Editor's Note:  The following is a press release issued by the Performance Show Horse Association (PSHA) on Thursday March 13.

The Performance Show Horse Association (PSHA) held its second board meeting and moved forward with the formation of the new association.  The board seated an additional board member, Chris Walker, President of the Racking Horse Breeders’ Association of America.  PSHA is glad that an additional member of the padded performance show horse has joined forces to collectively move forward.

The board finalized the fee structure for PSHA sanctioned events.  All performance horses will be charged $25 per entry regardless of how many times that performance horse shows at a particular event.  Pleasure horses will be charged $25 for their initial entry and $5 per subsequent entry at each show.

The board also discussed the penalty for those trainers showing at non-PSHA sanctioned shows.  All trainers that show outside of the PSHA umbrella of shows will be suspended for 12 months from showing at PSHA sanctioned show (rule only applies to padded performance horses).  The board did make an exception for Racking Horse trainers because of their late entry to the PSHA umbrella and this rule will not go into effect until May 1, 2013 for Racking Horse shows.

The board created a search committee for the new Executive Director that will be chaired by Duke Thorson.  Also serving on that committee will be Mickey McCormick and Mike Inman along with PSHA acting-Chairman Terry Dotson.  PSHA has received over 50 applications and the board will submit recommendations to the committee and the committee will narrow down the list to 10 applicants and no more than three will be interviewed by the committee.  The board hopes to have an Executive Director in the next 30 days.

The PSHA board will send a letter to APHIS in the next couple of days to inform them of their formation, efforts and goals of the association.  Members of the PSHA board and other interested parties will meet with USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack next week and will inform him personally of those goals and shared commitments.

The development of bylaws and an organizational charter are in the works and the committee responsible will submit drafts to the board in the near future.  Also approved was a voluntary membership model that will be covered in the bylaws that will offer single, family and lifetime memberships to PSHA.

In addition to Walker’s joining the board of directors, PSHA voted to add four additional independent representatives.  These representatives will not be required to be veterinarians but could include veterinarians and other respected equine and animal welfare representatives.  The board will also add veterinarians to provide council to the board on matters of animal welfare.

A committee was formed to work with industry lobbyist Jeff Speaks and legal representatives on legislative matters including language for upcoming legislation.

The PSHA board will meet the first Tuesday of every month moving forward and the official headquarters will be located in Shelbyville, Tenn.  The PSHA umbrella of shows is ahead of the pace from the prior year of the other major industry HIOs.