2021 Appaloosa Horse Club General Membership Meeting
Yesterday, the ApHC had their first general membership meeting via zoom. The meeting, for the past few years, has been held at the World Show in October/November.
The meeting started with a data report comparing information from 2019, 2020 and 2021. As of November 30th, 1925 horses had been registered in 2021. This is slightly up from 2020 and on par with 2018 and 2019.
Appaloosa owners who show at breed shows showed to 266 judges throughout the country. Shows had almost 73,000 entries overall. The breakdown is as follows: 9,343 entries in halter; 15,920 entries in performance classes; 29,618 non pro entries and 18,081 youth entries. These numbers are up substantially from 2020 which had an abbreviated show season due to COVID-19 restrictions in many states. The total entries were down 30,000 from 2019 which was pre-pandemic. When the numbers are broken down by unique horses shown, there were 727 horses shown in non pro events, 355 horses shown in youth events and 1481 horses shown in open events.
World show numbers were in and there were 2213 entries at the 2021 Appaloosa World show and 530 horses. The 2020 show numbers are not comparable as the entries included youth classes. The 2019 World show had 2200 entries coming from 567 horses.
Membership numbers were reported with the 2021 membership total standing at 9,926 members. This is broken down into 8,859 voting adult members and 1,067 youth members. The membership numbers are up from 2020 (9,242) and 2019 (9,751). Regional club membership totals were 2560 individuals for all clubs in the country. This is down substantially from 2020 (3,312) and 2019 (3,934).
The members of the Board of Directors and the Club’s Executive Secretary were on the meeting to answer questions that members sent in ahead of time. There were a few question themes. A main concern of members was the date and location of the 2022 National Show and Youth World Show. The board stated that they were having a meeting on January 5, 2022 to vote on this matter. Members can attend this meeting virtually and can contact their board member for the information.
Another main concern from many members involved registering horses. There have been many slow downs with registrations taking over 14 weeks at times in 2021. The board and Executive Director stated that staffing issues were partially to blame for the delay. It was suggested by many members on the call that upgrading the system to allow online registration to become a priority for the club and the board of directors.
There were other concerns brought to the table. The meeting was recorded so those who were unable to attend should be able to view a recording of the meeting. The overall reaction to a zoom membership meeting was mixed. Many individuals stated that this was the first meeting that they had attended. The meeting being virtual allowed many individuals to attend that do not attend world or national shows where the meetings are normally held. Others were upset by the virtual format. It was suggested that, going forward, that if the meeting returns to in person a hybrid option is made available so that all members have a chance to attend. There appeared to be just under 200 people in attendance on the zoom call.
The Board reminded the membership that there is an application to be on committees for those who wish to help guide the club forward. They also reminded all members that they can contact any of the board of director members at any time if they have concerns.
Please note: This is an independent assessment of the meeting made by an attendee. It does not reflect any official statement or summary by the Appaloosa Horse Club.
