The members of the five-person American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Executive Committee were elected earlier this month at the 2016 AQHA Convention in Las Vegas. The committee is responsible for implementing important decisions made by AQHA members through the Association’s Board of Directors.

Sandy Arledge of Encinitas, California, was elected as the new AQHA President. Arledge has served as an AQHA director since 1997. She was elevated to director emeritus in 2011, and has served on the Association’s membership, shows and professional horsemen, judges, stud book and registration, and hall of fame selection committees. She also currently serves on the American Quarter Horse Foundation Council.

Arledge is a graduate of San Diego State University (SDSU) and University of San Diego School of Law, and remains active in both the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association and California Horse Council.

She previously owned and operated Sandy Arledge Quarter Horses, and was a general partner and manager of Far West Farms, a full-service boarding facility in Del Mar, California. She has bred and trained numerous AQHA world champions and reserve world champions, and was named the 2010 Professional’s Choice Professional Horsewoman of the Year. In 2015, she was inducted into the Pacific Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame.

Joining Sandy on the AQHA Executive Committee are First Vice President Ralph Seekins of Fairbanks, Alaska; Second Vice President Dr. Jim Heird of College Station, Texas; member Stan Weaver of Big Sandy, Montana; and member Butch Wise of El Reno, Oklahoma.

Learn more about all five individuals here.