The American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA) today announced the formation of a Horse Show Task Force that will examine and recommend a comprehensive support program for horse shows.

“The purpose of the initiative is straightforward,” said ASHA Board President and Executive Director-elect David Mount. “It will offer common sense solutions for the problems facing our horse shows including governance, marketing, and financial.”

The goal is to make a report to the Board of Directors by December 2019 so that the program can be announced at the ASHA annual meeting in January, 2020 for implementation in the 2020 show year.

The Task Force will look into:

Creating Tiered Governance Options for All Shows: Three governance options will be available for all shows including USEF Licensed and USEF Competition Lite as are currently available. There will be another level offered which will be based on the American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) Star Show and Arabian Horse Association (AHA) One Day and Value Shows.
Expanding Marketing Support for Shows
Establishing a Horse Show Grant Program
The Task Force members are Kristen Bagdasarian, Allen Bosworth, Sandy Currier, Bob Funkhouser, Melissa Moore, Christy Parker, Cliff Paulsen and David Rudder. The Task Force will work directly with a group of horse show industry consultants that includes Sandy Backer, R.H. Bennett, Scarlett Mattson, Kelly McFaul, Kent Moeller, Carrie Mortensen and Beth Snider.

For more information, reach out to Alexandra Harper, the Special Programs Manager of the ASHA, at a.harper@asha.net.