In early August the Chronicle’s online forums hosted a lively thread about the goals and administration of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association titled, “What Has The USHJA Done For You Lately?” In response to this discussion, the Chronicle invited USHJA Chief Executive Officer Shelby French to answer questions submitted by forums users.

In this, part three of three, French addresses questions about USHJA administration. Check out the first installment, focused on USHJA programs, and the second edition, focused on governance.

Q: The U.S. Equestrian Federation keeps track of points, runs horse shows and keeps track of the rules. What is the USHJA’s role in the show world?

A: The USHJA creates the framework of how the Federation oversees the hunter/jumper sport. For example, the new competition standards that become effective on Dec. 1, 2011, are the work of the USHJA.

There are numerous rules and programs governing the licensing and educating of officials, conduct of competitions, regulation of the sport and welfare of its participants which originated from the work of the USHJA, its committees and volunteers that are now part of our sport.

The USHJA Stewards Committee has been working this year to develop clearer criteria to become a C1 Hunter/Jumper Steward and new online educational opportunities, as well as a revised clinic format.

The Federation is an umbrella organization that provides the structure that houses the rules provided by the recognized affiliates and is the regulatory body for equestrian sport. The USHJA recommends hunter and jumper directors for the Federation Board as well as the national jumper and hunter committees.

In addition, the USHJA has worked with the Federation leadership to ensure that other Federation Committees have hunter/jumper representation including the Hearing, Licensed Officials, Steward/TD, Veterinary and Drugs & Medications Committees. USHJA representatives have fostered relationships with the other discipline and breed affiliate organizations, which strengthens the entire equestrian community and creates partnership opportunities with these organizations.  

Q: How does the USHJA communicate its goals and purposes to its membership?

A: The USHJA uses media avenues such as its website, In Stride magazine, E-News, press releases, target audience emails, Facebook and Twitter. Committee members and leadership also provide articles and information to numerous equestrian publications to further inform the hunter/jumper community of current and future plans and initiatives. 

Q: What percentage of USHJA annual revenue is expensed to administrative costs?

A: Forty percent of the USHJA budget is spent on basic membership services, accounting, auditing, legal fees, IT Services, insurance, shipping, telecommunication, office space, advertising, stewardship and the portion of staff salaries and benefits directly related to these areas.

Q: What percentage of the new building is earmarked for USHJA use, and how much is intended for tenants? How many tenants are currently in, and what is the duration of each contract? How many square feet remain vacant? Can you clarify who holds the mortgage of the new building and its current state?

A: The USHJA occupies the entire first floor of our headquarters, using approximately 5,000 square feet of that space for offices. The remaining 4,000 square feet house the Wheeler Museum and Resource Center, the Ingram Conference Room, and the adjoining Langer Kitchen as well as the Dobbs Lobby.

The approximately 9,000 square feet on the second floor provides about 5,000 square feet for USHJA storage (Two computer servers, banners, museum artifacts, trophies, awards, ribbons, supplies and shipping area) and 3,500 square feet of rental space.

Prior to moving forward with the construction, the organization obtained estimates on costs associated with leasing similar space at the Kentucky Horse Park and areas surrounding it. It was immediately clear that we would be far better spending money on a building we would eventually own versus renting space and not creating an asset.

We currently house one tenant whose contract overlapped that of a previous tenant using other space. The current tenant has a 10-year contract utilizing 1,000 square feet with an option to access additional space. We are in negotiations with a prospective tenant interested in the remaining area. The challenge in renting space at Horse Park is the Park requirement to only rent to Non-profit organizations with some relationship to the equine industry.

Approximately 2,500 square feet remain vacant. PNC bank holds the mortgage on the building. The land is leased from the state of Kentucky for 99 years. The mortgage has a balloon payment due in February of 2015 and is amortized over 15 years. Payments included principal and interest. 

