First of all, many thanks to everyone who voted in the EHC officer elections (see link for candidate statements). The EHC is pleased to announce that the winners are:
President: Chelsea Shields-Más
Secretary: Janice Gunther Martin
Treasurer: Christian Krueger
We should note that the race for treasurer was about as tight as it could have been, and are grateful to Carolyn Willekes for her willingness to throw her hat in the ring!
We also thank Katrin Bonface for serving as president and Kathryn Renton as treasurer for the past two years. The EHC began as the brainchild of Kat after discussions with other equine historians at the 2016 International Medieval Congress at Leeds, which inspired her to create the first equine history collective website to connect scholars and collect pertinent resources. Kat, Kathryn, and Janice over email started to float the idea putting together a conference on the subject in 2016. They had their first group call in January of 2018, and within the year had both incorporated the EHC and organized the first conference (in partnership with Kellogg Arabian Horse Library at Cal Poly Pomona led by fabulous EHC board member Katie Richardson). We’ve now had our second conference, and are so grateful for our amazing active and growing community. There is no way this could have been possible without Kat and Kathryn’s passion, dedication, and creativity, not to mention blood, sweat, and tears!
Happily, this is not their final goodbye. The EHC officers recently voted to amend the bylaws to create the positions of Past President, Past Secretary, and Past Treasurer. After serving their two-year term, each officer will “assume and perform the duties of the incumbent President, Treasurer or Secretary in the absence of the officer, and shall have such powers and perform such other duties as the Board may prescribe” for the following year. In practical terms, this means that Kat and Kathryn will be assisting Chelsea and Christian over the coming year, helping hand over the reins.
We also know that this is a time of great uncertainty and anxiety, to say the least. We are considering how best to proceed with the fall conference; stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, we wish you and yours health and peace!