Lexington, KY, April 25, 2011 – Kentucky proudly touts itself “the Horse Capital of the World”. But a visit to Marion County Florida reveals that Ocala makes the same claim. On the surface this may seem like a battle of semantics, but in reality defining Kentucky as the Horse Capital of the World means a great deal more than just words on a page.
One of Kentucky’s greatest challenges to maintaining a stronghold as “the Horse Capital of the World” is the diverse nature of our equine community, encompassing many breeds and ways of using horses, from the casual trail rider to the high powered race horse.
In an effort to gain common ground and work toward the development of stronger relations across breeds and disciplines, the Kentucky Horse Council (KHC) is facilitating a May 17, 2011 invitation-only dinner meeting of all Kentucky equine association leaders. The complimentary dinner event is at Claudia Sanders Dinner House in Shelbyville.
At this session KHC will lead a group discussion with the ultimate goal of developing a long term unification strategy.
In a recent letter to Kentucky equine associations, KHC Board President Anna Zinkhon stated, “As leaders in the Kentucky horse industry, we must have a frank discussion about how the Kentucky horse industry does business in the coming decade. The Kentucky horse community has often lacked the unity to provide a cohesive message. This separation of breeds and disciplines has hampered our ability to speak with a single voice, and has limited efforts to stabilize the industry.”
Input from all equine leaders is essential to the success of this communitywide effort. A full day strategic breakout is planned for later in 2011, which will utilize feedback from the dinner meeting to develop a working detailed plan to address industry-wide issues.
“With an ever changing economic, cultural and political backdrop, the Kentucky horse community , must address challenges and threats with a united front. The Kentucky Horse Council is cognizant of how critical unified action is to the whole horse industry and to that end we are initiating this process,” Zinkhon further explained.
The May 17th meeting begins with a cash bar at 5:45 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. This strategizing dinner event is by invitation only for Kentucky equine association leaders.
ABOUT THE KENTUCKY HORSE COUNCIL - The Kentucky Horse Council is a non-profit organization dedicated, through education and leadership, to the protection and development of the Kentucky equine community. The Kentucky Horse Council provides educational programs and information, outreach and communication to Kentucky horse owners and enthusiasts, equine professional networking opportunities through KENA, trail riding advocacy, health and welfare programs, and personal liability insurance and other membership benefits. The specialty Kentucky Horse Council license plate, featuring a foal lying in the grass, provides the primary source of revenue for KHC programs. For more information about the Kentucky Horse Council visit www.kentuckyhorse.org.
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