May 2023
Greetings Region 8!
Show season is off and running, and I hope everyone is enjoying the process of getting all polished up. I made it to Omaha for the Executive Board meeting – info from that will be available soon. Needless to say, I saw some amazing riding. Wow.
One item that has been announced that came out of the Board meeting is that sadly, the Schooling Show Award program has been discontinued effective immediately. USDF is looking at alternatives to take its place in the future.
We have a few youth-oriented opportunities coming up that I want to highlight. As I included in last month’s newsletter, we in Region 8 are incredibly lucky that Sabine Schut-Kery will be our clinician at the Youth Clinic to be held June 10 and 11 at Weatogue Stables in Salisbury CT. APPLICATIONS ARE DUE MAY 7. The rider information and application can be found at https://www.usdf.org/education/clinics/jryr/riders.asp. This is a fantastic opportunity for all of us to learn from one of our Olympic athletes, and I encourage you to apply or attend as an auditor. All youth and their designated chaperone can attend for free. It is $20 per day for adult USDF members and $40 per day for non-members. No registration required.
USEF has announced the Higher Education Equestrian Scholarship. There are five $1000 scholarships available to graduating high school seniors who are committed to furthering their equestrian skills and knowledge while in college. Information is at https://www.usef.org/media/press-releases/applications-now-open-for-us-equestrian-higher.
There is a dedicated page on the USDF website here https://www.usdf.org/education/youth-quick-reference-guide.asp, that gives a lot of information on opportunities.
Some really exciting youth news: Callie O’Connell from Wilmington Ma, and her equine partner Eaton H have been selected to the US Dressage European U25 Tour. Congratulations!
Here is the link to the show season calendar on the USDF website: https://www.usdf.org/calendar/competitions.asp.
Some other dates to look forward to include:
6/1/2023-6/30/2023 Voting is open for the PM delegates to the Board of Governors at the Convention. Please keep an eye out for the announcement of the delegates and VOTE!
9/21/2023-9/24/2023 Region 8 GAIG/USDF Championships in Saugerties NY
11/9/2023-11/12/2023 USDF Dressage Finals
11/29/2023-12/2/2023 2023 Adequan/USDF Annual Convention in Omaha NE
All the best,
Helen
vandeh13@gmail.com