The American Saddlebred Horse Association's (ASHA) Annual Meeting and Youth Conference will be held Thursday–Friday, February 14-16, at the Embassy Suites in Lexington. The weekend ends with the annual Saddlebred Ball at Keeneland Race Course.
Open meetings and forums with committees begin Thursday, as is customary, and the Charter Club Council will also conduct a workshop. Thursday evening is highlighted by a Welcome Reception sponsored by the FEI & Emerging Disciplines Committee.
Friday features a pair of forums as well as the ASHA Awards Luncheon. Later in the evening, the youth arrive in droves for their conference, greeted with a pizza party, arts and crafts, a book signing by author and ASHA Youth member Sarah Hinds, and dancing; a DJ and a dance floor are set for Friday night.
Saturday offers the ASHA Open Members Forum and the Annual Members Luncheon. Also, the American Saddlebred Museum will host a book signing by the daughter of Saddlebred legend Art Simmons; Jane Simmons will autograph her new book chronicling the Simmons family. The Youth, following their Awards Breakfast, will head to Shelby County, KY, also known as the “Saddle Horse Capital of the World,” for field trips to some Saddlebred farms. That will be followed by the Youth Awards Luncheon at the famous Claudia Sanders Dinner House.
The weekend’s grand finale is the Saddlebred Ball and Annual Prize Giving at Keeneland. This awards gala has grown over the years to become quite a production. The awards ceremony is projected onto several jumbo screens, as are the video montages of award winners. An 18-piece band provides the ceremony’s soundtrack, then plays late into the evening once the ballroom floor opens up for dancing. This is the one night of the year when the association honors the breed’s most important contributors and its brightest stars.
Official meeting materials will be mailed to all members the week of Monday, January 7, 2008. Registration forms for the Annual Meeting are available on the association's website at www.saddlebred.com/files/2008amreg.pdf. Youth Conference registration forms are available at www.saddlebred.com/files/2008ycreg.pdf.
A custom webpage has been made for ASHA convention attendees to book hotel rooms at the Embassy Suites. Receive the discounted rate of $118 per night, make reservations here. Reservations may also be made by contacting Embassy at 1-800-Embassy (1-800-362-2779) or (859) 455-5000. The “Promotion/Offer Code” to receive the special $118 per night rate is ASH. Reservations must be made by Saturday, January 26, to receive the reduced rate.
Complete Schedule