The U.S. Dressage Federation has announced that Janine Malone, Lisa Gorretta and Bonna McCuiston have been named as the 2022 Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame inductee, Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, and Member of Distinction, respectively. All three will be recognized and honored at the Salute Gala, held during the 2022 Adequan/USDF Annual Convention in Lexington, Kentucky, Nov. 30-Dec. 3.
2022 USDF Hall Of Fame Inductee Janine Malone
A previous USDF Volunteer of the Year (1998) and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient (2014), Malone is renowned for her knowledge of the rules that govern the sport and serves as an USEF ‘R’ technical delegate, ‘R’ dressage sport horse breeder judge, ‘R’ dressage judge with a designation for dressage seat equitation, and Level 5 dressage manager. She was one of the first FEI dressage level 3 stewards for the United States.
A few of Malone’s accomplishments and contributions to USDF and the sport include: the instrumental role she played in establishing the regional championship program and the US Dressage Finals; her service in numerous capacities within USDF and USEF (USDF secretary, USDF Region 1 director, USEF president for FEI Affiliates Working Group, USEF board of directors, US Dressage Finals Organizing Committee Chair, USEF Competition Management Committee Chair, USEF Legislative Committee, USDF Regional Championships Committee, etc.) and her countless hours of service from the local to the international stage. In short, it is for her lifetime of leadership and dedication to the sport of dressage that Malone has been named a 2022 Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame Inductee.
2022 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Lisa Gorretta
An accomplished adult amateur FEI-level rider and competitor, former USDF President Lisa Gorretta has a long history with dressage and USDF. From her many positions within USDF (PM Delegate, establishing member of the USDF Connection Editorial Advisory Board, Historical Recognition, Regional Championships, and US Dressage Finals Organizing Committees chair, Region 2 director, Activities Council at-large director, USDF vice president, and ultimately USDF president), USEF (co-chair of the USEF Dressage Sport Committee, USEF ‘R’ dressage technical delegate with measurement certification, the integral role she has played in establishing and championing technical delegate education), and the FEI (Level 3 dressage steward, serving at events such as the Pan American Games, World Cup, amongst others), Gorretta has become liked and respected by virtually everyone in the sport as a tireless worker, pragmatic thinker, and levelheaded solution-seeker, who has helped USDF navigate its way through the years and into the future.
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As Jennifer Bryant, USDF Connection editor and nominator of Gorretta, put it, “One of the first lessons I learned when I became involved with USDF in a behind-the-scenes capacity is that the people who make dressage tick tend not to be the sport’s most famous names. Lisa Gorretta is perhaps the ultimate example.”
2022 USDF Member Of Distinction Bonna McCuiston
Longtime USDF member and former student of Karl Mikolka, Bonna McCuiston has been a stalwart influence on dressage in Region 2 for over 30 years. Having owned multiple farms and taught and trained horses and riders throughout Indiana and Region 2, McCuiston has dedicated her life to dressage in the Midwest. In addition to serving as president, vice president, board member, and Competition Committee chair for the Indiana Dressage Society, McCuiston has also served as the dressage demonstration rider at the 1987 Pan Am Games, was extremely active in the construction of the Hoosier Horse Park for the Games, and she has promoted and helped numerous individuals learn to ride and compete, with may also becoming instructors and trainers themselves.
It is because of her longtime dedication to USDF, the sport, and her GMO that USDF is recognizing her as the 2022 Member of Distinction.
“I have the pleasure of knowing all of these honorees on a personal level as well as professionally, and I couldn’t be prouder to be able to recognize them for their outstanding contributions and achievements,” said USDF President George Williams. “It is their commitment to USDF’s mission of dedication to education, recognition of achievement, and promotion of dressage that makes Janine, Lisa and Bonna the perfect recipients of these honors, and it is our distinct pleasure to pay tribute to them at this year’s Salute Gala. I hope everyone will join us in celebrating these three amazing women.”
