Minnesota Pinto Royalty
Minnesota Queen, Kate VanBenthuysen
Kate VanBenthuysen, 2010 Miss Minnesota Pinto has been busy this year. She sold the Prestegard art raffle tickets down in Missouri at school and also at the MPtHA Awards Banquet in January and put the project over the top! She was also helping hand out awards, having presentation photos taken with happy exhibitors and picking up many of her own awards for her achievements from the 2009 show season.
In mid-March, Kate represented Minnesota Pinto at the 2010 Pinto Convention in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She attended the Youth conference, convention meetings, Hall of Fame ceremonies and Award Banquet, plus helping with the live auction to benefit the Heritage Foundation Scholarship Fund.
Kate attends school in Missouri, so drove up to Minnesota for the MHC Expo, April 23, 24, 25th. She exhibited a horse, rode in three Parade of Breeds and two Breed Demonstrations, worked at the "Pintos of the Midwest" Booth for several sessions, handed out literature, talked to many people about Pinto and represented Minnesota Pinto throughout the 3 day event, before having to make the long drive back to Missouri and college.
She is planning on being at the 2010 Pinto World Show and is a candidate for the title of Miss Pinto of America. The members of Minnesota Pinto wish her all the best in this competition in June.
National PtHA Queen Program
At the 2010 PtHA Convention, starting with the Long Range Planning Committee, the PtHA Queen Program was discussed and reviewed at length. Because the lack of Charter participation, and the costs to produce the program, a recommendation was sent to the PtHA Executive Committee to raise the number of participants required to hold the program to 10 young ladies and raise the fee to $1000 per entry.
After lengthy discussion, the Executive Committee brought a similar recommendation to the Board of Directors. The program was further discussed by the Board of Directors, and after much deliberation, a motion was made to suspend the PtHA Queen's Program after the 2010 contest. This motion passed.
There will be a Pinto Queen competition at the 2010 World Show and one of the Charter Queens that are involved in the competition will be selected to be come MIss Pinto of America '10-'11. After her reign, the program will be suspended and there is not a national queen competition scheduled for the 2011 World Show.
Based on the trends at the National level, Minnesota Pinto has also suspended its program at the close of the 2010 year.