AQHA January / February Magazine AQHA JAN-FEB 2020 PRINT | Page 17

PG.15 Heather Richardson & John Langbridge of this Congress, Heather initiated a meeting between the Australian Cutting Horse Association and the National Cutting Horse Association. It was because of her involvement with the calling of this meeting that Robert Baldwin (who chaired the meeting), credits Heather with being the founder of the present NCHA. As a result of this meeting and an indication of the high esteem with which Heather was held by the early pioneers of Cutting in Australia, Heather and the Richardson’s Solicitor were flown to Moree to construct the Constitution of the NCHA. In 1980 the South Western Queensland QHA commenced and Lionel was the inaugural President with Heather as the inaugural Secretary. Between 1974 and 1980 Lionel was an AQHA Board member. In 1978 he chaired a meeting called to set up the Queensland Quarter Horse Association, the first State Association in Australia. Lionel and Heather stayed active members of the executive of this Association for many years and assisted in the organization and running of two successful Quarter Horse sales at Brookfield. Heather and Lionel also organised a Sprint Race to be run on a Toowoomba Racetrack as part of the convention. They were responsible for the running of two successful Quarter Horse sales in Toowoomba. From 1978 until 1984 Heather, in conjunction with Marlene Allanson, produced the QQHA Newsletter, which was sent to every financial member of the AQHA in Queensland. During this time Heather wrote a column in the AWH Magazine and had numerous articles published in the QH Magazine. Between 1983 and 1992 Heather organised and Lionel chaired the meeting from which the T&DQHA was formed. They both held various positions in this Club such as President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Publicity Officer. They assisted the AQHA Executive Director, Kevin Norris, with the organisation and running of an AQHA Convention held in Toowoomba. In 1984 they sold “Pine Hills” at Wallumbilla to semi- retire to Crows Nest, Queensland. At the time of the sale, the Richardson’s had 200 registered Quarter Horses including their six stallions; CATTLEMAN R1-236, TOM DOOLEY R2-30, PINE HILLS QUARTER MOON Q-152, TALK OF THE TOWN Q-375, COMMANDER STAR Q-1009 and the youngster PINE HILLS INTREPID R2- 8225. JANUARY/FEBRUARY ISSUE 2020