FROM THE DESK OF
Amy Spinelli-Olson
WELCOME TO THE MARCH 2019
ISSUE OF THE NATIONAL NEWS
I am honored to serve again as your NWHA President and look forward to meeting and engaging
with NWHA members across the country this year. I’ve served on the NWHA Board of Directors for
a numbers of years, and I’m overjoyed with the passion, dedication and ideas your new Board of
Directors is bringing to this organization. This team is committed to the success of NWHA and the
level of engagement is unmatched.
In late January we held our judges clinic, annual meeting
and awards banquet. The judge’s clinic was well attended,
utilizing key insights from our SWOT analysis last year to uncover
our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The
NWHA judges list continues to grow – we welcomed five new
judges to the program – with nearly ten returning judges
and three new applicants attending the clinic this year.
The annual meeting was an equal success, bringing together
our membership from across the country. The following
meeting provided key insights and reports on the financials,
as well as regional director and committee reports. NWHA
welcomed sixty-seven new-to-NWHA members from across
twenty states to our organization in 2018. This is up from 57
new to NWHA members across fifteen states in 2017. We
also grew our youth membership significantly, with 27 new-
to-NWHA youth memberships. An astounding 60% growth
over 2017. This is a true marker of our tangible success.
We welcomed a new Board of Director to the NWHA team;
At-Large Director Kelly Johnston from Michigan and a returning
Board of Director Beth Jennings from California. It is thrilling
to welcome new team members with fresh and innovative
ideas aimed at driving and improving our organization.
We also took the opportunity to recognize and thank our
Director who completed their term; Cheri Weeks from Texas.
Cheri has worked tirelessly over many years to ensure the
success of NWHA and advance sound horse advocacy. My
deepest gratitude and thanks to Cheri for her service.
2
NWHA National News / March 2019
NWHA continues to
operate debt-free,
allowing the organization
to provide greater value
to its members and
affiliated and sanctioned
events throughout
the year. In 2018,
NWHA invested in our
exhibitors at the National
Championship Show with
an outstanding exhibitors
party, invested in an
amazing dressage center
ring and introduced
the NWHA bucks at the
National Show. Our show
program, silent auction
and NWHA branded
merchandise drove
revenue over $9,000
for our organization.