During my years serving on the ABRA board I have had the pleasure of being a part of some of ABRA’s most beneficial changes, the biggest being moving both the world show and the main office to Tulsa. Both of these moves were huge undertakings but both moves continue to be extremely beneficial to the association. Currently I am the chairperson of the finance and audit committees where my years of accounting expertise is utilized to help guide the association to make good decisions and continue to help the board of directors be good stewards of the association’s time and money. In doing so I was able to make the association over $23,000 in a No risk investment Market linked CD! This investment has helped fund the new computer program that is being implemented to store all of your ABRA points which will one day be live and available to access online!

Living in the Tulsa area gives me the opportunity to volunteer my time in the ABRA office as needed as well as help supervise our employee. Being in the Commercial Real estate industry has allowed me to help keep our overhead down. Negotiating our leased premises to an annual fixed base with no increases and no term has helped keep our overhead costs stable and is no longer eating up our cash flow from the general fund. This allows us to use our funds in other areas to help grow the association and update our standards to align with other large associations.

My main goal for ABRA continues to be to try to bring positive changes while being a good steward of
ABRA funds and resources. In this day and time keeping a pulse on the funds of ABRA is more important than ever. With the Pandemic behind us the Future of ABRA is bright and I would love to continue to serve ABRA.

Thank you for your consideration.

My name is Gena Loper, I have been on the ABRA BOD for over a decade, almost two.  It is my favorite group of people, I will remain devoted to the American Buckskin Horse industry for life.  At 61 I am semi-retired as a cattle rancher and stepping into a different realm known as the Ranch Horse life. Its my roots and I am enjoying every minute of it.  

Raising duns and buckskins since 1998, it will be my career choice for the remainder of life.  I have two stallions, Dun Goin Steady, who won the ABRA Lifetime Achievement Award last year, and his son, SapphiresNPearls, who is a perlino dun and producing 100% color.  

My goal in joining this organization in the early 2000s was to bring refinement to the breed and prosperity to the organization.  As your president in prior years I dedicated my time to building an interactive website and developing the ability to research our horses online, a project still in process that will hopefully be available to the membership soon.  Bringing ABRA to the forefront of the color industry has also been in my crosshairs and we are constantly improving our registry, our member appeal, and our contribution to the industry as a whole.

 I am honored to continue to serve the membership if they so choose!

The love of horses started at a very young age for me and later grew into the career of a lifetime! I have been riding and competing for nearly 25 years. Traveling and taking my clients through the All Around competition at the ABRA and AQHA events during the show season in our region including the AQHA Level 1 Championships and the ABRA World Show, the highlight of our year.

Like many young riders I started out cleaning stalls and taking lessons which evolved into being an assistant trainer at DunsNRoses Ranch where I was training horses for the ten years. Currently I’m now running my own training operation, Masterson Show Horses. Coaching the clients and training their horses for competition in the all around events has always been so rewarding to me.

For the past 5 years I have been President of our local ABRA charter club, IEBHA. Inland Empire Buckskin Horse Association is the club I have been a member of since my youth. Organizing the Western States American Breed Congress and the Spring Series show has been rewarding for me. My devotion to IEBHA and ABRA has taken top priority in my volunteer efforts and I would like to continue to serve my fellow ABRA members by sitting on the board of directors and giving back to the organization that has been the center of my career for the past 15 years.

I am applying to retain my current position on the ABRA board of directors (BOD). I have been an AQHA member for 40 years and my specific experience with ABRA horses spans over 30 years including raising, training, and showing. I have always loved being a part of the association and this intent only grew with my strong passion for, and experience in, assisting youth on the journey to be their best selves.

In this respect I am currently on the BOD for the Inland Empire Buckskin Horse Association (past President) and a member of 30 years. I have previously or held similar positions on the BOD for the Miss Rodeo Washington Pageant serving as their Treasurer, the Central Oregon Buckskin Club BOD, a Central Washington Buckskin Club Member and served as a member of the Grant County Fairgrounds Advisory Committee.

In my time on the ABRA board, and serving as Youth Committee Chair and Nominating Committee Chair (and other committee appointments), I have spent my time advocating for and planning youth involvement across rodeos, shows, 4H events, Rodeo Queen Pageants and more.

I am proud of the things we have accomplished thus far but I am more excited to offer my experience to help keep the ABRA moving forward.