Pres. House called the meeting to order at 10:05AM

Invocation was given by Mr. Morrison.

Sect. Jones informed Pres. House that we do not have a quorum.

Mr. Court made a motion to accept the minutes from the February 2002 General Membership Meeting. Mr. Brown 2^nd and the motion carried.

Pres. House asked for old business.

Mr. Morrison was asked about the new rulebook. He informed the members that it was in the final draft and would be out very soon.

Pres. House asked for the treasury report.

Mrs. Harris passed the latest financial report. (See att.#1)

Mr. Toney asked about the latest on the covered arena.

Mrs. Harris said that the idea of a fundraiser had been kicked around to get this done. Mr. Roberts told us that the last estimate that had been gotten was in excess of $120,000.00. At this time the big top needs to be replaced before we can do the outside area. He also informed us that we have about 35 head of horses stalled off the grounds and that we need to look into a couple of new barns. Between the roof and the barns he thought that $300,000.00 should cover these two projects. Mr. Roberts then explained the DQP problem of not having a fenced in area. He asked for the patience of all while they were putting up the fence. He apologized for the mess and said we would have the fence up by this afternoon. After some discussion on the changes the fence would make on coming in from the warm up area all were in agreement that this would help the problem of so many people being in the small space that is the warm up area.

Mr. Morrison assured us that next show season the problems at the main gates to the seating area would be resolved. He reminded us that the RHBAA is a business and should be run like a business.

Pres. House then called for the Personnel and Property report.

Mr. Roberts said he covered all of his report when he spoke during the treasury report.

Pres. House then called on Mr. Siniard from the Pleasure Division.

Mr. Siniard said all was running pretty smooth and that the new handbooks are in the office.

Pres. House then asked for the Advisory report.

Mr. Frye informed the membership that the Advisory Committee will be meeting on Thursday morning at 8AM and if any one had any thing to be discussed then please let him know.

Pres. House then asked for the Breeders report.

Mrs. Berry informed the members that commission and foaled registration are both up.

Foaled

581 2001

697 2002

Commissioned

784 2001

926 2002

Mrs. Berry says she feels that we are growing. She thanked everyone for getting all his or her reports in on time. The 10-year plan on closing the books is still in the working stage and looks like it will be a good plan.

Pres. Ask for the DQP report.

Mr. Gullic said he had nothing new to report except the proposal on next years contract.

Mr. Court asked if we had talked to any other organization. Mr. Gullic said no he has not. He says that regulatory is working with some of the others and that they will report to us their findings.

Pres. House then asked for the Exhibitor Status report.

Mrs. Hart was not present.

Pres. House then called for the Horse Show report.

Mr. Morrison says that we are up at this time 101 entries over last year. He asked that we all help by folding up our chairs in the box seat area before we leave after the show. He told us that they were trying to leave the big arena open as long as possible due to the rain. Mr. Brown ask if we could have this general meeting in the sale barn next year so that we would not interfere

with the people trying to ride.

Pres. House then called the Judges report.

Mr. Thacker says we are having a clinic at 1PM on Thursday afternoon. All are welcome to attend. Mr. Thacker says that his committee is working hard on the Pleasure Division. Mr. Thacker asked the pleasure people to be aware of the rules. He informed us that the apprentice program for next year is closed due to too many applications. Mr. Court asked how the exchange program worked with regulatory. Both racking and walking submit names from each and then they are voted and approved upon. Mr. Thacker reminded us that our contract with NHSC has an exchange clause. Mr. Court says NHSC has a guest judge program in their rulebook he asked if we could do something like this in our rulebook. Mr. Brown asked about the 10-class rule. Mr. Thacker says this has been in effect for the past 3 years. Mr. Thacker says as long as the dual license is working we will keep them in place.

Mrs. Berry asked how many were in the apprentice program for next year. Mr. Thacker says about 12.

Mr. Street ask why we are not following our rulebook about being a member in good standing for 3 years. Mr. Thacker says so we can get walking and racking judges at the small shows. Mr. Hiers says it was a trade off for a quick fix on the problem of small show in the outlying areas. The good part is that all of these judges are attending Mr. Thacker’s clinics.

Ms. Sanders says the walking judges she runs into do not know our rulebook. Mr. Thacker says all of these judges have rulebooks and have attended at least 2 clinics. Mr. Morrison says we all need to know the rulebook not just the judges.

Pres. House then asked for the Promotions report.

Mr. Jacobs says at present we have 2947 members with 4 new shows and 4 new exhibits this year. We have had articles in two magazines and he urges each of us to buy these magazines. Our industry is doing well on a whole this year. He informed the members that our paper is doing well and is within budget and he strongly urges all to advertise as much as possible. Mr. Court ask if we are within budget why can we not help some of the falling shows with money such as the new Fl. Show. Mr. Jacobs ask him how many padded classes he had. Mr. Bob Kinsey asked what difference does it make whether they are padded or not. Mr. Dabbs says we need to help with the low #s at shows by adding the chain racking. Mrs. Gibbs says one way to cut down on cost, is on our mailing list, to only send one correspondent to each household from this office. Mr. Porter says Georgia has no shows left, he feels if we add chain racking this will help all areas.

A Kentucky gentleman says Kentucky has not lost many shows because their board members work hard to promote them. They attend shows and work hard on the betterment of the horse. Mr. Brown says we do not need chains.

Mrs. Wheatly asked if we have all these members where are they when we are putting on shows. Pres. House says that sometime in Kentucky they will have 296 horses in a one-night show. He asked that we all take our horses and support our local shows. Mr. Jacobs says we all need to work together. Mrs. Wheatly says we need more places to show, she suggest that the breeders’ office help with some of these small shows. Mr. Jacobs says we do not have that in the budget at this time. Mrs. Sides says they have lots of shows in Texas and they show as much as they can. Mr. Morrison says we all need to go and support our local shows as much as we can. Mrs. Cotter says that she would like to see somewhere down the road some professional marketing. She would like to see us at the state fairs and all of the equestrian events at horse fairs. Tennessee has a fair coming up in Germantown and we need to have some people step up and help. Mrs. Blaylock says we need for shows to work together and try to not coincide with each other’s dates. Col. Wood says they promote by phone or any way they can. Mrs. Griggs says we need a communication procedure for each state. Mr. Brown asked if the high cost of the affiliation fee hurts our shows. Mr. Gullic says no that there are many problems. Mrs. Sensing says it does hurt our shows.

Pres. House asked for any new business.

Mr. Hiers said he wanted to thank his committee for a fine job that they have done. He reminded us that he would not answer a question until he looked at the rulebook and ask us all in our spare time to familiarize ourselves with it.

Pres. House said he had traveled to a lot of shows this year and says that he has seen the best string of young horses in quite some time. He urges us all to support, whether it be as a spectator or as an exhibitor, at our shows. At this time Pres. House adjourned the meeting by thanking all for attending not only the meeting but also the World Celebration.