A number of milestones were reached during Hugh Peltz’s presidency.
Peltz bred “using” horses, and he believed in the abilities of the Quarter Horse and its Association.
The Montana rancher became an AQHA judge in 1958, and served on the AQHA Stud Book and Registration Committee for several years. In 1974, Peltz was elected the 24th president of AQHA.
During his year as president, he and the AQHA Executive Committee continued working out the details of the first World Championship Quarter Horse Show. The show would recognize world champions in each of the official AQHA halter and performance events.
Another item on the agenda was the 1,000,000 mark in registration. In July 1974, the executive committee decided to reserve the number and not assign it to a specific horse. The next certificate issued after 999,999 was 1,000,001. AQHA was the first equine breed association in history to register more than a million horses.
After years of discussion, a special committee was formed to begin working on the establishment of the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame.
After serving as president, Peltz returned to his Montana ranch and continued breeding Quarter Horses and commercial beef cattle.
His breeding stock included Billy McCoy, Sonny Kimble, Snappy Reed and Major Bid by Double Bid.
Peltz died of a heart attack in 1979 at 69, and was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1995.
Biography updated as of March 1995.