David O`Connor expressed the feelings of nearly everyone at the first convention of the U.S. Equestrian Federation in his keynote address on Thursday, Jan. 14, at the architecturally exquisite Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

“It’s been a long road to get here,” the organizaton`s first president told about 300 members with an ironic smile.

“I’ve been very excited, during the last 36 hours, by the new attitude toward problem solving,” added the Olympic gold medalist, whose horse-training theme could be characterized as doing just that.

Moments later, he and John Long, the first paid chief executive officer in the 86-year history of the country`s national federation, unveiled the new USEF logo. O`Connor congratulated the staff on creating a design that placed Pegasus (the traditional emblem of the American Horse Shows Association/USA Equestrian) on top of the U.S. Equestrian Team`s patriotic shield.

“The first time I saw it, I knew it was right,” said O’Connor.

And then he enunciated the areas that he believed the USEF had to address first in his administration. No. 1 on the list was the mileage rule, an issue pushed to the back burner during the seven years of Alan Balch`s administration by more pressing problems that have now been resolved.

The complex mileage rule, said O’Connor, “was written in a different time, for a different reason.” It was crafted to protect existing horse shows, at a time when the association`s members were the horse shows, not the competitors, and since then it`s been strengthened by a number of influential show managers.

O’Connor said he believes that the USEF should protect and support “destination events” and develop a calendar that promotes meaningful competition, but that any new mileage rule should allow creative managers to offer competitors a choice.

And he promised to create a task force, within a few weeks, to recommend solutions. He said later that he hadn`t named the task force at the convention because he wants it to include one or two people from outside the USEF`perhaps from a sport like golf or auto racing`but “I don`t know who those people are yet.”

The Board of Directors had two proposals to alter the mileage rule to consider at the convention, but, in light of O`Connor`s commitment, its members decided not to consider them. Instead, they referred the proposals to the task force, which is to report its findings to the board at its regular July meeting.

O`Connor also promised that the board would choose a hunter/jumper affiliate organization from the two groups vying for that designation by the July board meeting (for more, see In The Country). And he pledged the elimination of “personal power politics and agendas” that allow “one person or a group to stand in the way of progress.”

Finally, O`Connor made a commitment to strengthening the hearing process to make sure that “abuse of any form will not be tolerated. It`s time to take a stand.” Those words drew a standing ovation.

In his first speech to the Board of Directors, Long echoed O`Connor`s covenant with the members. “We need to ask ourselves, what is the value of being a member?” said Long, who came to the USEF after four years as chief operating officer of Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby and one of the country`s most successful racetracks.

He explained that he sees the USEF`s mission to combine “medals and members, just like M&M`s.” In other words, the federation has to provide its members with valuable services and promote equestrian sports to benefit the members through sponsorship and increased membership, which will, in turn, cut per-member costs.

“I believe we`ll all be able to look back on this convention and say, `This is where it all began,` ” said Long.

USET Budgets Funds
Another theme of O`Connor`s address was working together, and a tangible sign of that was that the USET (now the USET Foundation) held its annual meeting and awards luncheon at this convention for the first time since 1997.

At the luncheon, Debbie McDonald, who finished second in the FEI Dressage World Cup Final on Brentina in April and was named the winner in November, received the Whitney Stone Cup for senior riders. Kristin Schmolze, who finished second in the Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.) and won the individual silver medal at the North American Young Riders Championships, received the Hermes Award for young riders.

Armand Leone, as the president of the USET Foundation and the USEF vice president for high performance, reminded the foundation board and about 25 other attendees that the primary responsibility for funding championship teams falls upon them.

“I can`t help but be excited by the possibilities. But this is a new national federation and a new foundation, and we all need to make the commitment” to funding high-performance programs, just as the old USET did for 50 years, said Leone.

Consequently, the foundation board`s first task was to approve a 2004 budget that included providing the USEF with $2.5 million to fund its high-performance programs in this Olympic year. Treasurer Alan Shore reported that they`ve dramatically reduced the debt caused by the USET-USAEq conflict, reducing accounts payable during 2003 from more than $1 million to approximately $100,000.

Shore said that they plan to have eliminated those outstanding bills by June so that they can start to repay the endowment fund at a rate of $10,000 per month. During 2001 and 2002, the USET`s leaders withdrew approximately $1.5 million from the endowment fund to pay operating expenses, especially legal bills.

During the budget discussion, Hank Collins, chairman of the Audit Committee, urged that the high-performance funding commitment be reduced to $2 million for the sake of fiscal responsibility. Collins noted that in 2003 the USET had 4,000 fewer individual members than it did in 2000, the last Olympic year, and he was anxious about the success of this year`s appeal in the wake of the organizational war that exploded between the two Olympics.

