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TAKE NRHA BACK.COM

This site was born out of very deep concern for the direction of the National Reining Horse Association.

The concern of those long time reiners that created this site is that the membership is NOT informed and NOT aware of their right to make an informed decision. Everyone is busy with their lives, but please, for the respect and love of the sport of reining, take the time to read the content herein. Your vote is critical to the future of reining horses. It's your CHOICE and its your RIGHT to express your opinion by voting. NRHA is at a critical crossroads.

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IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO THE NRHA MEMBERSHIP

TAKE THE NEXT POSITIVE STEP!!

NRHA MEMBERS PLEASE READ BELOW

In 2007 the General Membership approved a major bylaw change that created a new NRHA board of directors that will be directly elected from each U.S. Region and NAA throughout the world. The new board we elect this year will take office in January 2009. The decision we overwhelmingly made as members in 2007 represents a huge change in the form of governance of NRHA. The changes began when we voted in three new Executive Board members and a new Vice-President, all write-in candidates on the 2007 ballot. But that was only the start.

There is another major step in front of us that we need to take to finalize this process. Our NRHA bylaws have not been updated effectively through the years in correlation to the growth we have experienced.

We approved the first major change to our bylaws in 2007 giving us a fully elected board of directors.

Now we need to support changes to our bylaws that will give our elected officers and directors the tools they will need to represent us effectively.

HOW???

#1. The 2008 election will give us the opportunity to elect three more officers.

#2. We will also be presented with comprehensive bylaw amendments submitted as 05-01-09, 10-01-09 and 14-01-08 which were authored by Gary Pipkin, Judy Caton, Lisa Cover and Catherine Irvin. These amendments affect almost every Article of our bylaws.

WHAT DO THESE BYLAW CHANGES EFFECT?

#1 The changes clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the board and provide an effective framework for managing the association and being accountable to the membership.

#2 They bring our bylaws in line with accepted standards for non-profit organizations recommended by Roberts Rules of Order and the American Bar Association’s Guidebook for Directors of Nonprofit Corporations (2nd Edition).

We need to take this final step and approve these changes in the upcoming 2008 election. If you have any questions after you've reviewed them, please feel free to contact any or all of the members who drafted these changes. Their contact information is: Gary Pipkin, rrqhorses@myedl.com, Judy Caton, catonranches@aol.com, Lisa Cover, circ2bmrang@brightok.net, or Cathy Irvin, cirvin9901@aol.com.

Below are our comments of support or opposition to all of the bylaws being proposed for membership vote in 2008:

05-01-09 Submitted by Gary Pipkin and committee. Recommend to vote FOR this amendment.

This comprehensive amendment proposal addresses several Articles and gives the new 2009 Elected Board of Directors more powers to manage the association, delegating what they determine to the Executive Committee.

The changes recommended includes: More accountability of the Executive Committee to the full Board of Directors; more transparency of association business to the membership; specific duties of the Board, the Executive Committee and officers; establishment of Standing Committees and duties; establishment of electronic internet voting; additional criteria for being a Board member; addresses the Associations Policy and Procedures Manuals and Corporate Record Book; Board Meetings; raises the age of voting members and addresses voting by the membership; and amends Miscellaneous and Bylaw Amendment articles.

06-01-09 Submitted by Dr. Morgan/Lance Griffin. Recommend to vote AGAINST.

This bylaw directly conflicts with 05-01-09 above and is direct conflict with Roberts Rules of Order that states that the President of an organization should not appoint the members of nor serve on a Nominating Committee of the association.

07-01-09 Submitted by the Professionals Committee. Recommend to vote AGAINST.

This bylaw directly conflicts with the present method of the President appointing committee chairs. Also it goes against the existing bylaws whereby all directors are elected by the members of NRHA from Regions and NAA’s.

10-01-09 Submitted by Gary Pipkin and committee. Recommend to vote FOR this amendment.

Amends Section 1 of Article VI. Membership Meetings. Requires an agenda be published and allows for members to request items to be placed on the agenda.

11-01-09 Submitted by the Finance Committee. Recommend to vote AGAINST.

This issue should receive more deliberation prior to eliminating Life Time Memberships altogether.

11-02-09 Submitted by the International Committee. Recommend to vote AGAINST.

Trying to reverse last year’s passing of the rule that prohibited mandatory dual memberships (it was put into a bylaw), doesn’t address the issues at hand. The “Intent of Purpose” is a huge stretch as we know of no National Federation nor federal law in any country that require any equine discipline rider in the country to also join multiple associations within the country to enjoy their sport. The theory of freedom of choice to join and support any association should prevail along with the theory of only those who play should have to pay (specifically for international competition). There is no mandatory requirement for ALL reining horse enthusiasts in the U.S. to join USEF just to support the international reining team. It’s strictly a voluntary situation.
If one wants to compete in USEF and FEI competition, then they pay accordingly. Nor is there any federal law in the U.S. mandating equine association memberships just because you enjoy a particular discipline.
NRHA members in foreign countries should check their own regulations prior to voting on this issue.

11-03-09 Submitted by the NRHA Affiliate Committee. Recommend to vote FOR.

11-04-09 Submitted by the NRHA Affiliate Committee. Recommend to vote AGAINST.

Adversely impacts some NAA/affiliates in foreign countries.

11-05-09 Submitted by the NRHA Affiliate Committee. Recommend to vote AGAINST.

Too punitive, should be able to work out a better solution in the Rules section of the handbook without creating a bylaw for this issue.

13-01-09 Submitted by the Finance Committee. No recommendation.

The association has been very late in presenting final audited financial information. Fortune 500 companies regularly present to the public their quarterly reports within days after the end of the quarter and their annual reports in a more timely fashion than what NRHA does. A better solution needs to be proposed.

14-01-09 Submitted by Gary Pipkin and committee. Recommend to vote FOR this amendment.

Roberts Rules of Order is currently used at the Parliamentary Source for our Association and both Roberts Rules of Order and the American Bar Association’s Committee for Nonprofit Corporations strongly suggest that an association publish within their bylaws the authoritative source for parliamentary procedures or else they print any Special Rules of Order adopted by their board of directors within their bylaws.

53-01-09 Submitted by the NRHA Youth Committee. Recommend to vote AGAINST.

Criteria calls for officers/regional delegates to come from within the Varsity or Junior Varsity Reining Club, a entity that may or may not exist from year to year.

These comments were prepared by Gary Pipkin, Chairman of the independent membership-based bylaws committee.