The American Saddlebred Horse Association's (AHSA) convention, including its large Youth Conference, the formal annual meeting and election of directors, and the Saddlebred Ball at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, February 15-17, 2007.
Headquarters will be the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lexington. Open meetings and forums with committees begin Thursday, as is customary, and the Charter Club Council will also conduct a workshop. The emphasis on Friday and Saturday will be presentation and discussion of the detailed market research conducted since July 2006, presented by University of Kentucky Gatton School of Business professors Robert Dahlstrom and Steve Skinner. Formal plans and budgets for the breed's advancement will also be presented to the membership for analysis and consideration by the Association's directors at its meetings. Leading veterinarians and research scientists will be on hand to discuss the latest innovations in breeding.
The Youth Conference will visit Keeneland's Phoenix Room for its Saturday awards luncheon, as well as the nearby training establishments of Rob Tanner (King's Row Acres), Melissa Moore (Sunrise Stables), Julie Kaufman and Joe Elam (Blue Willow Farm). Youth activities begin Friday evening with a talent show, and continue early Saturday morning with an awards breakfast and round table discussions.
Festivities are capped with the Saddlebred Ball at Keeneland Entertainment Center on Saturday evening, where the Association's highest honors are presented for Lifetime Achievement, Sportsmanship, Meritorious Service, and breeding success, among other categories. The results of directors' voting for these awards will conclude this week.
Official meeting materials will be mailed to all members the week of January 8. Registration forms for the Annual Meeting are available on the Association's website at www.saddlebred.com/files/2007amreg.pdf. Youth Conference registration forms are also available on the Association’s website at www.saddlebred.com/files/2007ycreg.pdf. Embassy Suites may be contacted for reservations at (800) Embassy or (859) 455-5000, or online at http://embassysuites1.hilton.com/en_US/es/index.do.
For making reservations online: After clicking on the link provided, type Lexington where it asks for the city, choose Kentucky from the dropdown menu for state/province and then click Find It. That brings up a webpage listing the Embassy Suites Hotel Lexington; click on View Rates just to the lower right of the hotel listing. The next webpage allows you to reserve a room and toward the bottom of the webpage is the heading Special Accounts. A space is provided to enter a Group/Convention Code. Be sure to type the code ASH in order to receive a discounted rate of $115/night through January 26.
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