American Quarter Horse Foundation - Hall of Fame & Museum

06/16/2026

An AQHA member since 1968, 𝐂𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐨 of Mexico was the first international member of AQHA and co-founded the Mexican Quarter Horse association in 1968. A 40-year cumulative American Quarter Horse breeder, Cesar also produced the first American Quarter Horse halter show in Mexico in 1970. Along with that, he introduced Quarter Horse racing to Mexico in 1983, where the futurities and derbies grow in their continued success. Cesar was the owner of two Mexican champion racehorses, Stage Door Smash in 1988 and Passem Glass in 1992. Cesar is also in two halls of fame in Mexico for his work in the equine industry.

06/16/2026

06/12/2026

✨ Hall of Fame Celebration tickets are on sale now! ✨

Here's your sign to make plans early: purchase your tickets before July 1 and you'll not only save with Early Bird pricing, but you'll also be entered for a chance to win a complimentary stay at Embassy Suites during Celebration weekend!

One ticket. One incredible weekend. One chance to win.

🎟️ Don't miss out- Early Bird pricing ends July 1! Get your tickets at aqha.com/celebration

06/10/2026

During his career, AQHA Professional Horseman 𝐁𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬 of Overbrook, Oklahoma, has won 38 AQHA world championships on 32 horses, as well as 30,794.5 AQHA points across 18 events. Bobby showed Genuine Redbud to the 1995 AQHA Superhorse title at the AQHA World Championship Show and was part of the team that showed Reprise Bar to the 1984 Superhorse title. Bobby was also the breeder of Real Gun, the 2004 AQHA Superhorse. Bobby, who is an AQHA 40-year cumulative breeder, has total earnings from breeding American Quarter Horses exceeding $3 million. He was inducted into the National Cutting Horse Hall of Fame in 2006.

06/05/2026

Do you know 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐚'𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐫?

Lena’s Bar (TB) was bred and owned her entire life by legendary horseman and American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame member Walter Merrick. The chestnut mare was sired by Three Bars (TB) and out of Lena Valenti by Gray Dream in 1954.

The mare did not start her running career until she was 3. New Mexico was the only state that allowed Thoroughbreds to compete in regular Quarter Horse races during the 1950s. However, Thoroughbreds were not allowed to participate in the Quarter Horse futurities for two-year-olds. Lena’s Bar finally got her start in 1957, starting eight times and winning four.

On July 26, 1959, Lena’s Bar won the 400-yard Bright Eyes Stakes at Ruidoso Downs and three weeks later took the 400-yard Miller Motel Allowance at the same track. She ran against world champion racing horses Go Man Go, Vanetta Dee and Double Bid.

Lena’s Bar also won the Buttons and Bows Stakes and C. L. Maddon’s Bright Eyes Handicap, both at Albuquerque in 1958. By the end of her career, she started 76 races against Quarter Horses, garnering 24 wins and earning $28,311.

Lena’s Bar was put into Merrick’s broodmare band in 1962. She produced five foals, each of which won races and earned Registers of Merit on the track, while earning $557,199.

The mare’s two most successful offspring resulted from her courtship with Jet Deck, a racing world champion who was the first Quarter Horse to earn more than $200,000 on the straightaways. Jet Smooth became successful on the track, in the show arena and as a breeding stallion. Easy Jet, her last foal, and perhaps her most famous foal, redefined what it was to be a champion racing Quarter Horse. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1993.

Lena’s Bar was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2003.

06/02/2026

✨ Hello everyone! ✨
 
We are so excited to share an update regarding your scholarship applications. The American Quarter Horse Foundation scholarship award mailings will be sent out soon, so be sure to keep an eye on your email/mailbox! 📬
 
We look forward to seeing the impact our young members will make throughout their academic careers while representing the American Quarter Horse community along the way.
 
Thank you to everyone who applied, and congratulations in advance to our recipients! 🥳

05/27/2026

Do you know 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓. 𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐒. 𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬?

Walter and Nancy Hughes were ambassadors for AQHA and the most versatile horse on earth. A horseman known internationally as an owner, breeder, trainer, exhibitor and judge, Walter and wife Nancy exemplified service in the worldwide development of the American Quarter Horse.

