General Information about Our Association
Our association was formed on September 23, 2000 as an affiliate club of the Rocky Mountain Horse Association to help promote the Rocky Mountain Horse in the state of Florida.
Since then, the organization has grown. We now have over 40 members that take part in shows, trail rides, camp outs, gaited horse clinics and breed demonstrations. Every year we have two big shows during the Florida State Fair in Tampa that highlight the Rocky Mountain Horse to thousands of spectators that had never even heard of our breed before. Currently we are working to expand our show offerings to include several smaller mult-breed gaited shows and will be friendly to youth, amateur and novice exhibitors. We will also have a Liz Graves, a nationally known gaited horse clinician, coming to Florida in October for a clinic.
Many of our members have gone on to become active on the national level of the Rocky Mountain Horse Association. Our club has 4 nationally recognized examiners for the breed (Joanie Elder, Laurie and Paul LeRoy, and Kathy Parrish). Laurie LeRoy is also an RMHA Junior Judge in the show ring and Kathy Parrish is a DQP. Over the years, Kathy Parrish has been appointed to several committees at the national level, including the rules committee, nominating committee and genetics committee. She currently serves as the chairman of the RMHA Genetics Committee. Laurie LeRoy was recently appointed as the chairman of the RMHA Show Judging Committee.
The Rocky Mountain Horses coming from Florida have also been making their mark on the national scene. Several of our members show each year in the nationally sanctioned shows of the RMHA show circuit as well as at the prestigious RMHA International show held each year in September at the Kentucky Horse Park. Many of our member farms are open to the public and welcome the chance to show off their wonderful horses.
