ApHC
Director December Report
Happy Holidays Appaloosa Lovers! Things are still very busy at the ApHC!
First and foremost of course was
the World Show. There were 1,221 non-pro entries, 393 open halter entries, 918
open performance entries, which was a total of 2,532 entries of 978 horses. This
was an increase in entries by 10.13% over last year and up 35 horses (3.7%). Entries
increased in all divisions.
Also, at the World Show we were
thrilled to screen the award winning short film Trail End starring Barry Corbin and Chippen Gold. Shannan Keenan, the producer, writer and director and long time Appaloosa owner, Tony Nix, owner of the
equine star of the film Chippen Gold, and star Barry Corbin were all present at the screenings. Chippen Gold was also made a “personal” appearance at the show.
Mr. Corbin was extremely gracious and didn’t hesitate to give autographs or have pictures taken. He also presented awards at the Friday night performance. The
Freestyle Reining for Toys for Tots was moved back to Friday evening and was exciting to watch as usual. The second place winner, Leslie Temple and Tattoo Chex, have been invited to participate in the Dodge Invitational
Freestyle Reining at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. The Cowboy Mounted
Shooting Association gave an awesome demonstration on Saturday. Many of our Appaloosa
members have been competing in this sport and done well in the competitions.
The World Sale had 95 horses consigned—74
yearlings and 21 select horses. The average of the yearling sale was $4513, which
was down from last year, but this could be due to the increase in the number of yearlings sold. The average for the select sale was $2432. There were 29 no
sales. We had 178 online viewers and 2 Internet purchases. The Sale Committee has already met with ideas to improve the sale for next year. I am working on an incentive plan for next year’s sale for breeding stock.
During the World Show, the ApHC signed a new 5-year contract with the Will Rogers
Memorial Center for the World Show. The show dates are October 24-November1,
2008; October 23-31, 2009; October 22-30, 2010; October 21-29, 2011; and October 19-27, 2012.
These are the actual show dates with 2 move in dates and 1 move out date on each end.
These dates are one week earlier than our current dates. Will Rogers Memorial
Center also has plans for major renovations which will include more stalling and arenas.
The Appaloosa has been well represented in the National Snaffle Bit Association events this year. The Radio Flyer, owned by Frank and Melanie Larrabee of Corrales, NM won the color breed 3-year-old hunter
under saddle at the prestigious Reichert Celebration in Tulsa, OK. Chocolatey,
owned by Noelle Schmidt and Joe Geraci of Newton, New Jersey won the 2 year old open futurity at the Southern Belle in Tunica,
Mississippi, the Reichert Celebration and Double Your Pleasure Futurity in Canada.
Our international presence continues to grow. There were many foreign
buyers seen at the World Show and several horses in the sale went to Mexico. The
youth exchange program is a wonderful success. At the Youth World Show we hosted
youth from the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil and Italy. Four of our youth members
went to the European Championships in Aachen, Germany in October.
As of October 31, we have 22,162 members.
Our year to date registration numbers, as of the end of October, are 3491 regular registrations and 1301 non-characteristic
registrations. We have had 504 Performance Permits issued so far this year. Of these, 373 are Appaloosa x Appaloosa crosses and 131 are Appaloosa x outcross. For those of you who have not yet gotten your Performance Permit, the reduced rate
is in effect until December 31. Rates will then increase for those horses 1 year
old and older. There were 4641 transfers as of the end of September. This is an increase over last year at this time.
Associated with the Performance Permit is the payout of these funds to the high
point colored horse in each zone. The monies collected in 2007 will be distributed
to the 2008 high point winners. Details will be in the Appaloosa Journal in the
near future.
Plans are underway to make the National Show in Jackson, Mississippi a spectacular event. There will be over $100,000 additional prize money offered in various events plus
the introduction of the Slot Futurities for halter and pleasure. About half the
slots are sold. As a stallion owner it would be wise to purchase one. You can use it on one
of your own foals, use it to sell a horse (this horse sells with a slot futurity entry), or sell it to someone that bred to
your stallion. Additional activities
are being planned, including a horse judging competition. Keri Minden-Le Force,
Merida McClanahan, Chuck McWhirter and Eric Beené recently went to Jackson to meet with officials, make plans and check out
the facilities. We have had glowing reports of the facility and the enthusiasm
and excitement of everyone down there in anticipation of our coming. The Marketing
Department has some terrific and exciting new ideas, especially for the trade show.
Local media has already committed to being there for many of our events.
The Board of Directors is working on hosting a series of Town Hall meetings in
each Territory. The first was December 7-9 in Hartford, Connecticut and others
are being scheduled throughout the United States.
I'm
sorry to report that due to a set of unforeseen personal circumstances, Julie Thorson
will be unable to continue serving the Appaloosa Horse Club in the capacity of communications coordinator. She hopes to be available for consulting and other special projects and will continue to serve on the board
of the Appaloosa Museum and Heritage Center. We want to thank her for her efforts
and wish her well.
Our Marketing Department, under the leadership of Merida McClanahan, has been hard at work
developing partnerships with corporations for our members’ benefit. A
new partnership with MyHorseForSale.com allows visitors to appaloosa.com to find horses for sale or advertise their stock
on the club site. We have also partnered with Aflac Insurance. We are working on partnering with Merial Pharmaceuticals. We
are in partnership with Hawkeye Farms to promote and market a slate of 6 westerns, all featuring an Appaloosa horse, where
will receive a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of DVDs. The marketing
department has also put a photo gallery on flickr.com and is working to put clips from our TV shows on YouTube. They are also developing a series of cartoon shorts featuring Hap P Loosa.
Youth members, if you have a story idea please send a detailed story to the marketing department by January 30. We have a new site aphctravel.com where you can book travel. This site has everything you need and the ApHC receives a commission for your reservation.
The most exciting news is our partnership with the National Thoroughbred Racing
Association (NTRA) to create the Appaloosa Members Advantage Program. They have
negotiated in our behalf large discounts for ApHC members with several major corporations.
These corporations include John Deere (up to 23% off), Dodge ($500 off the best deal), Sherwin William Paints (up to
40% off list price), Office Depot, UPS (up to 30% on next day and 2nd day shipping and up to 5% on ground shipping)
and Toshiba (up to 25% off Toshiba Direct list price). Call 888-304-7768 to enroll
in this free program. Tied to this is a membership drive where regional clubs
will receive a $10 rebate for every new member they bring into the association. This
is a great fund raising project for your club while promoting our spotted horses. It
is worth being a member of ApHC just for the discounts in the new program!
I again
want to remind everyone that our next ApHC Board of Directors meeting will be March 10-12, 2008 in Albuquerque, NM at the
Hotel Albuquerque on Rio Grande Blvd. I encourage everyone who can to attend. As always if you have any questions, concerns, comments, etc. please feel free to
give me a call or drop me an email.
