The Youth National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show, July 21-28, 2012, at Expo New Mexico in Albuquerque will open and close with two exceptional educational opportunities for youth, not offered in one place anywhere else. First, the Arabian Professional & Amateur Horseman's Association (APAHA) will host

2011 Winner Hannah Pace riding  AM Fiery Dream+

a free clinic, Thursday, July 19, from 2 - 5 p.m. Then, for the last three days of the show, July 26-28, The Arabian Cutting Horse Association (TACHA) will host a cutting clinic, which includes a "test-drive" of a finished cutting horse, a practice round, and a cutting exhibition for prizes at only $100 per participant. Read more here.

Join AHA to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Youth Nationals, Wednesday, July 25, from 5-7 p.m., in the Youth Hall 

Youth Programs will NOT be holding the Consignment Sale at Youth Nationals July 2012.

The Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba will once again host the Canadian National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show, August 13 - 18, 2012. This will be the second year that Canadian Nationals will take advantage of Brandon's facility, which is finely tuned for horse shows.

It's about a two hour drive from the Winnipeg Airport to the Keystone Centre in Brandon. If you're not renting a car, make use of the Brandon Air Shuttle service. Contact Brandon Air Shuttle at 204-729-3333 or visit their website.  

Markel Insurance Company will present Sylvia Zerbini's Grande LibertePerformance at the U.S. National Arabian & Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show for three live performances Thursday evening, Oct. 25, Friday evening, Oct 26, and a matinee performance, Saturday, Oct. 27, in Ford Truck Arena at Expo Square in Tulsa, OK.

Zerbini is a ninth generation performer who's captivated audiences throughout Europe, North America, and South America, since age 5. Most recently, Zerbini starred in the acclaimed equestrian spectacle Cavalia (2008-2011). Her gift for orchestrating nine Arabians at once in her Grande Liberte performances has earned widespread media accolades.

"AHA is thrilled to host Sylvia and have the support of Markel Insurance Company at U.S. Nationals, which features the very best Arabian horses in the world in the most popular disciplines," says Dan Lawrence, Sr. Director of Marketing and Sales at AHA. "Markel's support allows the U.S. Show Commission to bring this premier entertainment to our flagship show," added Lawrence.

In addition to Specialty Commercial and Accident & Health, Markel offers an extensive Agriculture line of insurance products: Commercial Equine Liability, Commercial Farms & Liability, Farrier Liability, Horse Club Liability, Private Horse Owner Liability, Show Animal Club Liability and Sustainable Farm. For a quote, click here.

The Nominating Committee would like all potential officer candidates for 2013 to submit the application form to the AHA office, c/o Joleen White, by August 1, 2012. The Committee will review the forms and take appropriate action that is consistent with an equitable presentation of eligible candidates. A decision on whether to have a candidates' forum will be predicated on the number of new candidates submitting applications. Download an application form here. Contact Joleen White at 303-696-4552 with questions.

Attention Club Presidents and Secretaries: Convention information, delegate counts and all related forms are on their way in the mail. Please be on the lookout for them. In the mean time, please stop by the Convention Homepage for more information about this and all other related convention material. 

It's that time of year again! Here are the important deadlines to remember: Club Excellence Award Program entries are due August 15 and Volunteer Service Award Program entires are due August 31, September 15, and October 15. These two programs are designed to recognize clubs and individuals for outstanding accomplishments. Don't miss your chance to recognize those people who deserve to be noticed with Volunteer Service Awards and to enter your club's activities in the Club Excellence Award program. For more information on these two programs please click the links above or call 303-696-4500 and ask for the membership department.

Don't forget the August 15 deadline to submit resolutions for the 2012 AHA Convention. Resolutions may be submitted by any AHA Committee/Commission/Club or by the AHA Board of Directors or the AHA President.

Proponents must now state whether a resolution is "extraordinary" or "standard" when submitting resolutions. An extraordinary resolution is defined as one that affects the health, safety or well being of the horse and/or rider; affects the financial well being of AHA, and/or Member Organizations; or creates a severe hardship or gross unfairness to the Association's recognized events or involves other compelling circumstances clearly specified.

If a resolution is submitted as extraordinary, it must clearly define how it meets the "extraordinary" criteria. It will then be reviewed by the Agenda & Resolutions Committee to determine if it meets the necessary criteria. Upon approval, the effective date will be December 31 of the year adopted or upon approval by USEF/EC, if applicable.

A resolution deemed as "Standard" will upon passage, have the effective date of December 31 the year after adoption. (i.e. adopted November 2012, effective December 31, 2013)

Sport Horse Nationals held in Nampa, Idaho - August 6

U.S. Nationals held in Tulsa, Oklahoma - August 24

If you enrolled in the Performance Futurity using the payment plan, don't forget the deadline for the third payment is postmarked/electronic transaction dated prior to or on August 1.  Payments postmarked/electronic transaction dated after the first of each month will be assessed late fees.

The 2012 Distance Nationals will be held in conjunction with the AERC National Championship Ride at the Biltmore Equestrian Center in Asheville, N.C. on September 20 - 24.  

Be one of the first to send in your AHA Distance Nationals entry and be automatically entered into the AHA Go-Pro Camera Raffle! If you send in your entry forms on or before the close of entry deadline, you will be automatically entered to win a Go-Pro HD Hero Camera with helmet mount.  Check out the website for more details. 

In addition to points, you can qualify for Regionals by obtaining a first or second place at an AHA Recognized local show.

Qualification points are earned through AHA Recognized Shows (excluding Nationals, Regionals, Pacific Slope, East Cast Championship, East and West Canadian Breeders Championships). Points must be obtained in the same section as listed in the Standard Class list. For example, classes contained in section 15, Arabian Western Pleasure may be used to qualify for class 195, Arabian Western Pleasure AAOTR 18-39 Championship. An Open Arabian Western Pleasure qualification cannot be used if the rider was a professional and/or if the rider was not the owner of the horse. Points are awarded to placings of first through sixth and are determined by the number of horses at the close of the gate. Horses will earn one point for every horse in the class including yourself. Click here for the point qualification chart. 

All qualification rules are found in Section 12 of Chapter 11 in the current AHA Handbook.

Did you know that the qualification points that you earn within a qualification period (which is defined as the previous calendar year and the current year up to the close of entries) may be used at multiple shows to qualify a horse and/or rider for Regionals and/or Nationals? An example would be to use the same points to qualify for a regional show, Canadian Nationals and U.S. Nationals.  In other words, points are not used up. You may not use the same points for more than one class at that particular show.  If you had earned 10 qualification points in Western Pleasure, you could not use them for Western Pleasure Open (requires 10 qual points) and Western Pleasure AAOTR (requires 10 qual points) at U.S. Nationals. To compete in both of these classes at U.S. Nationals, a total of 20 qualification points would need to be earned.

Any qualification points you earn are good up until the expiration of the qualification period.

If you need your Competition Card to submit with show entries, know that you can print this information from the "Welcome back" page after logging into the AHA website. Use this section if you have not yet received your card or if you have misplaced your card. It is handy to use!