Leone and Frank Lloyd, the foundation`s chairman, responded that they simply had
to convince supporters to make pledges, if not actual contributions, during the year`s early months. And they asked O`Connor if the USEF would assist them in raising international funds.
“Certainly that commitment is there,” replied O`Connor, who, along with his wife, Karen, is aiming for the Athens Olympics. He suggested that the two groups should work together to get riders to help with fund-raising and promotion, this year and in the future.

Finally, the board did unanimously approve (with Collins abstaining) budgeting $2.5 million to fund the USEF high-performance division, from the foundation`s budget of $7 million. (By comparison, the USEF`s 2004 budget is approximately $18 million.)

Important Rules Passed
Article 812.6: A proposal to reduce the $200 recording fee for horses to $35 for weanlings, $85 for yearlings, and $160 for 2-year-olds. For all others, the fee would remain $200. The effective date of this change and the amount of the price discount caused considerable discussion at Sunday`s Board of Directors meeting.

Eventually, the board accepted a motion by Director Karen O`Connor to make the rule change effective on March 1, to encourage breeders and owners to register young horses, especially horses that compete in disciplines that don`t count Horse of the Year points (such as eventing, driving and endurance).

After the proposal`s passage, Director Karl Hart suggested establishing a “sale price” of $50 for horses of any age for a limited period of time (probably a year). But Treasurer Kathy Knill Meyer worried that a sale price might have a negative budgetary effect since the $200 recording fee represents a significant percentage of annual income. Finally, the directors charged the staff and the Budget and Finance Committee with providing financial analysis before taking further action.

Article 101.2: Clarifies that dressage riders are eligible to become amateurs “from the beginning of the calendar year in which they reach age 22.” (Effective 12/1/04)

Article 124.1: Allows mules to compete in dressage classes, except for USET championships, qualifying classes for those championships, and other championships where they`re specifically excluded. Andrew Ellis, chairman of the Safety Committee, warned, “It is a safety concern, and we`ll be closely monitoring its effect on the horses.” (Effective 12/1/04)

Article 215.13: Charges a fee of $500 to managers who claim in their prize list that their competition is USEF-recognized but have not applied for or received such recognition. This proposal, from Torri Nahorniak, the staff eventing director, resulted from horse trial organizers stating in the U.S. Eventing Association Omnibus (which serves as the prize list) that their horse trial is USEF-recognized when, at the time of publication, recognition hasn`t been granted.
The Budget and Finance Committee recommended establishing this new fee for all competitions that don`t comply, and the National Hunter Committee endorsed it to ensure that exhibitors receive Horse of the Year points. (Effective 12/1/04)

Article 311.1: Requires show management to halt competition “if weather appears to be imminently affecting the safety and welfare of horses and/or exhibitors.” (Effective 12/1/04)
Article 1125: This change to a rule that just went into effect on Dec. 1 will alter the procedure under which stewards and technical delegates can issue warning cards, because the current process has already proven too limiting and cumbersome.
Warning cards are to be issued to members whose actions aren`t worthy of a formal charge. But Legal Counsel Bill Roos told the board that, under the current rule, it`s actually easier to file a charge than to issue a warning card since a warning card requires two licensed officials to agree, with signatures, that a card should be issued. The new rule requires only that a second official sign the form to acknowledge that they`ve seen another official`s completed form. (Effective 3/1/04).

Article 2419.2: The National Hunter Committee clearly describes inappropriate attire: “When management permits hunter or hunter seat equitation riders to ride without jackets, riders must wear traditional short- or long-sleeved shirts with chokers or ties. Polo shirts and chaps are not permitted except in unjudged warm-up classes. Management or judge may eliminate an exhibitor who is inappropriately attired.” (Effective 3/1/04)

Article 2447: A- and B-rated hunter sections cannot be cancelled if they have four horses entered. The previous minimum was six horses. (Effective 12/1/04)

Article 2621: Dramatically increases the points earned by winners of the USEF Hunter Pony Finals to reflect the number and quality of ponies competing there. Over fences winners will receive 200 points (instead of 140) and the winner of each height section will receive an additional 100 points, decreasing to 20 points for the 10th-placed pony in each section. (Effective 3/1/04)

Article 2720.1: Requires FEI-approved safety cups to be used on the “back pole of all spreads” in all jumper classes. The previous rule only required them in classes with prize money exceeding $10,000. (Effective 12/1/04)

Article 2703.6: Requires safety cups or breakable pins for all jumps in the jumper schooling area. (Effective 12/1/04)

Article 2805.5: The Junior Hunter Committee`s rule requires all AA-rated junior hunter divisions to offer four sections (by horses` heights and riders` ages). Sections can be combined if there are fewer than 10 horses in any one section. (Effective 12/1/04)

Important Rules Not Passed
Article 402.2: Proposed by Elizabeth J. Ireland of Athens, Ga., this would have set strict requirements on drug testers to carry or post credentials as drug testers. Kent Allen, chairman of the Veterinary and of the Drugs and Medications committees, told the Board of Directors that it was redundant as testers are already required to carry credentials.

