Cutters from Florida and Nebraska are the candidates for vice president of the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA).
The NCHA Executive Committee approved Ora Diehl and Kirby Smith as the two candidates for the office at its January meeting, according to minutes posted Tuesday, Feb. 12, on the NCHA website.
Diehl and Smith are both competitors and have experience producing cutting shows.
Diehl, from Region 5, lives in Ruskin, Florida. She is a non-pro rider and, together with her husband, Frank, she has an Equi-Stat record of $1.7 million as an owner and $670,000 as a breeder. She is currently on the NCHA’s Competition and Finance committees. She also is involved with the Florida Cutting Horse Association, and her son, Curry, trains cutting horses.
In a letter posted on the NCHA website, Diehl said her goal is to give back to the organization and her passion is to bring back members that have left. She also wants to make sure that members feel comfortable approaching her and confident she will listen to them.
“Together as a team we can solve and plan a future we can be proud to represent,” she wrote.
Smith, from Region 3, competes in the Non-Pro and Amateur classes. A winner of $58,000, the resident of Grand Island, Nebraska, has an owner record of $292,000 and has bred the earners of $26,000, according to Equi-Stat. A feed lot nutritionist, Smith grew up around horses and cattle. He is currently an NCHA director for his region.
According to the information posted on the NCHA’s website, Smith said he is a weekend cutter that believes weekend cutting is the backbone of the sport. He believes the NCHA can streamline the process of producing shows to meet the needs of its members. He also said he wants to help leadership continue with the class restructuring, fiscal accountability and growth of the organization.
“I think we need to look hard at other cutting organizations and see what they are doing to meet the needs of their members, and that we need to strive to make it easier to produce shows and to relax the guidelines so that each area or affiliate can produce shows that work for them,” he wrote.
The ballots for the 2019 vice presidential election will be sent out by Simply Voting to all NCHA members at the beginning of April to the email and address on file with the NCHA. All ballots must be returned no later than May 10.
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