December, 2023
Greetings Region 8 from Omaha!
I come to you today from the 3rd day of the Adequan/USDF Annual Convention in Omaha. I have had a great time catching up with people from our Region and further afield. More on the Convention below.
The Dressage Finals in Kentucky were a great success again this year. There were approximately 50 Region 8 competitors in attendance, the weather was wonderful, and everything ran smoothly. Generous donors, including SmartPak provided contributions that allowed gifts of tote bags, saddle pads, and hats to all the competitors. Susan Stickle was on hand to take a picture of the group. Region 8 is the only region that does this for their people, and I think it is something very special – it gives our competitors a team feeling. Congratulations to everyone who made it there.
Back now to the Convention. I would like to thank Kate O’Connor, Diane Holston, Jamie Fell, Jane Hannigan, Molly Maloney and Bobbi Carleton for their generous donations to make the PM Delegate Travel Fund Silent Auction a huge success. The money raised in this silent auction helps our Participating Member delegates offset some of the travel expenses for Omaha.
We had a productive Region 8 meeting on Thursday. Discussions included the increasing talk about having a posting trot Division for 2nd-4th level tests and the idea of creating a “mature” division. In both cases, the consensus was that these belonged in schooling shows (where both are already allowed). We discussed using the USEA Volunteer platform to arrange Dressage show volunteers, and apparently it is quite simple. Regina Cristo will be putting together a group to create a Region 8 Adult Amateur Freestyle Award. She envisions it applying to Training – 4th level with cash prizes. If you are interested in helping her create this exciting challenge, please contact me and I will pass on your info to her.
One of the items up for vote at Saturday’s Board of Governor’s meeting is an increase to Membership dues. In most cases, there have been no change in the various dues for 7 years. While inflation has risen steadily in that time, our dues and membership numbers have remained stagnant. You will be hearing about the results of that vote after the meeting tomorrow. Please see these 2 documents to get a refresher on the benefits of USDF membership: https://www.usdf.org/join/PMBenefits&Fees.pdf?t=12/1/2023%206:33:53%20PM and https://www.usdf.org/join/GMBenefits.pdf?t=12/1/2023%206:35:08%20PM and https://www.usdf.org/docs/GMOFlash/web/Benefits%5CGMOBenefits.pdf?t=12/1/2023%206:35:08%20PM.
There has been a lot of discussion on how to engage with GMOs. One of the GMO roundtables focused on “Growing the Dressage Community in your GMO” and I heard a number of creative ideas to achieve this, including Ice Cream socials with various activities such as “Talk to a TD”, specialized stretching for riders, etc.; cocktail hours at a local bar; Grand Prix Freestyle Regionals with other entertainment such as vaulters; and group watch parties of USDF educational videos. It is widely recognized that the USDF website is seriously lacking, and I, as your Regional Director hope to focus on this in our upcoming Board meetings.
We also had a session hosted by experts on the risks to GMOs and small groups of lawsuits arising from Safe Sport issues. It was extremely thought provoking, (and frankly rather scary) and when I get a copy of the Power Point presentation, I will forward it to all the email addresses I have, as well as include it in the next newsletter.
Finally, I get questions from time to time about Volunteer recognition. There is a GMO Volunteer Incentive Program, and here is the link to check it out https://www.usdf.org/clubs/gmo/gmo-volunteer-incentive-program.asp.
I’ll follow up on the remainder of the Convention in next month’s newsletter. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great holiday season!
All the best,
Helen
vandeh13@gmail.com
November, 2023
Greetings Region 8!
October has been pretty quiet – everyone is recovering from Regionals and looking forward to Finals in November. A number of people have made very generous donations to Region 8 to provide some fun swag, including SmartPak who has provided saddle pads at a discount. If you would like to join in supporting our Region’s “team” please get in touch with me.
The 2023 Absorbine/NEDA Symposium with Kyra Kyrklund at Mt. Holyoke was a smashing success! Her focus on the basics, always going back to reinforce them, and the slightly different approach to the clinic made for a very valuable experience. Thank you NEDA for organizing!
There are a number of schooling show over the next month – maybe this is a good time to ease into your next level of competition?
Regarding the Convention, this is our chance to make Region 8’s voice heard. Important votes are taken, and we want to be sure we use all the votes we are allocated. While we have voted for our PM Delegates, there are a number of GMO delegates who have not been identified. I would appreciate it if someone from each of our GMOs contact me with the name(s) of their delegates. If your GMO is unable to send a delegate, we can arrange to have someone carry your vote.
We will be having a regional call on November 13th at 6:00 – agenda and zoom invite to follow. We will go over Convention topics then. Please send me your email if you haven’t been hearing from me personally so I can include you.
The Convention schedule has now been posted at https://www.usdf.org/convention/Conv2023Agenda062223.pdf?t=6/30/2023%209:53:09%20PM. Please consider attending. Without our attendance and input, USDF has no way of knowing what is important to us.
GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE GOING TO THE FINALS! We will get together on Wednesday the 8th in the afternoon for a group picture and mini pep rally. I’ll see you there!
Some other dates to look forward to include:
11/9-11/12 USDF Dressage Finals
11/29-12/2 2023 Adequan/USDF Annual Convention in Omaha NE
All the best,
Helen
vandeh13@gmail.com