say that there could have been a 19-way tie for best of show! Everything I “evaluated” was delicious.
Folks who always ask about George and Iola Hatley can be reassured that the Appaloosa royalty were once again great hosts for the event. George positions himself near enough to the cooking area to give advice and monitor the progress of everything from bread to beans. Lots of friends/volunteers are involved from start to finish as well. Thanks to everyone for a memorable back-to-basics weekend.
A few photos have been posted on the album (menu at left). You’ll probably notice that I focused on the food and scenery. I didn’t intentially ignore people photos. In fact, the conversations were so good that I kinda forgot to take many pictures.
While at the recent Canadian National Appaloosa Show in Brandon, Manitoba, I had the good fortune to meet Melia Blakely. She’s a 17-year-old AYA member from Coldwater, Ontario, and she’s a delightful ambassador for our breed. More accurately, she and her colorful mare Neon Cola Sign are a public relations team for Appaloosas.
The six-year-old leopard mare is sired by High Sign Nugget and out of Candy Cola, a daughter of Me Gold Two. Melia and Cola have not only been a fixture at Appaloosa shows, they have been highly competitive among the National Reining Horse Association ranks. In fact, the real reason for this writing is to brag about the fact that they finished the 2008 season ranked fifth overall in the 14-18 division of NRHA. That’s a huge accomplishment made so much better for all of us because Cola is such a colorful, pretty horse.
“I started riding horses at age seven and decided to try reining by the time I was 13,” Melia says. “One of the trainers in the barn where I rode was into reining and it looked like fun.” After gaining some experience and connecting with ApHC trainer and judge Harvey Stevens, the search was on for a “good” reining horse. The one they found “just happened to be an Appaloosa.”
“I love Cola,” a smiling Melia explains. “She’s gorgeous and so sweet, plus she’s laid back – like me. Harvey decided she was the horse for me, so we purchased Cola from Wilburn Archer.”
Another highlight of the Melia-Cola resume is qualifying for the provincial young rider team chosen to participate in the FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships in Kentucky. Melia says it was awesome to qualify, but she opted for the ApHCC show to try for a Canadian championship. Turns out she did that. At the Canadian National Show she and Cola won the youth reining.
Where to from here? Melia says one of her goals is to make the Top Ten at the Quarter Horse Congress show. She’ll also be focusing on her 12th grade year in school and making plans for college.
In the meantime, we tip our hat to a young lady with personality-plus who happens to be providing invaluable promotion for the Appaloosa breed with her colorful partner, Cola. Nice to meet you both.
Sad news this week of the death of Victoria Ennis, matriarch of Texoma Appaloosas in Kingston, Oklahoma. Most of us knew Victoria as an Appaloosa breeder and racing industry promoter. Her horses, which she obviously loved dearly, were versatile enough to win halter championships, performance classes and stakes races. Of course, we loved her for the steadfast support she gave to the Appaloosa Horse Club. Victoria will be greatly missed, but long remembered in ApHC circles.
Visitation is Thursday August 6, 11:00 am at Watts Funeral Home in Kingston. The funeral service is Friday August 7th at 10:00 am at St. Williams Catholic Church. The wattsfuneralhome.com site has all the pertinent information.
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