Over the past several months, committees within the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association have expended considerable effort to solve the dilema of the limited number of qualified, knowledgeable judges and stewards. These committees have been reaching out to our membership, licensed officials, and competition management to obtain information that will help them formulate a long-term plan for increasing the pool of competent judges and stewards.

This exercise has made me realize that we also have a duty to identify, encourage and train young equestrians to be our sport’s future leaders and administrators. The question for us as hunter and jumper enthusiasts is, how will we do this?

Some of the other USEF-recognized affiliates have long-established youth programs that enable them to identify their future leaders. Our hunter/jumper affiliate is very young, but we need to address this issue immediately and keep developing a program as we grow.

This year, the USHJA will participate in two new programs established by the USEF, which target young horsemen who are interested in governance and leadership. The first program is a product of the USEF National Affiliates Working Group (NAWG), comprised of representatives of the national breeds and disciplines.

During the past year, the NAWG has developed the USEF Youth Sportsman’s Charter Award, which will be bestowed upon a junior who demonstrates a continuing commitment and dedication to the USEF and their respective affiliate organization. Each USEF-recognized affiliate will submit the name and biography of their candidate to the NAWG, and an overall winner will be chosen from the nominees.

The affiliates can decide how they determine their nominees, with the stipulation that the nominees meet the following criteria: The nominee must be a junior at the time of application and a member in good standing of the USEF and their respective affiliate organization; serve as a role model for their peers and exhibit characteristics that exemplify the principles of sportsmanship; participate at any level of competition; and demonstrate a continuing dedication to the promotion of the horse.

The overall winner will re-ceive a $1,000 educational scholarship, a trophy, a USEF internship, and a life membership in the USEF. Some of the affiliates have also agreed to provide a lifetime membership.

Our USHJA Zone Hunter and Jumper committees will be submitting nominees to our Youth Council, who will choose the winner from the USHJA. The USHJA nominee will receive special recognition during our annual meeting in December.

If you have ideas for nominees from your zone, now is the time to get in touch with your zone hunter or jumper representatives and forward to them the names and biographies of these individuals. The contact information for your zone representatives is available through our office and our website, www.ushja.org.

The second program created by the USEF is the establishment of a Youth Council, comprised of juniors representing the USEF’s recognized affiliates. We hope this Youth Council will provide strong and creative leadership for equestrian sports in the United States, develop programs to expand the base of young people contributing to its leadership, and promote the pursuit of excellence in horsemanship from the grass roots to the top levels.

Again, USHJA will provide an individual to represent our organization on the USEF Youth Council, and we’re looking for your input. The USEF Youth Council will hold its first meeting during the USEF convention in January, and the plan is to hold the first Youth Conference in 2008.

The establishment of these two USEF programs has put a spotlight on an area that our hunter and jumper community needs to address. One way we’ve been approaching this is to integrate younger horsemen from all levels into our committee structure. It’s easy to get stuck following one path, and these younger minds often give us a fresh perspective and view of issues that help us to achieve our goals in new, creative ways.

This plan has been working out well, and more people are participating in governance than ever before. It seems as if our plan to rekindle the spirit of the hunter and jumper enthusiast is working. Committee chairmen are reporting excellent meeting attendance, and, judging by the number of programs being created and implemented, productivity is at an all-time high.

I firmly believe that we as an organization must be looking far into our future, a future that includes leadership development. And leadership development includes reaching out to our young people and getting them involved in our organization.

In an effort to further help our current and future leaders, the USHJA has engaged the services of Dr. Andrew Weiner of the University of Kentucky, who specializes in developing effective leaders by teaching leadership skills. Dr. Weiner has already been a positive influence on our staff and officers, and we’re bringing his expertise to our membership by hosting a seminar during our December meeting.

To help speed us along on our path to identifying our future leaders, I would like all of us to encourage our many young equestrians to attend the December meeting. There, they’ll have the opportunity to be exposed to governance in action through committee meetings, forums, seminars and Board of Directors meetings.

Perhaps our future will also include each USHJA affiliate organization developing similar youth leadership programs and sending their representatives to our meeting.

Another path to achieving our goal is to create and implement an internship program in our own office in Kentucky. This is a great project for our Youth Council to develop, and it’s another great opportunity for our young equestrians to get behind the scenes and see what goes into the admini-stration of our sport.

I used to hear that it’s always the same old people making all the decisions for our sport, but I think that times have changed and that’s not the case anymore. Many more people, from all levels, have taken it upon themselves to get involved since the USHJA’s creation. These people are also staying around because they see that our world is growing, getting better, and becoming more productive.

Our community has a bright future ahead of us, and part of that future is developing our leaders of tomorrow.

Bill Moroney