Article 2213.4, 14, and 15: Mary Chapot of Neshanic Station, N.J., proposed that in equitation tests, simple changes of lead could only be performed through the walk. But the judges on the National Hunter Com-mittee felt strongly that they should be allowed to ask for simple changes through the walk and the trot, at their discretion.

Article 2823: The Junior Hunter Com-mittee proposed in-creasing the points for the winners of the USEF National Junior Hunter Championships, giving the winners of each section 500 points, down to 75 points for the 10th-placed horse. The National Hunter Committee recommended disapproval, considering the points too generous for this competition.

Rules Referred To July Board Of Directors Meeting
A number of complex or potentially far-reaching rules, in addition to the mileage rule, were referred to the July 6 meeting of the Board of Directors, in Lexington, Ky. In each case, the board gave the appropriate committee the task of bringing detailed research and recommendations to that meeting.

Among those rules were:
Article 808.1.j: The Dressage Committee proposed to allow that “an amateur may accept sponsorship as part of a team or as reimbursement for international competition expenses.”
Said Janine Malone, one of the dressage directors, “This is something that really needs to be addressed.”

Article 821: A new rule proposed by the Safety Committee to require riders who are “apparently injured or concussed” to be examined by medical personnel at the competition before being allowed to continue to compete. Andrew Ellis, chairman of the Safety Committee, offered to withdraw the rule-change proposal for further study because “we don`t feel the federation could stand behind this practice” since not all competitions are required to have medical personnel on site.

Ellis lauded eventers for already having this requirement`and adequate medical personnel`in their rules. “I hope we can get other disciplines to follow their example,” he said.

Article 2415.7: This proposal would remove Swedish oxers from the schooling area for hunters because of safety concerns. Bill Moroney, vice chairman of the National Hunter Committee, noted that no rules governing the hunter schooling area currently exist, unlike the heavily regulated jumper schooling area.

Moroney said that a subcommittee of the National Hunter Committee is already working on proposing hunter schooling area guidelines and that, since the Board of Directors indicated major concerns about Swedish oxers in hunter warm-up rings, a recommendation on prohibiting them would be included. (The board did vote to remove Swedish oxers from the pony warm-up area as of March 1.)

Similarly, rules requiring safety cups or breakable pins on jumps in the hunter rings and schooling areas were also referred to committees pending the creation of hunter schooling guidelines.

A New Look, A New Convention?
Jennifer Price, a contract attorney and amateur hunter rider from Houston, Texas, briefed the USEF board on her committee`s work in re-organizing the rule book to make it more user-friendly. She recalled that a few years ago a friend asked her to help find a rule, and it took her four hours to find it. “I found that unacceptable, and I made the mistake of offering to help,” she said sarcastically.

“Basically, the rule book reads like the Bible before Gutenberg invented the printing press, where only the learned could translate it to the unwashed masses,” said Price.

“We want to make it understandable, but our project is intended only to change the organization of the rules, not their substance,” she added, referring to the last rewrite, in which the editors rewrote numerous rules without the knowledge of the relevant committees or the board.

They`re about halfway through their work, having developed a working outline into which they`re fitting the rules. They`re also clarifying definitions, and next they`ll identify other problem areas and work with committees to fix them. Their goal is to have the improved rule book ready for 2005.

O`Connor closed the Sunday board meeting by telling members that he wanted them to consider a new type of annual meeting, perhaps one that isn`t a convention at all. Only about 400 of the federation`s 80,000-plus members attended, a typical turn-out.

Endurance rider Valerie Kanavy suggested holding the annual meeting in Lexington, Ky., every year (as it was in 2003) to save money. “If we`re just going to sit in a hotel for four days, what difference does it make where we are?” she asked.

Mike Tomlinson, president of the American Endurance Ride Conference and USEF vice president of international affiliates, suggested they decide whether this is an annual meeting, at which the board and committee members decide rules and policy, or an annual convention of the members. Then they can decide whether it should move to a variety of “destination” locations around the country to attract participants or stay near the headquarters to facilitate business.
Director Janine Malone suggested that they also had to decide “how much we want members to come and be a part of the rule-making process.”

O`Connor said later that he`d like to see the January meeting be for business only and then to have an issue-oriented or educational convention at another time of year, while having a larger USEF presence at the affiliates` conventions.

He told the board that they`d also have to evaluate the cost of canceling the contract they already have with the hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo., for January 2005.