Category: Members

Tie a ribbon around your finger because a very important deadline for reining horses is near at hand. The opportunity to nominate weanling foals into the National Reining Horse Association Nomination program at the lowest rate ends on January 10.

The National Reining Horse Association’s Nomination Program was created to grow its North American and European Futurities and Derbies to new heights through enhanced payouts. It has done that by allocating 60 percent of all the fees to the Futurities and 40 percent to the Derbies after a 10 percent retainage. Simply put, the enrollment of foals creates additional added money to the purses at the Futurities and Derbies which saw a 42% increase in the North American Open Futurity in the very first year.

Although the nomination programs for the North American and the European regions are separate, there is an “option” fee available so that horses can become eligible to enter both the North American and European Programs. ­One hundred percent of the Option fees are allocated to their respective Nomination Program. Nominating foals makes them eligible to compete in the NRHA Futurity and/or Derby of their respective regions when they come of age.

When a horse competes and wins money at one of the Futurities or Derbies, the nominator receives 5% of the earnings! It does not matter if the nominator still owns the horse or not. For example, at the 2020 NRHA Futurity, although Arcese Quarter Horses was both the owner and nominator of open futurity champion All Bettss Are Off, had the horse changed hands, Arcese Quarter Horses would have still received $12,500 of the winner’s $250,000 purse.

Any horse can be nominated, and the original nominator can never be changed. NRHA Member and Show Services/Nomination Representative Emily Rush said, “We are so fortunate to have ReinerSuite available to us now because it really is the fastest and most economical way to nominate a horse. The $10 handling fee is waived when you do it online, and you receive an instant digital confirmation.” When members log in to ReinerSuite, they can get guidance on how to complete nominations in the Resources Library.

The deadline for 2020 foals is approaching quickly! After January 10, the fees double until January 31^st after which date the foal is considered a yearling, and the fees adjust appropriately.

More information, including nomination forms, can be found at nrha.com/nomination.

For Immediate Release – October 5, 2020 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) is taking additional steps to streamline business practices, with the goal of improving accuracy and service to members. Thanks to the availability of online member tools to complete nearly all member transactions through NRHA’s ReinerSuite™, the following changes have been approved by the NRHA board of directors.

ReinerSuite provides an online, electronic tool that keeps records of every item submitted, ensures nearly all items submitted are complete, requires a valid form of payment to move forward, and provides a receipt/confirmation email. Given this valuable new tool, NRHA is no longer accepting nominations via email or fax. Member services representatives have been communicating this with customers and are assisting during a transition period.

“The option to email paperwork was put in place many years ago when we did not have an array of online tools. Unfortunately, emailed and faxed items are sometimes incomplete, unreadable and very easy to lose track of if not sent to a central account,” said Christa Morris-Stone, NRHA assistant commissioner. “With ReinerSuite, we now have the ability to provide a much more effective online option to our members.”

Since early 2020, NRHA members have been able to use ReinerSuite to access reports, apply for competition licenses, purchase memberships, transfer horses, obtain digital membership cards and competition licenses, and more. Early adoption and usage by members is strong and growing—generating many positive reviews.

Morris-Stone elaborated, “Nominations and memberships are completed as soon as the payment is processed in ReinerSuite, and it is not unusual for an online transfer or new license to be approved and completed, with a digital version emailed, within 24 to 48 hours.”

More NRHA members are encouraged to use this online platform, which gives 24/7 access to records and allows them to conduct many transactions outside traditional business hours. Beginning January 1, 2021, NRHA will enact a $10 in-office processing fee for items not completed through ReinerSuite by the member. The fax option will be discontinued for all paperwork starting January 1, 2021.

“This in-office processing fee is similar to the fee we have charged for years for North American nominations that have not been completed online,” said Morris-Stone. “In turn, NRHA will drop the $30 show rush for submitting licenses at shows so the $10 fee will apply to anything sent to us to be processed by hand in the NRHA office.” Rush fees now include the $10 handling fee.

NRHA will continue to offer free digital membership cards and competition licenses, and the NRHA Handbook is available online. Hard copies of cards, licenses or handbooks will be available for $5 each.

A complete list of fee policies can be found at nrha.com/fees.

For Immediate Release – August 23, 2020 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – The Reining Horse Foundation Board of Directors has elected Andrea Stillo of Pilot Point, Texas, to serve on the Board of Directors. Under RHF Bylaws, the recommendation was reviewed and approved by the NRHA Board of Directors at the August meeting.

Stillo is an NRHA judge and steward and competes in reining as an NRHA Non Pro, serving as chairman of the NRHA Non Pro Committee. He has professional and volunteer experience in the fields of law, business management and fundraising. He is recognized as a 2020 RHF Reiners Club Contributor and provided volunteer support for the 2019 Sliders’ Night Out benefiting RHF. He is married to NRHA Professional Mirjam Stillo.

“I intend to support the important role of the Foundation in our industry and help to continue the growth and development of its core,” Stillo said. With his election, the RHF Board has 19 members, one shy of the maximum allowed under the bylaws. Elections for the 2021 Board are set to be held in September 2020.

The RHF Board meets via conference call at least quarterly. There are working committees and subcommittees to advance the work of the Foundation and make recommendations to the Board. Under the Bylaws, the Board is split to serve rotating terms, with members elected to serve for terms of three years.

Generally speaking, directors are eligible to serve two consecutive full, three-year terms before retiring for a minimum of one year. Officers may continue to serve while on the Executive Committee.

If you have an interest in serving, contact Tim Anderson, RHF president, at rhf@nrha.com.

For Immediate Release – August 20, 2020 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Board of Directors met via video conference to conduct association business. The agenda included 2021 rule change proposals, review of the proposed 2021 fees policy and a financial report among other items of business.

“I commend our Board members from around the globe and our staff team for adapting to global conditions and making this such a productive meeting,” said Mike Hancock, NRHA President. “We appreciate their dedication to leading our association under any conditions and value members who provide input and take an active role in NRHA.”

Hancock also thanked for their service Board members whose terms will end December 31: Peter DeFreitas, Southeast Regional Director, and Bub Poplin, Mountain Regional Director. This also marked the final full Board meeting led by President Hancock, who completes his two-year term December 31. A respected businessman from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Hancock has been a lifelong reiner, respected for his historical and contemporary knowledge of the sport and NRHA.

Rule changes formed a large portion of business for the August meeting. Complete details are available in ReinerSuite, the web-based portal for NRHA members, where members can find association business under the Library menu heading. Rules will be published in the 2021 NRHA Handbook.

Action items included:

• Approving NRHA Board candidates by acclamation: Vice President Mark Blake, Director-At-Large John Tague; Southwest Regional Ginger Schmersal, Mountain Regional Director Drake Johnson, and Southeast Regional Director Karen Shedlauskas. All are to serve two-year terms that commence January 1, 2021
• Moving the deadline to fill remaining NRHA Board of Directors seats to October 1 to improve the timeliness of filling vacant executive committee seats and appointing committees for the following year
• Establishing two task forces: one to help identify additional opportunities to streamline NRHA programs and procedures and another to explore opportunities for international competition.
• Approving the 2021 fees policy, with a move toward more digital options
• Approving the 2021 worldwide eligibility policy with no changes from the 2020 policy
• Changing NRHyA officer elections to include a scored interview in addition to member votes
• Approving 2021 Adequan North American Affiliate Championship (NAAC) conditions
• Confirming the 2020 NRHA Futurity schedule
• Approving the 2021 NRHA Derby and Futurity conditions and 2021 Nomination conditions
• Adding judges to the officials list
• Approving the election of Andrea Stillo to the Reining Horse Foundation Board of Directors

Informational items covered included:

• Financial update from Chief Financial Officer John Foy
• Commissioner’s report from Gary Carpenter
• Reining Horse Foundation update
• Discussion of the 2021 NRHA Winter meeting
• Update on the Oceania Council
• Usage statistics for the new ReinerSuite member software
• Futurity Challenge update
• Corporate Partner update
• NRHA Reiner update

Look for continued communication about NRHA news in the NRHA Reiner magazine and at nrha.com.

For Immediate Release – June 29, 2020 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) has added a new feature to its popular ReinerSuite™ member software with the debut of the Eligibility Checker. The handy feature appears on the member dashboard after logging in and allows for simple checking of a horse/rider/class/date combination. More detailed searches are available to check eligibility for worldwide events or those specific to Europe and Mexico.

“We are very happy to announce this new offering,” said Angie Honeywell, senior manager of ReinerSuite and Futurity Sales. “Member service is our top priority, and this tool is a way to offer eligibility information quickly and accurately. If members have questions about eligibility or using  ReinerSuite, please contact us at memberships@nrha.com.”

Eligibility for various levels of competition is determined for the beginning of each calendar year. NRHA exhibitors are responsible for verifying eligibility for each class they enter to make sure their placings and earnings count, and this new tool streamlines the process considerably.

“The response to ReinerSuite has been overwhelmingly positive,” said NRHA Commissioner Gary Carpenter. “We know this eligibility tool will provide added convenience for our members and is something they can use from any device connected to the internet.”

ReinerSuite was unveiled to NRHA members in late February 2020, providing advanced, online member services. The web-based software has innovated association records management for the equine industry.