Category: Members

The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Executive Committee and Board of Directors met via Zoom in early May to discuss and vote on 2024 Rule Changes and other topics relating to the future of reining.

Before diving into rule changes, NRHA Chief Financial Officer John Foy provided a financial overview of the current fiscal year’s nine months ending on March 31, 2023.

NRHA anticipates positive net income for the full fiscal year. NRHA’s balance sheet is strong, and cash flow continues to strengthen the Association. The NRHA has made significant investments within the industry over the last three years, highlighted by $1.165M in additional added money to the NRHA Futurity. The Association continues to focus on leveraging NRHA’s most valued assets to create incremental cash flow to be invested by the Association in our most valued assets while maintaining an adequate rainy-day fund.

Gary Carpenter, NRHA Commissioner, also gave an update to the Board. As most exhibitors know, Oklahoma State Fair Park has begun constructing a new $126 million coliseum. NRHA and event staff are working closely with the State Fair Park to keep inconveniences to NRHA Derby exhibitors as limited as possible. You can learn more about the new coliseum and the project timeline to be completed in 2025 here.

Carpenter also shared that the NRHA Board and Executive Committee will participate in a strategic planning session in July. This will continue to build a plan to update the Association’s vision and goals for the future and consider the membership survey responses received earlier this year.

At the Winter Meeting in February, a committee was appointed to assist in the search for a commissioner to replace Carpenter when he retires at the end of this year. Jim Harlan, with MJM Global Search, has interviewed NRHA’s executive committee and senior staff to determine the qualities and qualifications needed. The committee will meet with candidates in the next few weeks with the intent to come back to the board with a recommendation.

The Board also discussed an additional change to fund NRHA’s medications program expansion. A $35 medications fee and a 5% retainage increase will be instated at the 2023 NRHA Futurity to reflect increased testing throughout the event.

Each year, NRHA Members and committees may submit rule-change proposals for addition to the following year’s official handbook. The NRHA Board of Directors discusses the proposals, sends them to NRHA Committees for feedback, reviews opinions shared by the membership, and casts votes after two readings of the proposals, typically at their mid-year meeting.

“The rule change meeting is always one of the most tedious, and it can be a hard meeting to go through because it only occurs every two years, so it builds up, but I thought the discussion we had was good,” said NRHA President Mark Blake. “The Board looked at the member and committee suggestions, and they did a good job of taking that into account when they made their decisions, and it went very well! We read the proposed changes at the Winter Meeting first. After that, it is up to Board members to do their research on what the impact of those rule changes would be. At this meeting, we spent four hours of intense talks, but, in total, this is a three-month process.”

The board considered and voted on the following proposals. To review a full list of rule changes, comments, and details, visit the members only section at reinersuite.nrha.com.

Approved/Approved as Amended

43-1-24: Amateur Derby Division for Category 2 & 6 – Approved as amended to follow current trial conditions.

42-1-24: Masters Non Pro – Approved

42-2-24: Legends Non Pro – Approved

44-1-24: Maturity Definition – Approved as amended

47-1-24: Updating the Definition of Category 8 – Approved as amended

51-1-24: Less Than 8 Horses Between Runs – Approved

53-1-24: General Show Conditions – Approved

54-1-24: Certified Show Secretary – Approved

54-2-24: Show Secretary Showing at Events – Approved

54-3-24: Official Videographer – Approved

54-4-24: Judges Monitor – Approved as amended 

56-1-24: Judge’s Score Sheets – Approved

56-2-24: Option to Require Jog In – Approved

60-1-24: Prime Time Non Pro Added Money Approved

61-1-24: Requiring a Level 4 Open and Level 4 Non Pro Class for Aged Shows – Approved

95-1-24: 65 and Older Holding Saddle Horn in Category 2 & 6 – Approved

99-1-24: Modified Patterns – Approved

132-1-24: Adding Lope In Pattern 17 – Approved as amended

No Action Taken

20-1-24: Tail Alterations

33-1-24: Adding an Amateur Division

37-1-24 Definition of Immediate Family

45-1-24: Change “Ancillary” to “Traditional” in All Instances

50-1-24: Block Draws

66-1-24: Removing the Requirement of Ordering the Lawson Trophy

67-1-24: Ties in Classes With $2,000 Added, Category 2 & 6, and NAAC

173-1-24: Removing Youth Points from the Eligibility of Rookie Levels 1 & 2

TBD-1-24: Soundness Check Before Showing

The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Board of Directors met during the 2023 Winter Meeting and voted on the qualification process for Affiliate Regional Championships (ARC) and the Adequan® North American Affiliate Championship (NAAC).

To qualify for a 2023 Affiliate Regional Championship, a rider must be an NRHA member and a member of an NRHA affiliate. Riders may join an affiliate at any point and are encouraged to show within it throughout the year to build their reining community and compete for awards. As in 2021, riders will be allowed to participate in multiple ARCs with one exception; if they win a class, they cannot compete on the same horse in the same class at another ARC.

Any exhibitor who receives a score higher than a zero at an ARC will be able to enter that class, on that specific horse, at the NAAC in Oklahoma City. Riders are encouraged to confirm that the classes they enter at an ARC are qualifying classes and not the ancillary slate.

