Calizona Members won 2009 California State Horseman’s Association Awards for Region 11 by showing their Appaloosas on an All Breed Circuit through the Moreno Valley TrailSeekers. Congratulations to Joe Brooks, CJ Brooks, Diane Dodd, and Stephanie Vrabel! Throughout 2009, they exhibited their Appys at shows held by the TrailSeekers ending up with several year end high point awards. This is promotion outside the Appaloosa Breed circuit and demonstrates that the Appaloosa and our members retain the “Top Spot”! Year end award winners received embroidered day sheets, halter bags, garment bags, silver platters and a collage of photos throughout the show year.
Joe Brooks showing Lads Blue Eyed Jewel garnered Division Champion in Halter-Open, Division Reserve Champion Junior Halter-Amateur and Class Champion Halter Non-Stock Type. CJ Brooks with Lads All Star is the Division Champion in English 35 and Over and Class Champion English Equitation 35 & Over. Diane Dodd as trainer showed Lads All Star to a Division Championship in Open English. Stephanie Vrabel exhibited her flashy appy, Wyakin Too, to Division Championships in Senior Halter-Amateur, Open Halter, Halter Geldings, Halter Color as well as Division Championships for Showmanship 18 & Over and Open Showmanship. All of the Calizona winners qualified to participate in the State Championship show held in Santa Rosa, CA.
The California State Horsemen’s Association comprises twenty geographical Regions within three areas (Northern, Central, and Southern) of California. CSHA represents the pleasure horse industry and pleasure horse owners. CSHA has many programs (show, parade, gymkhana, & trail, etc.) most of which are run through other clubs and organizations like the TrailSeekers.
Congratulations to our Calizona Appaloosa winners!!!
Leslie Foxvog
President Calizona ApHC
Just a reminder that the ApHC office will be closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. See you next week.
More importantly, we extend our best wishes to you and yours for an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Family traditions and new adventures are to be embraced along with the grandkids or whoever happens to be special. It really is a good time to honestly assess all the reasons to be thankful. Be safe and be well.
I had the opportunity to spend Saturday with the Alberta ApHA regional club at the group’s annual meeting and awards banquet, held in Nisku. The AHAA organization has been a territory winner of the exemplary club award a couple of times and has hosted successful “dual-approved” shows in the province. Several members came home from the World Show in Fort Worth with championships and other high placings.
During the membership meeting, there were some good discussions about what works and what doesn’t for a regional club. I visited with them about ApHC programs and trends. We agreed that the horse industry was changing and that it was not only okay to think outside the box, but maybe we need to get rid of the box. The good news is that this group is a creative bunch and I’m confident they will be providing some good examples of how to attract new Appaloosa fans.
Thanks to everyone for a great visit. I enjoyed the chats and free advice. Congratulations to Laurie Knox, who was re-elected president of AHAA for the coming year.
Dana Russell will begin duties as Appaloosa Journal editor after January 1st. Some of you may already know Dana, but you may not know that she has specific experience as a horse breed magazine editor, as a successful manager of people and as an agricultural extension specialist for the Peace Corps. Most importantly, she is a lifelong Appaloosa person with the requisite “passion for the breed.” Dana is a graduate of the University of New Mexico with a degree in communication.
From a news release generated by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, published in Science magazine and available in full at ScienceDaily.com
An international team of researchers has decoded the genome of the domestic horse Equus caballus, revealing a genome structure with remarkable similarities to humans and more than one million genetic differences across a variety of horse breeds. In addition to shedding light on a key part of the mammalian branch of the evolutionary tree, the work also provides a critical starting point for mapping disease genes in horses.
“Horses and humans suffer from similar illnesses, so identifying the genetic culprits in horses promises to deepen our knowledge of disease in both organisms,” said senior author Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, scientific director of vertebrate genome biology at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and a professor of comparative genomics at Uppsala University in Sweden. “The horse genome sequence is a key enabling resource toward this goal.”
