BY AQHA PRESIDENT JIM HELZER
The 2010 AQHA Convention is heading to Florida – the home of the revived and renewed Hialeah Park, which opened a 40-day American Quarter Horse race meet November 28. Even though our convention will be in Kissimmee, a little more than 200 miles to the north of Hialeah Park in Miami, it’s still a great opportunity to celebrate the expansion of the sport of the fastest horses at the quarter-mile.
The convention is also a chance for breeders, trainers, owners and horse lovers of all kinds to get together and swap stories, talk about issues affecting the industry and discuss proposed changes to the way AQHA does business.
There are a couple of items regarding the convention that you should know:
- Committee Agenda Items – to be eligible for consideration by a standing committee, a member’s proposed agenda item must be submitted using the rule change proposal form available online at www.aqha.com/forms. All proposals are due by December 31, 2009. You can e-mail them to agenda@aqha.org or mail them to the appropriate department at P.O. Box 200, Amarillo, TX 79168.
- To have voting rights at the 2010 convention, you must be an AQHA member at least 60 days prior to the first day of the 2010 convention.
- As usual, all standing committee meetings are open to the general membership. The only exceptions to this general rule are (1) meetings denoted as being closed in the convention program or (2) portions, if any, of meetings that are conducted in closed session per direction of the committee or chairperson.
Finally, don’t forget that you are always welcome to share your views/comments regarding issues that effect or pertain to AQHA with AQHA directors. A list of your directors and their contact information are included in the June and December issues of The American Quarter Horse Journal and in the July issue of America’s Horse. You can also find the directors list in the member services area of AQHA’s Web site.
The 2010 AQHA Convention will be at the Gaylord Palms, Kissimmee, Florida. Rates begin at $222 for a standard single room per night, and reservations can be made by calling the hotel at (407) 586-2000. Visit www.aqha.com for more details or to register for the convention.
Here’s the abbreviated convention schedule:
