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Young Guns are people, especially young people, who have lots of energy and talent, and are becoming very successful.
Every industry has it’s set of Young Guns, and the Quarter Horse Racing industry has hundreds. When you go to the races or the horse sales, how many young new faces do you see? Ok, now when you go to AQHA convention or the AQHA racing conference how many young new faces do you see? None? You have never been? This is why AQHA is looking for you!
Three Young Guns, Matt Witman, Jay Helzer, and Jeff Tebow recognized there is a need to incorporate the younger crowd into the inner-workings of AQHA. So, they created the Young Guns by organizing a number of meetings targeted to the 40ish and younger crowd of Owners, Trainers, Breeders and Fans. The meetings are to serve two very important purposes. Number one being the “Social” aspect. We recently conducted a Facebook poll and asked, “What is your favorite thing about Quarter Horse Racing?” The answer was “The people!” Of Course it’s all about the horse, but the horse is just the bond, the glue that holds this family together! The meetings also provide the perfect setting to meet the other people involved and network with one another!
The second objective is to create a forum for AQHA to hear fresh ideas on how to better the Quarter Horse Racing business. We want to hear your thoughts about the industry, what is happening and what could make it better. The goal is to engage this group and develop leaders that will lead American Quarter Horse Racing for the next 20 + years. We plan to meet with social and informal gatherings around events such as trials, major stakes weekends, sales, etc. There will be plenty of opportunity to meet others, have some fun and share ideas that will help the industry grow and attract new horsemen and fans.
Oh, and being a Young Gun doesn't mean you are “new” to racing, it simply means you are the younger generation -- one that is full of new ideas, more comfortable with the latest technology and have benefited from exposure to different places and cultures. These meetings are not meant to be elite and only open to a select few, we would like for every Young Gun in the industry to attend. We understand that you may not be able to attend all meetings, but we want you to have an outlet for your concerns and ideas. If you have something you would like to talk about please feel free to contact Matt Witman at (405) 613-0047 or mattwitman@hotmail.com.
If you would like more information on this program or want to receive information on future meetings please contact Jessica Hanke at AQHA - (806) 378-4362 or racing@aqha.org
Special thanks to Coopers BBQ, TRACK Magazine, JEH Stallion Station, Heritage Place, Corona Cartel Syndicate and The Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association for their sponsorship!
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