Q: Why is the USHJA duplicating the USEF’s efforts for horse registry/recordation and farm name registration/recordation? Wouldn’t it be less expensive to just buy access to the USEF databases?

A: The USHJA has award programs that are not related to the recording of horses with the Federation and therefore must have a method of tracking horses participating in these programs. The Outreach Hunter Challenge is an awards program that recognizes the horse, and we will be tracking those points in-house next year. In addition, horse registration allows USHJA to query and track trends related to horses and their participation at all competitions in a timelier manner without paying IT costs to access this material from the Federation.

USHJA does purchase some services from the Federation, including IT services. Without this ability, the organization would have to spend considerable funds to develop, maintain and staff an IT department. IT is much more complicated than just having a computer and an Internet connection. This is another advantage of having a permanent office at the Kentucky Horse Park—access to the Federation and its database.

Q: Who are the full-time employees of the USHJA? Are the officers full-time employees? What is the compensation table for Board of Directors, officers and employees of the USHJA, and what benefits are they afforded? Do employees get bonuses, and if so what are they based on?

A: There are 15 full-time employees of the USHJA, as well as two part-time employees and three independent contractors who provide us specialty services on an as-needed basis. Nine of these individuals are or have been active participants in the hunter/jumper sport. 

Members of the Board of Directors are not compensated by the USHJA for their volunteer services, and additionally they pay their own expenses to attend the annual meeting and committee retreats. The officers, other than the president, are not compensated, but the Association does pay for their hotel rooms for four nights during the annual meeting.

In 2005, the Board approved the reimbursement of travel expenses for the president related to actual days traveling and working for the USHJA, however Bill Moroney did not begin to accept this travel reimbursement until 2008. Actually about the time Bill began to accept reimbursement for travel expenses, the Board approved an honorarium for the president based on actual days traveling and working for the USHJA. The Board felt that in order to have a qualified individual that has been active in our sport lead the association, it was necessary to provide some level of compensation in return for the loss of income related to the amount of time the president takes away from other business activities to devote time to USHJA business.

Of course, true to form, Bill didn’t begin to accept this honorarium until March of 2010. And while he works considerably more days every year than the cap provides for, he has never submitted invoices which reach the cap on the honorarium. From what I have seen, Bill spends at least 120 days annually on the road working on behalf of the USHJA, as well as making himself available to the members and staff on a daily basis as he guides the association through the year.

Employee compensation is based on the duties and responsibilities of the position and is calculated by me in consultation with our Human Resources service. As a non-profit, we are not on the high-end of the pay spectrum, and the majority of our staff works here because they are passionate about what we are doing. Employees receive paid legal holidays, health and disability insurance and workman’s compensation.

Sure, our employees are eligible to receive discretionary bonuses, but they are only given when an employee has gone above and beyond the duties and responsibilities of his or her job and exceeded the expectations of their supervisor and me. Obviously, bonuses aren’t awarded in critical financial times. 

Q: Why are the 2009 and 2010 IRS returns not online—they end in 2008?

A: Since our competition year begins in December, the 990 will be dated based on the when the competition year begins. So for example, the 2008 990 is the one that actually covers the 2009 competition year. Our auditors just finished our 2009 990 (which is for the 2010 competition year) last week. It will be posted when we get the finalized version from the auditors.

I know it seems to members like we are not putting the most current financial data out there, but part of it is the confusion regarding the date, and part of it is that we choose to have an independent audit every year (which is not required), but then we have to wait till the audit is complete to post the 990.

Shelby French took over as the USHJA’s Chief Executive Officer in May. She had previously been the director of riding at Sweet Briar College (Va.) and the director of riding at St. Andrews Presbyterian College (N.C.). She created the DVD series The American System Of Forward Riding. She also serves as a Between Rounds columnist for The Chronicle of the Horse.  

Are you a USHJA member with specific questions for French? Contact her directly at sfrench@ushja.org. Check back for the third installment of her Q & A, focused on administration, on Tuesday, Aug. 23.