PrintOur columnist finds the U.S. Equestrian Federation Annual Meeting a resounding success.
While attending the Pegasus Awards event at the USEF Annual Meeting, I had the opportunity to introduce new USEF Board of Directors member Geoff Teall (hunter) to one of my best friends, Janine Malone (dressage).
During this introduction, a little-known fact regarding the origin of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association came to light. While Beth Miner and Alvin Topping are to be credited with igniting the spark upon which the USHJA was founded, Janine was the USEF director who succinctly summed up the conversation when USHJA was named the recognized affiliate. We owe a debt of gratitude to Janine, but even more importantly, this conversation led to Janine sharing her philosophy about what we are all trying to accomplish.
In her words, “Our job is to move the sport forward to a new level with the minimum amount of disruption.” I don’t think anyone can say it any better.
This is the heart of what those of us involved in the governance of our sport are trying to do and the principle that we must all keep in mind while we lead the sport into the future. No one completely embraces change, and, believe it or not, for years, I was one of the worst about change. It took me some time and some life changes to realize that this kind of thinking only limits your ability to gain knowledge and make advancements in your own life. This is true for our sport as well. While traditions and the past are a necessary part of the process involved in moving forward, they should never be used to stifle that movement.
Over the past six years, the USHJA has been moving our sport forward. Some think too fast, some think too slow, but I think we have followed Janine’s philosophy pretty well so far.
Our committees have spent considerable time and effort to bring forth initiatives, programs and rule changes that have increased opportunity for participation and recognition at all levels. They’ve increased the number of new equestrians involved in working on changing our sport, created new interest and excitement about equestrian sports, increased the number of educational opportunities for equestrians and brought forth programs only dreamed about in the past. Interested equestrians of all levels have benefited by these changes and the advancement of our sport.
Hunter Restructure Begins
Most recently, significant changes to the hunter discipline proposed by the USHJA Hunter Restructure Committee have been approved to begin with the 2011 competition year.
We must all remember that there are more than 1,300 USEF licensed hunter/ jumper competitions in this country every year, and most of them are not AA-rated competitions.
The regular working hunter of the past will soon be known as the High Performance hunters. Our working hunters should receive the recognition they so fully deserve as the grand prix of the hunters, and this new nomenclature brings with it the connection to the premier class of the hunter world, the USHJA International Hunter Derby.
Supporting the top of our professional divisions, you will find two new sections, performance hunter 3'6" to 3'9" and performance hunter 3'3". All three divisions will allow riders to enter individual classes and will receive recognition in the USEF national and zone horse of the year programs.
