09/01/2026
📣 NRHA members, please vote for John Tague for Director at Large. 🗳️
John’s genuine dedication, active involvement, and commitment to the reining community reflect his desire to help shape a strong future for the NRHA.
He would be honored to continue serving its members.
Every vote matters, and your support would be sincerely appreciated.
‘As a member of the NRHA, you will all soon receive an email with the opportunity to vote in the upcoming election for NRHA Director At Large. First and foremost I urge you to vote! It’s easy and it’s important.
Horses have been an important part of my life for over 50 years. I began as a working student eager to do anything and everything just to be in the barn. Mucking stalls, grooming horses, and polishing client’s boots as they entered the arena. This gave me the opportunity to show, often sale horses, and support one horse we owned. My horse was always for sale! It was during that time that I met my wife Nancy almost 52 years ago. Nancy and horses have been substantial elements that have formed the foundation of my life ever since.
Nancy and I had a dream of someday building a life centered around horses, and are grateful to be living that dream now. With that comes the opportunity and obligation to make a difference. That effort began years ago with Sliders Night Out.
Our intention was clear: we wanted to build an event that was held every year and honored awardees appropriately. At the same time, we also wanted to reach all previous awardees so we could honor all the community that brought Reining to where it is today. We also wanted to create an event that would provide clear, substantial, and ongoing funding of the Reining Horse Foundation. Since that time, the event has provided almost a million dollars in support of the foundation and our community. Finally, we foresaw the need to re-energize an event for the community to gather with a common purpose. With the support of so many people, and exceptional leadership at the foundation, our goals have been met.
Since then we have made substantial investments supporting Reining in Europe, Mexico and of course the United States. These investments align with our aspirations for the NRHA and often serve as a catalyst for others to do the same. You cannot ask others to do what you yourself are not prepared to do! We believe in leadership by example.
None of that is reason to support me, as we are fortunate to be in a position to use our resources to make a difference. It simply demonstrates our extreme desire to do all we can to help the reining community at large realize "the dream."
What I hope will inspire your continued support of me as Director-at-Large is the years of commitment, expertise, and dedicated effort I have brought to this role and to the opportunity you, as members, have entrusted to me.
My first involvement in leadership was driven by a deep concern for the financial viability of the NRHA. Our cash level was precarious, and operations had been largely unprofitable for years.
Simply put no resources equal no opportunities or choices. The objective at first was straightforward - build a war chest that protected the organization and its investment commitments in the face of virtually any crisis we could imagine. We have exceeded that goal. Additionally, we wanted to build a substantial cash position for strategic investments and a business model that replenished that capability. We have accomplished that with the help and financial participation of many, and exceptional financial stewardship at the NRHA.
Today the results have far exceeded our expectations. Our association is in a tremendous position. Cash sponsorships have doubled and purses have grown by over ten million annually since 2020. We have permission now to dream bigger than ever before. Do we still have much to do? Absolutely! In my view, you are beginning to see the seeds of the future. While we continue to build our proven investments in NRHA owned events, with more focus on lower levels, we can now strategically begin to fund and impact a more diverse and dispersed set of membership around the world.
I have had the honor of serving on over ten boards, both public and private, and for associations as well as for non-profits. In aggregate, I have decades of governance experience, while also leading strategy and performance at some of the world’s largest corporations. That experience does not make me better; it simply makes me different. Having had experience and gained capabilities in many different areas is very healthy in my view.
Finally we are in the horse business day in and day out. We make all of our buy/sell decisions on our breeding stock as well as determine every breeding cross. We, of course, make mistakes. And when we do we feel pain. We stand stallions, send horses to auction, and to train and show. Becoming a top five all-time breeder over a relatively short period of time was not a given nor was it easy. Rather it is the result of years of study and experience, mistakes and successes. Our experience over the years makes me fully appreciate and understand just how hard this business can be. But we, like you, continue to do it anyway out of passion, love, and simply an inability to imagine doing anything else. I am respectfully asking for your vote to continue in the position of NRHA Director At Large. And also that you will encourage others to do the same. Full participation of every NRHA is very important as we continue to grow the incredible sport of Reining.’
John Tague
NRHA Director At Large
