By Jeffrey Howard

The weekend of November 18-20, 2011 saw meetings held between the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders' Association (TWHBEA), Walking Horse Owners' Association (WHOA) and Walking Horse Trainers' Association (WHTA) and Dr. Chester Gipson from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  Full reports from those meetings are not available as the meetings were closed door meetings but an encouraging sign has come as a result.  The boards of directors and executives committees from the TWHBEA, WHOA, WHTA and Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration (TWHNC) will meet on Wednesday November 30, 2011.

The press release issued by TWHBEA regarding the upcoming meeting states that a smaller committee will be appointed to address the issues facing the industry.  Dr. Gipson spoke of a unified voice from the industry in all of his meetings with the various groups and it seems that the goal of the meeting on November 30, 2011 would be to begin that process.

The most important step in any endeavor is the first one and the WHTA, WHOA, TWHBEA and Celebration should be commended for stepping forward and beginning discussions of a unified voice.