A Lettter from the Editor
A LETTER FROM GLORY ANN KURTZ
To say the least, the last few weeks of my life have definitely been a turning point in my life. However, there have been several major turning points in my life and that’s not always bad. They have taught me to be a better person and in the long run, they have turned out to be for the best.
I firmly believe that if one follows their heart and does what is right by taking the high road, they will win in the end. Rather than wrestling in the mud, I’ve decided to move on to a more positive direction. I want to continue to disseminate the news, so I have started this blogging web site. This way, you, the reader, can also participate. You know the news – I just publish it.
After writing the article on the controversy going on in the Smart Little Lena Syndicate, and having the story pulled because of what Carl Mullins, the publisher of Cowboy Publishing, refers to as a “conflict of interest,” I was abruptly fired after 28 years of service to the company. No discussion, no questions, no chance to give my side of the story – just fired on the porch of Starbucks in Decatur.
When I took over Quarter Horse News as the editor, it was a six-month-old, four-page racing publication, with one ad – and it was a free one. It has been my baby for close to 30 years and I have guarded it and its reputation like a mother. Up until that time, the only news that people were receiving was that produced by associations and they only printed what they wanted their members and the reading public to know.
When Quarter Horse News was about five years old, it was purchased by Morris Communications, which injected capital into the fledgling publication and made it grow. Without that capital infusion it would probably not be around today. Luckily, Billy Morris of Morris Communications was a true journalist. I started Equi-Stat, the statistical division of Quarter Horse News, on ledger sheets and then went to a single IBM PC. It was originally created to help the editorial staff write articles. Today it is one of the largest databases in the computer division of Morris Communications and the largest overall database in the performance horse industry.
Over the years, I have made many friends in the industry and a few enemies, who have had a different idea of what the news is. Obviously, some of those are from within Quarter Horse News.
I was shocked when I read the column that Carl Mullins wrote, discrediting me while comparing me with writers from the New York Times and high-profile commentators who took hundreds of thousands of dollars under the table. It’s a good thing that Carl is not a writer for Quarter Horse News, as he committed the cardinal sin – he failed to investigate his allegations. They were not based on fact.
I know I did nothing wrong and am definitely not guilty of a conflict of interests. I appreciate the support many of you have shown – especially those who I have never met nor written about and owe me nothing. Please go to my website (www.allaboutcutting.com) where a copy of the Smart Little Lena controversy story is posted. This is the story that I wrote for Quarter Horse News and was not published by Carl Mullins. I would appreciate your reading it and letting me know if you think it was bias in any way. I have a three-inch file of documents and tapes to back up every statement in the article. Believe me, it was not an article that anyone in the syndicate wanted published.
My only lack of judgment came when I misjudged some of the people in this industry. I should have known that in an industry that is now measured in the billions of dollars, money, power and greed would raise its ugly head, and strike out at anyone who is brave enough to try to reveal what is going in. To top it off, I forgot to check my back.
Here’s hoping I can continue to give you the real news on my new blogging web site – www.allaboutcutting.com. Please register on this site and give me your mailing address as well as your e-mail address. Plans are in the works for a hard-copy newsletter for those that prefer that – as well as a digital newsletter that will be posted on this website. Late-breaking news will be posted on a regular basis – no more waiting a month or two to find out what is going on. Obviously, I’m going to need a few sponsors of this newsletter to cover costs. If you have any ideas on that, please let me know.
Please post your comments and send me your news. And if you want to bring up a subject to be commented on, please e-mail me. We’ll put it on the site and let our readers comment. The news should be about you – not me.
Glory Ann Kurtz
Website: www.allaboutcutting.com
E-mail: glory@glorykurtz.com
Telephone: 940-433-5232
Dear Glory Ann,
I’ve been following the posts regarding the makeup of the Executive Committee. I am no longer in the cutting horse business, but am still a passionate fan of performance horses in general, hence my interest in your site. I run a school for struggling teens, and we are a member of a national organization. Much like the NCHA, it is a multi-million dollar enterprise. In that national organization we have hired accountants, attorneys, and marketing personnel. However, our board is made up of directors of programs and individuals involved in this business. I can see no benefit to having an MBA trying to tell our organization how to run our organization. Our board is represented by different factions, who’s primary purpose is to promote and sustain our industry…all factions work together (and sometimes disagree) but the focus is the overall development of the industry. I see this as very similar to the NCHA. I hear the argument that the NCHA is a multi-million dollar business beyond the scope of the trainer’s education…I call baloney on that one. It’s more zeroes on the number, but the principles are the same. The jump from a $100,000.00 business to a $100,000,000.00 dollar business doens’t require a different set of credentials for the managers. There would be no call in my organization to have the executive director of a widget factory sit on our board…because we don’t sell widgets. Even if he’s the best widget maker in the country…what’s his contribution going to be to my organization? Anyway, my .02 is to have the EC made up of members of all factions, but it is a cutting horse organization and needs to be weighted that direction…to the people experienced in the horse industry. Hire the needed personnel to run day to day operations (accountants and attorneys)…but they don’t need to determine policy or the direction of our organization. Thanks for this opportunity.
Dale Parker
Valmora, NM