In addition to sequencing the genome of a Thoroughbred horse, the researchers also examined DNA from a variety of other horse breeds, including the American quarter horse, Andalusian, Arabian, Belgian draft horse, Hanoverian, Hakkaido, Icelandic horse, Norwegian fjord horse, and Standardbred breeds. The team surveyed the extent of genetic variation both within and across breeds to create a catalog of more than one million single-letter genetic differences (called “single nucleotide polymorphisms” or SNPs).
In a first proof-of-principle of the power of trait mapping in horses, the researchers harnessed the SNP catalog to localize the candidate mutation in the Leopard Complex or “Appaloosa spotting,” in which horses’ coats are mottled with striking patches of white, either with or without colored spots. Horses carrying this trait often suffer from a form of night blindness, a disorder that also afflicts humans. The researchers narrowed the list of genetic suspects in horses to 42 associated SNPs, including two candidate mutations residing near a gene involved in pigmentation.
“This demonstrates the utility of the horse for disease gene mapping,” said Wade. “By making these resources freely available to the scientific community, we hope that many new results will flow from them in the coming years.”
From our For-What-It’s-Worth Department comes a new study by Ohio State University that asked professionals in the field to rank agriculture education programs on characteristics that include research, faculty and program features.
The Top 10 were labeled “distinguished programs.” And they are: 1. University of Florida; 2. Texas A & M; 3. The Ohio State University; 4. University of Missouri; 5. Iowa State University; 6. Oklahoma State University; 7. North Carolina State University; 8. Pennsylvania State University; 9. Texas Tech University, and 10. University of Arizona.
If you’re like some of us, you still need to round up some Christmas cards for family, friends, customers and assorted contacts. We have five different images from which to choose. There are also some options for specific inside greetings. And, you can even have your signature pre-printed if you are so inclined.
The link is currently on the home page of the Journal website: appaloosajournal.com. It will soon be on the appaloosa.com page as well. You can place your order on-line and I’ve already discovered that it’s pretty easy. For what it’s worth, the ApHC receives a portion of the proceeds from the printing company.
Seems like a good way to spread the Appaloosa spirit during the holiday season.
To continue receiving the Appaloosa Journal uninterrupted, be sure to renew your ApHC membership by December 8th.
To be eligible for our prize drawing for all renewing members, the deadline is December 1st.
The American Horse Publications (AHP) is conducting an Equine Industry Survey to gauge participation trends in the U.S. equine industry. In addition, the survey seeks to gather information regarding the most important issues facing the industry.
Dr. C. Jill Stowe is providing consulting services for data collection and analysis to the AHP. Dr. Stowe is an assistant professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Kentucky.
The survey is sponsored by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and Pfizer Animal Health.
Those eligible to participate in the survey are men and women, 18 years of age and older, who currently own, manage, or lease at least one horse and live in the United States.
The survey closes January 15, 2010.
This study is anonymous; this means that no one, not even members of the research team, will be able to associate information you give with responses. When the survey results are tallied, only aggregated results will be presented.
“The AHP’s member publications, Web sites, and newsletters reach nearly 3 million people involved in the horse industry in the United States and around the world,” said Kimberly S. Brown, current AHP president. It was Brown who proposed the survey, which was backed unanimously by the AHP board.
“We have been through a rough year, and there are many stories out there of unwanted horses and the decline of the horse industry,” noted Brown. “But I think the real story is the wanted horses and their owners who are still strong despite the economic downturn.
“We think this is a great opportunity for us to use our collective resources and reach into the horse industry to get answers about how we are doing today, how we think we’ll be doing in the near future, and what we are concerned about in our industry.
“Let’s get 100,000 or more horse owners to participate in this survey!” said Brown. “We have a wonderful chance to come together to gather information that can benefit us all, so spread the word!”
