National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Executive Director Jay Winborn is one of four finalists for an award that celebrates ingenuity and service to the horse industry.
He and fellow finalists Roxane Durant, David Jones and Monty Roberts were among 15 people nominated for the award. The winner will be announced June 15 at the AHP Equine Media Conference in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
In announcing the finalists, the American Horse Publications (AHP) cited Winborns steady and committed leadership of NRCHA and work to grow the sport.
“He continues to work incredibly hard to raise awareness and participation in the NRCHA’s premier events and has almost doubled the participation in the World Show in Texas,” the group said in a statement.
It also lauded NRCHA’s many new programs, classes, incentives and sponsorships – as well as Winborn’s support of the movie, “Down the Fence,” which it said has introduced reined cow horse to a new audience.
Hired by NRCHA in 2012, Winborn previously worked for the nation’s largest hat manufacturer, Hatco, and energy drink company, Red Bull.
The AHP rundown on the other finalists:
* Roxane Durant is the co-founder and executive director of the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA). She has been a visionary leader in the equestrian industry for several decades and continues to play an instrumental role in developing young riders by introducing a significant amount of youth equestrians from around the nation into the sport. Today, the IEA has more than 13,730 members (12,000 of which are rider members in grades 6-12) in 43 states across North America competing in hunt seat, Western and dressage, making it the largest youth equestrian organization of its kind.
* David Jones, DVM is the chairman for Brooke USA; former chairman of Brooke International. Under Dr. Jones’ leadership, a tiny equine charity that began in Egypt has become the world’s largest international equine welfare charity, reaching millions of animals annually. For the past 46 years, Jones has, as a volunteer, made the most significant contribution to the success of Brooke. His leadership has led to a record number of animals reached in 2016: two million horses, donkeys and mules in one year alone. Jones has pioneered not only the way working equines are viewed and treated in the developing world, but has, as a consequence, improved the lives of millions of impoverished people who depend on them. Now he is bringing the previously unknown plight of working equines to the awareness of the American public through Brooke USA.
* Monty Roberts is the founder of Join-Up International. From a very early age, Roberts was inspired to make his life’s goal to leave the world a better place than he found it, for horses and humans. Roberts has an extensive career in the equine industry as a showman and natural horsemanship trainer. In 1997, he founded the non-profit Join-Up International seeing the need for a school where horse persons could come to learn the concepts and the gestural language of the horse he calls Equus. To assist horse persons to use his discoveries, he created a method called Join-Up® which is based on the way horses communicate in the wild. Moving into the world of helping people was the logical next step in influencing his concepts globally to eliminate violence for both animals and humans. This effort has expanded to include the Horse Sense and Healing program for military and first responders with their families.
The American Horse Council Board of Directors and a representative from Zoetis will evaluate finalists on their achievements as well as their vision, innovation, leadership, commitment, willingness to serve, ethics and professional standards.
The awardee will be presented with the trophy created by Peter Wayne Yenawine.
Previously, it has been won by Western performance horse official Gary Carpenter, commissioner of the National Reining Horse Association, and the American Quarter Horse Association.
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