Britt McCormick on Monday evening led his second virtual U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Town Hall since taking over as president in April. The meeting was a short affair that focused on informing attendees about upcoming USHJA events rather than a group discussion of the variety that became common under previous president Mary Knowlton, who established the monthly virtual meetings for members.

McCormick opened the meeting by introducing new USHJA executive director Whitney Allen, who replaced Kevin Price in late June. Allen previously worked as the USHJA’s director of operations.

“I’m more than excited to have Whitney on board, and the new USHJA 3.0 is taking shape,” McCormick said. “We are reinvigorated and off to a great start.

“She and I have been working closely together to take a hard look at both what we do externally and internally,” he added. “We’ve been able to make some pretty significant changes to the processes, streamlining [them]. We’re really trying to open up the communication not only between USHJA and the volunteers but also to the membership, to the [U.S. Equestrian Federation], working in conjunction with the federation on some new initiatives that hopefully will be ready to roll out soon, and really just bringing us all back to a place where we can serve the membership as best as possible. That’s the whole reason that we’re here, is to serve you guys. If you have an idea, see something that needs some attention, for sure let us know. We’re working through one stack at a time on our plan. It’s not going to be quick, but hopefully we’re as efficient as possible, and I know that everything we do has the best interest of the membership at heart.”

This fall the USHJA task forces and committees (whose members’ names and contact information have been removed from the USHJA website) will be reseated. McCormick urged interested members to submit a committee interest form if they might like to serve. He also said that the zone committees will be reappointed as well.

McCormick talked about the USHJA Annual Meeting, which will take place Dec. 9-12 in Tucson, Arizona. It will be held at the El Conquistador Tucson, the same hotel where the first USHJA Annual Meeting was held in 2004, and it will include 20^th anniversary celebrations, as well as some changes from previous annual meetings meant to encourage member participation.

“Instead of doing a classroom setting where you look at the stage all day, we’re going to create a number of workshops,” he said. “We will have a rule change forum and State of the Association [speech]. But we wanted this to be interactive, something we could come to as trainers, customers, show managers—all stakeholders together—and have some workshops and breakout sessions.”

The annual meeting will also feature a licensed officials clinic and four workshops—one each for hunters, jumpers, equitation, and safety and welfare.

McCormick also reviewed upcoming educational opportunities and competitive opportunities, highlighted by Platinum Performance/USHJA Hunter week, which will take place Aug. 13-17 at the Kentucky Horse Park. There are some significant changes to that schedule. Both rounds of the Platinum Performance Green Hunter Incentive 3’6”/3’9” Championship will be held Tuesday, Aug. 13, while the Platinum Performance Green Hunter Incentive 3’/3’3” Championship will take place from Aug. 14-16. The Platinum Performance USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship’s classic (Aug. 16 in the afternoon) and challenge rounds (Aug. 17 in the morning) will take place as they have in the past, the final handy round has been moved from an evening start time to the early afternoon, with opening ceremonies kicking off at 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 17.

In a change from Town Halls run by Knowlton, the association asked that virtual attendees not use the Zoom Q&A function to type questions but rather “raise” their virtual hand and ask a question live. This seemed to stifle conversation, as it resulted in only two questions being addressed online. (At least two additional attendees did type into the Q&A box, with Ashley Mason asking about green pony reinstatement and Rhonda Hamel asking about the status of the USEF presidential rule modification that allows hunter/jumper amateurs to teach 20 hours a week and about the instructor credential. Both were instructed to raise their hand instead and ask the question live, and neither did.)

The dearth of audience participation meant the meeting lasted just 29 minutes, versus the hour-plus Town Halls typical under Knowlton.

Amateur Lisa Mays of Zone 10 asked about the future of the Marshall & Sterling USHJA National Championship with producer Blenheim Equisports, and McCormick responded that the prize list is nearly ready to be put out for 2024, and that as of right now there are no changes looking to 2025 and beyond.

Zone 4’s Ali Barros, who sits on the Horse and Rider Advocates Committee, asked about the state of a recommendation from the committee to create a program similar to SafeSport that would address horse welfare. McCormick responded that it hadn’t been addressed yet as it needs to get the attention it deserves.

The next USHJA Town Hall is scheduled for Aug. 12.