The Missouri Ranch Horse is the oldest and largest Missouri charter of the ARHA. Founded in 2005 by Janee and Mike Kavanagh, this local charter has continued to grow by smooth departures and flying lead changes. Organized as a local fun show group MoRHA caught on fire and soon was attracting ranch horse enthusiasts from a variety of counties in the State of Missouri. It was the vision of Janee and Mike to provide a safe and fun environment to be able to participate in ranch-type classes without going broke in the process. Their belief was that the folks that showed at the MoRHA shows would be able to show in plain western clothes on a good ranch horse without having to "gussy" the horse up with fancy silver embellished saddles, painted hooves, or plaited manes. They foresaw exhibitors with horses that had cut cattle in the "back 40" the day before and then being loaded up and shown in a variety of ranch-classes. These classes would include such things as ranch style cutting, real ranch riding (without artificial or contrived gaits), good solid conformation (without the aid of fake manes or tails, blackened hooves or banded manes) and with the horses being shown in solid clean working tack. This would include the plain leather saddle that was used to ride the range in and not the silver-laden studded expensive show saddle that is seen at other venues. In fact, not only has this type of fancy rig been discouraged, too much silver can be a reason to disqualify a horse and rider. Silver is not allowed on the halters and certainly not to excess on the saddle. The attire is simply put as a western shirt with a collar, jeans, a western hat, and boots. No slinky-type fancy show clothing is to be worn. This is truly the old style western horse showing.

After a short and successful stent of being an independent local horse organization, Janee and Mike decided to look for a national organization to join. They decided that the horses showing at their events were deserving of national recognition so they went looking for a solid, fast-growing, well-rounded ranch horse club on a national level. The American Ranch Horse Association (ARHA), headquartered in Nancy, KY was just what they had been looking for. The ARHA had all the "right stuff" and included the basic principle that the American Ranch Horse had incredible value and there was a need for this part of western American heritage to be preserved in a way to demonstrate the versatility, intelligence, beauty and handiness of these fine horses. A partnership was formed and MoRHA was on its way to becoming part of the ARHA. Sadly, Janee Kavanagh is no longer active in the MoRHA organization, but Mike is an ARHA judge and has been the MoRHA President for the past two years.

MoRHA came to a crossroads in 2007 and started the year as a not for profit organization registered in the State of Missouri. This means that the profits raised from the club's events are now reinvested in the club or donated to a specific need (i.e. youth scholarship, breast cancer awareness charitable organization) instead of being a private for profit business the way it was originally set up in 2005. The Board of Directors, past and present, have been a diverse group of equine enthusiasts that are dedicated to creating the best ARHA Charter in the nation. The MoRHA members have benefited from such events as cattle and reining clinics by well known clinicians. The Year-End Awards Program is open to all members without the cost usually associated with award programs. Items such as Gist Silver buckles and embroidered tack are routinely given out at the MoRHA Year-End Awards Banquet held at the end of each show season. Other benefits from becoming a member of MoRHA are free pizza parties, silent auctions, affordable show fees, national recognition in the form of national titles and points. These perks are in addition to the camaraderie and family-friendly atmosphere provided by the MoRHA charter.  In addition the MoRHA members have raised over $2000 in the last two years to help fight breast cancer awareness by putting on a Wrangler-sponsored "Tough Enough To Wear Pink" benefit show. MoRHA has also provided youth college scholarship awards to deserving members in 2007 and 2008.

Despite the recent increase in the price of fuel, MoRHA made the decision to keep their 2009 prices the same as in 2008.  The shows will be held at the central-state location of Midway Expo Center in Columbia, Missouri with the exception of one possible MO State Fair show in August at the show grounds in Sedalia, MO. At this time the State Fair Show is only a dream of MoRHA's and not yet part of the official show schedule. Information will be updated on our website as this and any other MoRHA event information becomes available.

New in 2009 is MoRHA's participation in the ARHA Versatility Ranch Horse program. In this event each horse will compete in 5 different versatility classes and although the fee to participate is an additional $100.00 over the cost of the regular fees, there will be a 100% payback.  Through the program 50% of the money will be awarded to those participants on a payback-per-event basis. The other 50% of all money collected will be returned as Year-End-Award money through the ARHA's national program. Please see our show-bill and visit the ARHA website (www.americanranchhorse.net) for more details.

We would like to encourage all registered stock-horse owners to come ride with us in 2009 and hope to see you at our shows and events.