Phyllis Brannon believes that many people were surprised when she was named the inaugural Individual Breed Ambassador World Champion. She knows they didn’t see all the promotional work she was doing, and for a very good reason.

“Promoting the Saddlebred is not about promoting it to people who already have Saddlebreds,” Phyllis said. “A lot of people were shocked when we won because they didn’t see what we were doing. How many people follow the 4-H program or the local shows where there’s not even a Saddlebred class?”

But that is the beauty of the new Breed Ambassador Program – since 2015, the American Saddlebred Horse Association does follow them. And all across the country, people like Phyllis are now being rewarded for their efforts to promote the Saddlebred breed, and others are being encouraged to join the fight.

The beginning

The program was the brainchild of Saddlebred exhibitor Betsy Cowan. Involved with ASHA’s local charter clubs since the 70s, Betsy is now part of the ASHA Charter Club Council.

“We were going over ideas for promotional events, and frankly, I was frustrated because they had almost all been tried and had very limited success,” Betsy said. “None of the ideas are viable for every geographic region.”

Then one day while cleaning stalls, something came to her.

“I started formulating a plan to ‘thank’ the people who have been tirelessly championing our breed all along, incorporating that with the observation that the horse world has changed from having area clubs to having barn clubs, and that charter clubs were having a tough time coordinating members, but could still help with the initiative,” Betsy said.

She envisioned a program that would deputize individuals to be the voice of the Saddlebred breed, and also connect Saddlebred lovers from all areas and disciplines – with each other, and with their local charter clubs and the ASHA as a whole.

“I didn't want to try to pigeon-hole our method of reaching new people,” Betsy said. “Anything that works should be applauded.”

The ASHA has a total of forty-five charter clubs – forty throughout the United States, three in Canada and two in Europe – all overseen by the Charter Club Council. The council meets once a month by teleconference to discuss what is happening across the different regions and what the charter clubs are doing to promote the breed, and it was at the council’s November 2014 meeting that Betsy introduced her idea to an overwhelmingly positive response. With Betsy as chair, the council formed a committee and tasked it with the design of the new program. Committee members included Susan Aschenbrenner, Jean Mutrux, Rick Mackenzie and Kim Dunn.

One of the first challenges Betsy faced was coming up with a name for the program that would set it apart from programs that already existed.

“The Charter Club Council … noted that we needed to distinguish it from Discipline Ambassadors, which already exist,” Betsy said. “We really want to recognize Saddlebred lovers from all disciplines, no matter how they reach new enthusiasts. We wanted to avoid confusion with the Discipline Ambassadors who are the voice of their favorite style of riding.”

Breed Ambassador Program seemed to accomplish all of these goals. But, though the program now had a name, there was still a lot of work to do to organize it, so Betsy worked closely with ASHA Senior Program Administrator Brenda Newell, who manages the Charter Club Council. Together, they took the ideas and designs from the committee meetings and organized them into ASHA’s format.

“We did a lot of bouncing around of what would count for points and how many points each thing should have,” Brenda said.

All their hard work paid off with the creation of a simple system: participants downloaded and completed a form with their promotional activities, totaled up their scores and sent it to their local charter club. Each charter club picked the three highest point winners in each category – Individual, Barn and Charter Club – and forwarded them on to Brenda, who double checked the calculations and then announced the World Champions for each division in early February.

The winners

It was a wide range of activities that catapulted Breed Ambassador winners to the top. For the individual winner, Phyllis Brannon, those activities included participation in fifteen open horse shows, five all-breed events, such as fundraiser trail rides, twenty-two free, public lessons, clinics, camps and open houses, as well as a variety of 4-H and therapeutic riding presentations and seminars.

While Phyllis’s name may be on the award, she believes it really belongs to Harlem’s Sweet Success, or “Danny,” the Saddlebred who was her partner in most of these adventures. Danny isn’t just any Saddlebred, either – Saddle & Bridle’s 2015 Hunter Seat Classic Reserve National Champion, the 2014 Country Hunter Pleasure Champion at Lexington Junior League, and the winner of many 2015 high point awards, he is a champion show horse with a disposition that makes him a champion outside the ring as well.

“People thought these horses were unapproachable,” Phyllis said. “That’s what the perception out there is. But he’s just another horse; anybody can ride him.”

Phyllis and Danny will be participating in the Breed Ambassador Program again in 2016, because, for them, promotion is already a lifestyle. However, their plan for 2016 is a little different, as Phyllis is excited to have her daughter compete for the title. She hopes that, in the future, Danny will be able to compete for his own title with the addition of a Horse division.

The Individual Reserve World Champion, Holly Armstrong, of Meadow Reflections Farm in Howell, Michigan, had a special horse on her team, too. Paddyngton’s Marc Of Distinction, or “Marcus,” was immortalized as a 2014 Silver Anniversary Edition Breyer Horse model, and he still meets and greets his fans at many shows and events, including Breyerfest in Lexington, Kentucky. Holly and her horses, Marcus included, also participated in open shows, expos and parades, such as the nationally televised America’s Thanksgiving Parade, and had the honor of making Michigan history with the christening of the new Michigan State Fair Arena, with Marcus as the Fair’s Ambassador Horse, giving daily demonstrations and introducing the American Saddlebred to thousands.

“I know, personally, it is a great deal of work, money and time away from my own farm … but the attention, love and the support our American Saddlebreds receive makes it all worth while,” Holly said. “In an expo setting, I would invite those ‘behind the scenes’ to see first hand the wonderful, loving dispositions our horses have, and answer any misconceptions they may have regarding our breed such as tails, shoeing, etc. Education is key, and when explained or demonstrated you can change a person’s views in a matter of minutes when the finished product is a happy, healthy horse loving doing what he does best.”