My sincere intent is to see AMHA become an established breed registry and not just a height or "nitch" registry. I believe the American Miniature Horse has matured and evolved through selective breeding to the point where it should be considered as a true breed. True there is still some strong pony influence but that has been, and is being done mostly by serious breeders attempting to improve the breed, and a look back over the show horses from the last ten years or so will quickly show they have been very successful. I also believe that an AMHR registered horse is just as much an American Miniature Horse as an AMHA horse is. If we all face reality they are the same horses and in many cases are registered in both. I am a diehard AMHA guy and have been on the B.O.D. for six years and have just been elected to serve another three years (boy talk about a glutton for punishment), however I have also been an active member in AMHR ever since I got in the business. Janet and I joined both AMHA and AMHR at the same time, registered our farm name with both at the same time, and as a matter of fact of the first three miniatures we ever owned two were AMHR and one was AMHA. I believe that every one of us that owns a miniature horse or even admires miniature horses owe it to each other to make as positive an impact on the “breed†as we can. AMHA and AMHR should complement each other, not be at odds with each other or consider each other as “competitionâ€. The competition should take place in the show ring and everything outside the ring should be done to promote the breed and both AMHA and AMHR, as the driving forces in the American Miniature Horse Industry, should do all in their power to accomplish that worthy goal. The fact that AMHR horses are just as vital to the breed as AMHA is why my original proposal for an Appendix registry would allow AMHR horses in with the proper documentation and fees. My intent with the Appendix Registry is to allow a place for all the AMHA horse that oversize there regular papers to have a place of value in the world of miniatures where they can continue to contribute to the breed as their heritage should allow. I also feel that since this Appendix Registry should recognize all American Miniature Horses by allowing registered AMHR horses to be cross registered into the Appendix and therefore allow them to make their contribution to the breed. It is true that AQHA dose not allow straight Thoroughbreds in to their Appendix but they do allow half thoroughbreds that are half quarter horse and they allow this for the betterment of the breed. AMHR horse are not quite the same because they are not of a different breed as thoroughbred is to the American Quarter Horse, but instead they are already registered American Miniature Horses. They are just registered in another major registry.
I truly believe that AMHA has a unique opportunity to truly establish itself as the world leader in the American Miniature Horse Industry by adopting this Appendix Registry and recognizing the value of all American Miniature Horse and their breeders and owners. By being the world leader I do not mean as an “I am better than you†attitude, but as a “we want to do all we can to lead the American Miniature Horse into the future by offering exemplary service to all members and through cooperation and productive recognition of and dialog with other organizations that strive to promote The American Miniature Horseâ€.
I was one of the people that were dead set against letting horses over 34†into AMHA and for that matter I still am when it comes to the regular AMHA Registry. However I am convinced that an Appendix Registry is the way to go. It preserves the integrity of the regular registry and the encouragement of and value of the 34’ and under horse while allowing us to truly become a recognized breed and allow breeders to utilize other and possibly better bloodlines and genetics in their pursuit of breeding the perfect American Miniature Horse. It should also be fairly easy to implement as it would utilize all of our existing systems and would only require an Appendix denotation of some kind on the papers and a different color paper to make them easily distinguishable. There should be no significant expense to AMHA and no addition expenses to the members. All revenue generated would be from the influx of registrations and memberships and I believe that would be a significant number because I think folks will come back into AMHA in droves.
Ronnie Clifton
AMHA Region 3 Director, and true advocate of the American Miniature Horse
I truly believe that AMHA has a unique opportunity to truly establish itself as the world leader in the American Miniature Horse Industry by adopting this Appendix Registry and recognizing the value of all American Miniature Horse and their breeders and owners. By being the world leader I do not mean as an “I am better than you†attitude, but as a “we want to do all we can to lead the American Miniature Horse into the future by offering exemplary service to all members and through cooperation and productive recognition of and dialog with other organizations that strive to promote The American Miniature Horseâ€.
I was one of the people that were dead set against letting horses over 34†into AMHA and for that matter I still am when it comes to the regular AMHA Registry. However I am convinced that an Appendix Registry is the way to go. It preserves the integrity of the regular registry and the encouragement of and value of the 34’ and under horse while allowing us to truly become a recognized breed and allow breeders to utilize other and possibly better bloodlines and genetics in their pursuit of breeding the perfect American Miniature Horse. It should also be fairly easy to implement as it would utilize all of our existing systems and would only require an Appendix denotation of some kind on the papers and a different color paper to make them easily distinguishable. There should be no significant expense to AMHA and no addition expenses to the members. All revenue generated would be from the influx of registrations and memberships and I believe that would be a significant number because I think folks will come back into AMHA in droves.
Ronnie Clifton
AMHA Region 3 Director, and true advocate of the American Miniature Horse