This qualification format follows the same process as the past two years and was recommended by the Affiliate Committee before it was approved by the NRHA Board following the past two years’ success. The number of competitors at ARCs and the NAAC have grown across the board, which is positive for affiliates hosting shows, the grassroots level of reining, and the overall industry.

During the 2022 NAAC, more than $99,000 was awarded, with the Adequan® arena hosting more than 800 NAAC entries. The Board and Affiliate Committee look forward to seeing this growth expanded in 2023.

To find an affiliate near you, visit nrha.com/affiliate. To check if you are a member of a specific affiliate, please contact them directly.

The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) held its annual Winter Meeting February 5–7 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. The venue was the meeting place for NRHA Board, staff, committee members, and the membership to meet and to review and guide the association’s direction going forward.

During the three days of meetings, the board, executive committee, the Reining Horse Foundation Board of Directors, and several advisory committees convened. The Annual General Membership Meeting was also held Tuesday morning and gave members the opportunity to receive an update from NRHA Leadership and ask questions.

“It was an outstanding meeting, with the committee and board members working together wonderfully to begin the year,” said NRHA President Mark Blake. “The judges committee especially did an outstanding job with the review session, and overall, I am very happy with how the 2023 NRHA Winter Meeting went.”

Blake also highlighted the success NRHA saw in 2022, including a 14% increase in approved events worldwide with a record-setting 125,000 total entries. Additionally, the nomination program saw its highest numbers since its inception, topping 3,000 North American weanling nominations for the first time. NRHA membership remains stable, with non professionals boasting its highest membership rates since 2015. Read more on the 2022 Statistics Overview posted on the “About” page at nrha.com. Blake also announced that a membership survey would be distributed to members and reviewed by the board during the future Strategic Planning Session.

NRHA Chief Financial Officer John Foy also gave an extremely positive, in-depth financial overview of the association, which included an explanation of the new 4-year-old nomination component that will begin with 2023 foals, NRHA Futurity purse milestones, and an update on the annual audit that will be posted online for members in the next few weeks. You can read more about the program here. He also addressed the association will continue to invest in high-performing assets and has the liquidity to navigate even during economic downturn.

Gary Carpenter, NRHA Commissioner, also announced his planned retirement after leading NRHA since 2014. During Carpenter’s time with NRHA, the association has seen massive expansion, boasting the lowest turnover rates and a well-tenured staff speaking to his incredible leadership. An official search committee has been formed, and you can read more about his retirement here.

Following the annual general membership meeting, The Judges Committee also held a review of the top 2022 NRHA Futurity runs with an open dialogue regarding scoring while watching videos of selected runs. Patti Carter, Senior Director of Education & Officials, and the judges committee teaching panel talked through the evaluation of the runs, answered questions, and provided clarity on current judging standards.

The following items were also discussed:

2023 Affiliate Regional Championship and Adequan^® North American Affiliate Championship Conditions

The Board moved to approve keeping the Affiliate Regional Championship (ARC) and Adequan^® North American Affiliate Championship (NAAC) qualification the same as the previous year. To compete at an ARC, a rider must be an NRHA member and a member of an NRHA affiliate. Any exhibitor who receives a score higher than a zero at an ARC will be able to enter that class, on that specific horse, at the Adequan^® NAAC in Oklahoma City.

2024 NRHA Elections

Submissions for 2024 NRHA Regional Director and NRHA Director-at-Large elections are due in office on June 1. For more information, including open seats and qualifications for running, visit nhra.com/elections.

Rule Change Proposals

The 2023 Rule Change Proposals were reviewed by the Board for the first time. The Board will review them again prior to voting, and they will be sent to committees and will soon be available online to the NRHA membership for feedback.

Recommended Judges Fee Increase

The Board approved a recommendation from the Judges Committee to recommend that all “AA” events pay their judges a minimum of $750 per day along with reasonable travel expenses. For all other events, the committee recommended judge fees be increased to a minimum of $600/day, plus reasonable travel expenses. The committee also recommended judges be compensated 10% of their day fee for every hour over 10 hours spent judging (not including breaks).

NRHA Owned Event Schedules Approved

The 2023 6666 NRHA Derby presented by Markel and the 2023 NRHA Futurity & Adequan^® North American Affiliate Championship schedules were approved by the NRHA Board of Directors. The Derby schedule is available on nrhaderby.com, and the Futurity schedule will be available soon on nrhafuturity.com. A change to note was the approval to switch the Open and Non Pro go-round order at the NRHA Derby to be more accommodating to non pros who make the finals.

Reining Horse Foundation Board Meeting

The Reining Horse Foundation (RHF) Board of Directors approved significant expansion to two of its flagship programs: the Dale Wilkinson Memorial Crisis Fund and the RHF Scholarship program. Increased donor support in recent years has made it feasible for more dollars to be returned to the reining community, which is the heart of the RHF mission. In November 2022, the board designated up to $250,000 in additional funding support for core programs, with proposals to be brought forward from RHF standing committees. These program expansions are the result. The Crisis Fund grant maximums are being increased substantially, more than double previous funding thresholds. Four RHF Scholarships amounts are being increased immediately, and five new scholarships will be added in 2024.