What would YOU change if a genie waved a magic wand and you got total control over whatever breed organization or other equine organization you're most heavily involved with? Top three things. Let's hear them!
For me, with AQHA:
1. Policy change to anti-slaughter (obviously) and investment of a significant percentage of registration and other collected fees into a structured specific AQHA registered horse rescue with branches in each region of the United States. Every horse eligible to enroll in the Incentive Fund (pre-nomination of sire not required) at the time of his first show or other competition so that actually training and then showing/competing with your horse is incentivized. This would help trainers in these tough times and encourage people to make the investment into their horses that would keep those horses safe even if the original owners couldn't keep them.
2. The end of halter as we know it. Halter split into three divisions for each age: Hunter type, western pleasure type and working horse/cowhorse type. Let's face it, we have different types of Quarter Horse so why not just embrace it and judge each based upon its suitability for the event it aspires to or currently performs in? Why are we, instead, continuing to create a whole separate type chock full of post legs and nasty pasterns and small feet, that is overfed until its legs are ruined and it doesn't ride at all? So that now we have to have Performance Halter? It should ALL be Performance Halter. It should all relate to an intended, eventual if not current USE. You want to show something that just looks pretty standing there and has no other purpose, show model horses. They will not care if you throw them in a pile in the garage when you are done with them.
(Note: I know some of you have ex halter horses that ride and are sound, that you didn't ruin. But that is not the majority, sadly.)
3. Absolutely no registration of N/H horses. N/H stallions must be gelded or their papers would be recalled by the registry. No registration of foals from N/H or H/H mares after a reasonable future date, even if the foals are N/N. We have to stop allowing the Russian Roulette breeding. And once we get rid of Beef Steer Halter, nobody will need to breed positive horses. See how well that works?
So what do you want to change? This can be for a breed registry or for 4-H or Pony Club or even for your local saddle club? If you were in charge for one day, what would be different?
