Message from your President,
Greetings from a very wet Idaho! As Spring moves into Summer, the rain has been nonstop-hindering driving and making pens and outdoor arenas muddy messes. I hope everyone’s foaling has went smoothly and breeding season is successful. It sure seems that foals bring a smile to all—if you have a chance to share the Shire foals with the public, I hope you take time to talk about our breed and all the versatilities the Shires are known for!
Since our annual meeting this January in Denver, your Board of Directors have been working to continue moving the ASHA into a successful future. After the meeting, I appointed a committee to look into updating the way our horses are registered. Vice President, Tom Greenlee, had begun working on this prior to the 2018 annual meeting and much of the groundwork was in place. Our current program, Heavy Horse, was a state-of-the-art program in its day, but with no new updates and growing technology it was time to find a modern program. The committee worked diligently to find options and made its proposal to the entire Board of Directors in late March. The board voted unanimously to work with DigitalHorses as our new registration program. DigitalHorses is a sister to Digital Beef, a 3-generation family business that has safely and securely registered hundreds of thousands of bovine and swine. The capabilities are so much more than just registering horses, and I am excited to get DigitalHorses launched so that our membership can experience all it has to offer! I would like to extend a sincere THANK YOU to Dr. Jeff Gower of Soaring Eagle Farms for his generous donation to help ASHA proceed with DigitalHorses.