“I especially want to thank Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and Pfizer Animal Health for sponsoring this survey,” said Brown. “Both of these companies—and the people behind the companies—are supporters of the horse industry because of their love of the horse, not just because it’s their business. And I want to thank Dr. Stowe for being willing to contribute her time and expertise to ensure we have a legitimate survey with accurate statistical analysis.”
To take the survey just click on www.horsesurvey.org
Charles W. ‘Bill’ KEETON 85, of Loveland, Colo., passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, with Pathways Hospice at North Shore Health and Rehab in Loveland. Bill died of kidney failure due to complications with diabetes.
He was born March 29, 1924, in Toledo, Ohio, to his parents, Charles Riley Keeton and Elizabeth Julia Hausmann Keeton. Bill grew up in Toledo with his two brothers and two sisters. He graduated from Clay High School, but the school administration had to send him his diploma because he left school to join the Navy.
He served on the USS San Diego during World War II. He was very proud of his service on a ship that earned 18 battle stars during the war. It was also the first ship into Tokyo Bay at the end of the war and preceded the USS Missouri in preparation for the signing of the surrender.
Bill worked as a bricklayer and earned his 40-year membership in the union. He was active in the Appaloosa Horse Club and raised and showed horses for many years.
He was married to his first wife, Lois Marie Wilder, for 27 years. He was married to his second wife, Vi Vi Keeton, for 35 years.
Bill and Vi Vi loved to travel and took 22 cruises with Princess Cruise Lines. Bill also enjoyed all the friendly people at the Chilson Recreation Center, where he would greet everyone in the main entrance. He also met many wonderful people through the Fresenius Dialysis Center here in Loveland, and during his nine-month stay at North Shore Health and Rehab.
Bill is survived by his wife, Vi Vi Keeton of Loveland; a brother, Warren Keeton of Denver; two sisters, Doris Boles and Ginger Thomas of Jacksonville, Fla.; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his brother, Harold Keeton, and his parents.
Cremation has taken place by the Neptune Society, and a memorial celebration of his life will be held later.
Bill was known for his wonderful sense of humor and clever wit, and his comments would cause people to break out in laughter. He will be greatly missed.
As some of you may know, long-time Appaloosa member and World/National Show competitor Karen Grimm was hospitalized in Fort Worth during the recent World Championship Appaloosa Show. After undergoing exploratory surgery last week, Karen is being released and will fly home tomorrow to Nevada with her husband. Once home Karen will undergo additional testing to determine the cause of her illness and ongoing treatment plans. When speaking with her today, Karen expressed gratitude for the many phone calls and offers of support that she’s received from her extended Appaloosa family. We wish her a speedy recovery and hope that you will all keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
It’s
a few days late, but thought we should still share this creative pumpkin carving for Halloween. In case you can’t tell, it’s a girl kissing a horse. Nothing frightening about that at all. Thanks to Dana Tallman of Hamilton Square, New Jersey, for sharing her work.
Thanks to Gary Connolly for working the trade show and for this report.
The FFA Convention went great, they reported approximately 55,000 FFA members and their advisors were in attendance at the trade show. Niceene made up a basket with a Halloween bucket that included a Mark Shaffer DVD, a Youth Judging DVD, a “Know Before You Tow” (Safely Transporting Livestock) DVD designed by a committee I serve on for the Illinois Farm Bureau, an Appaloosa Water Bottle, an Appaloosa can koozie, and 2 Bags of Halloween chocolates, that we donated in the ApHC name to the FFA scholarship silent auction, the last bid I saw on it was $50.00.
Packets were given to new advisors, they were really impressed with the information included. I had enough of the Appaloosa Computer CD’s left on hand to add to each of these folders. Also Dan Moriarty’s wife & son came by the booth, we had a nice visit; they were really glad to see the Appaloosa so well represented at the event.
Volunteers pictured are Susie Rhoades (Indiana), Brandi Daugherty (Illinois) and Gary Connolly (Illinois).
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