Walter, who died in 2012, was a trainer for 42 years, with special interests in cutting, reining and western pleasure. During his 36 years carrying an AQHA judge’s card, he judged Quarter Horse shows in 12 countries, including Germany, where the Deutsch Quarter Horse Association awarded “Onkle Walter” an honorary life membership for his help in developing a quality western riding program in that country.

On this side of the pond, Walter officiated shows across the United States and most provinces in Canada, including the AQHA World Championship Show, American Quarter Horse Youth World Cup and All American Quarter Horse Congress. Walter also had judge’s cards with the National Reining Horse, National Cutting Horse and the National Snaffle Bit associations. A co-founder of NSBA, Walter was chairman of that organization’s judges committee and was inducted into the NSBA Hall of Fame in 1989. He was the first horseman from the western discipline to be inducted into the Maryland Horse Council’s Horseman’s Hall of Fame. The East Coast Cutting Horse Association gave him the Ford Spalding Memorial Sportsmanship Award.

Walter served as an AQHA director from 1971 until 1995, serving on the youth, membership, judges and Hall of Fame committees, and served as chairman of the judges committee. Nancy served on the Foundation Committee and Council for many years. The couple traveled the world together, and both earned Lifetime Achievement Awards from the AQHA Professional Horsemen’s Council.

Born in Philadelphia, Nancy Strohsacker was introduced to the Quarter Horse world by her first husband, Bill Patton, with whom she had children Will and Cindy. The Pattons acquired the Skipper W filly Skip’s Dilly, who became an AQHA Champion and the 1966 high-point western pleasure mare.

In 1968, Nancy and the kids moved to Damascus, Maryland, where she married Walter in 1969. That same year, the new couple purchased land that became Maryland Meadows Farm. Nancy spent her days as a sixth-grade teacher, her evenings assisting Walter with boarding and breeding Quarter Horses, and her weekends on the road with him showing their next champion. They purchased, trained and showed to Superiors in halter and western pleasure the Otoe stallion Brio, who went on to sire AQHA Champion Bo Brillo. They also owned and trained Brazos Brio, the 1977 world champion junior working hunter; and Docs Boots, who became an NCHA money earner.

Horses took Walter and Nancy a long way. Ardent advocates of bringing along youth and the next generation of horse people, Walter and Nancy spent immeasurable time helping local 4-H and FFA groups learn more about horses. Nancy, who died in 2017, especially advocated for therapeutic riding programs. They did the same for new Quarter Horse enthusiasts around the world, often through clinics after judging international shows.

Walter and Nancy Hughes, ambassadors, take residence in the embassy known as the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame with induction in 2022.

05/21/2026

Do you know 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬?

Miss Meyers was one of 35 foals registered from Leo’s 1949 crop, and was the second of seven foals from her dam, the Oklahoma Star mare Star’s Lou. Bred by O. C. “Blondy” Meyer, the sorrel mare was foaled at his Konowa, Oklahoma, ranch.

Her official race record began as a 4-year-old, and during the following five years she made 59 starts. Miss Meyers placed first 17 times, second 15 times and third five times, and earned $28,727. In her first official start, she was defeated by champion Leolita, but her next start proved her to be a winner. Miss Meyers won races in Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico.

In 1953, she went to Los Alamitos in California to compete, and three days after winning the California Championship, Miss Meyers was purchased for $6,000 by A. B. Green of Purcell, Oklahoma. She won nine of her 17 starts that year, set four track records at four different tracks, was the highest money-earning horse, and was named world champion and champion mare.

Two years after her championship season, the seven-time stakes winner retired and became a broodmare. She produced four foals during her broodmare career. Her first foal was Oh My Oh, a 1957 daughter of Spotted Bull (TB). Oh My Oh produced 1968 All American Futurity winner Three Oh’s. Miss Meyers’ second foal was champion Mr Meyers, a son of Go Man Go who won the Kansas Futurity and earned $25,619 over three years on the track. Mr Meyers later sired winners of more than $1.2 million.

Her last foal, a sorrel son of Three Bars (TB), was born a month before Miss Meyers died of colic in 1963. Green’s wife raised the foal, later named Kid Meyers, on a bottle in their backyard. The orphaned foal went on to become the first AQHA Supreme Champion and sired Mr Kid Charge, who won the 1971 All American Futurity.

Miss Meyers was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2009.