The first-ever American Quarter Horse Association International Best Remuda award is going to Uruguay.
The award honoring breeders across the globe that raise outstanding ranch horses was won by La Media Suerte, a Uruguayan ranch owned by Alvaro Martinicorena.
The ranch name translates literally as “the half luck,” and indicates a colonial measurement – a “luck” of land grant was 2,000 hectares; so a 1,000 hectare half luck is approximately 2,500 acres, but it serves as the family’s inside joke. On the rich land in Uruguay, La Media Suerte runs mostly Hereford and Angus cattle on its several hundred thousand acres, as well as a remuda of American Quarter Horses it has cultivated for more than 30 years.
“The American Quarter Horse has long been recognized as the ideal partner in ranching, within the United States and worldwide,” said AQHA Chief International Officer Anna Morrison. “It is a great honor to recognize the high quality ranch breeding programs raising working American Quarter Horses outside of the United States for the first time with their own award. It is fitting that the first recipient of the AQHA International Best Remuda award is Uruguay’s La Media Suerte – a diversified ranching operation with generations of family history, as well as generations of quality American Quarter Horse bloodlines.”
Although the AQHA has recognized breeders in the United States for several years with the Zoetis AQHA Best Remuda award, this is the first time it gave out the International Best Remuda award.
Martinicorena has been very involved in both his local AQHA affiliate, as well as international relations; he is an AQHA international director, a judge, a member of the AQHA International Committee and is very involved with educational seminars in South America.
To qualify for the AQHA International Best Remuda award, the ranch must be located outside of the United States, and the AQHA member must breed registered American Quarter Horses for ranch work.
La Media Suerte will receive a specially designed award presented at the Working Ranch Cowboys Association World Championship Ranch Rodeo, Nov. 7-11 in Amarillo, Texas. The Zoetis AQHA Best Remuda, which is for ranches in the United States, will be announced in August.
