2023 February President's Letter
UHCA Friends and Family-
Thanks for another great race year!! 2022 brought us increased membership and race entries!
I believe 2023 will continue to grow better and stronger than last year. We’re off to a great start!!
Our 2022 year-end banquet had a good turn out with many donations for the silent and live auction. Thanks to our members and sponsors for all your support to make the year end banquet fun and profitable for the UHCA!! Thanks to Lee Chapman for donating the 2022 Novice Champion saddle. Congratulations to all our riders for an awesome year!!
2022 UHCA Year-End Awards:
Buckaroo- Brooklyn Baldwin
Youth- Paityn Blunk, Tuff Jones, Paityn Blunk, Bailey Jones
Novice- Shannon Washam, Beth Sandness, Teresa Duffek, John Duarte, Lari Martel, Traci Cooper, Barb Smith
Classic- Jim Ochs, Judy Coffel, Helen Alewine, Beryl Johnson, Frank Twitty
Colt- Jen Peterson, Tim Yoho, Jeff Smith
Level 1- Helen Alewine, Jason Miles, Amy Campbell, Kim Washam, Beryl Johnson, Melanie Dolechek, Karen Rabe, John Duarte
Level 2- Chad Blunk, Josh Sandness, Judy Coffel, Lee Chapman, Judy Coffel, Melanie Dolechek, Frank Twitty, Jeff Smith, Lee Chapman
Level 3- Jim Ochs, Angie Jones, Chris Redden
A big thanks to Past-President Angie Jones for all your hard work and service to UHCA and its membership. Thank you to Chris Redden for taking on the role of President-Elect. Thankyou, Board of Directors: Treasurer- Amy Campbell; Secretary- Karen Rabe; Directors-Chad Blunk, Chris Elbe, Tim Yoho and Jen Peterson; and Membership Director (ex-officio)- Beth Sandness.
Congratulations to all our UHCA riders that competed at the 2022 EXCA World Championships at Glen Rose TX in November. Overall, we had 17 riders qualify for the Top 10 short go, with 3 World Champions and 3 Reserve Champions. We had 2 riders invited to the Calgary Stampede and one Hall of Fame Horse inductee. WOW!! UHCA continues to show up and show out!! I am so proud to be a part of such an awesome group of people... who also ride extremely well!
Listed below are the outstanding individual accomplishments:
Young Guns:
7th place Brooklyn Baldwin
Youth:
Reserve World Champion- Angeline Salicetti
3rd place- Madison Branham
4th place- Colton “Tuff” Jones
9th place- Paityn Blunk (Not Henry)
11th place- Paityn Blunk (Eldon)
12th place- Bailey Jones
13th place- Faith Kuestersteffen
Novice:
8th place- Shannon Washam
10th place- Karen Rabe
World Champion 1st Year Novice- Shannon Washam
Intermediate:
World Champion- Frank Twitty
16th place- Kim Washam
24th place- Beryl Johnson
25th place- Amy Campbell
Non-Pro:
4th place- Josh Sandness
7th place- Jim Ochs
10th place- Angie Jones
17th place- Chris Elbe
Pro:
3rd place- Josh Sandness
7th place- Chad Blunk
16th place- Jim Ochs
18th place- Cindy Branham
22nd place- Chris Elbe
Futurity:
Reserve World Champion- Tim Yoho
8th place- Angeline Salicetti
Ride Smart:
3rd place- Jim Ochs
5th place- Frank Twitty
Ride Smarter Over 70:
World Champion- Jim Ochs
Reserve World Champion- Frank Twitty
2023 Cowboy Up Challenge at Calgary Stampede invitees:
Josh Sandness & Jim Ochs
EXCA Hall of Fame Horse:
Sampson- owned and ridden by Angeline Salicetti
UHCA is in great shape and I’m proud to be involved with a wonderful group of people!
THANK YOU FOR ANOTHER GREAT YEAR OF COWBOY RACING! LET’S RIDE!!!
Your friend and President,
Kim Washam Phone: 816-383-0159
2023 Rule Changes:
The UHCA Board works continuously to improve the organization while listening to the needs of our members. With that in mind, we want everyone to know the rule changes and important announcements for the 2023 season.
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The UHCA expects you to ride up to your individual skill level. The UHCA board reserves the right, at its discretion, to require a rider to move up to a more advanced division. Any year end points earned in that division will then be forfeited for that horse-rider team for the current season. Professional trainers must ride in the open division or colt division.
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Payback is required for all divisions. Payback will be a minimum of 50% of all entry fees in each division.
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The Level division names have changed: Level 1= Intermediate, Level 2=Limited Open, Level 3= Open. We will all still ride together like before.
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Modification of the coaching rule has been changed to “assisting within reason”. Example: helpful direction to rider who is lost on course.
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If a rider is disqualified at a race, they will be given 0 points for the race, but it will count as 1 of the 5 required races for year-end eligibility.
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Judges shall not judge any family members and should not judge any long-term clients.
Announcements:
UHCA is excited to be at EquiFestof Kansas this year. Our sponsor, R Bar B, proposed having extreme cowboy racing at EquiFest and UHCA was invited!! Dates are Thursday March 16- Sunday March 19. We will have a booth all week to promote our association and we’ll do mock races on Sunday. Special guest judges: Lee Hart and Russ Brown.
We have 2 saddles to win in 2023! Open division saddle donated by Lee Chapman. Novice division saddle donated by Shannon and Kim Washam. We also have a race series this year, sponsored by Redden Ranch- the R4 Jacket Series!! We’re so excited for this great new opportunity. Thank you all for making this happen for our current and future members.
