August 2023
Greetings Region 8!
Not starting this newsletter with the weather. It is too awful to revisit.
I am very happy to recognize the Region 8 members of the NAYC team! The Juniors are Leah Drew and Damons Davian, Sophia Forsyth and Dimagico, and Lucy Sheldon and Porche’s Florencia. The Young Rider Team is made up of Gabriel Epstein and Bandito, Nash Gagnon and Eros SSF, and Isabela Thorpe and Porche’s Florencia. Please show your support by taking advantage of their fundraising efforts. It is obviously very expensive to send the team all the way to Michigan for the Championships. Bobbi Carleton and I will be Chefs for the team – we are so excited with such a great group of kids. They are the future of our sport, and as such deserve our applause (and $$). We’ll be heading off to be in Traverse City from 8/6-8/13.
Back to the weather. This has been a devastating summer for many in our region. Shows have suffered through near hurricane levels of rain and wind. Hay is rotting in the field due to surprise storms, dangerous thunderstorms and record heat are impacting our daily work. Most recently, GMHA was flooded out, rebuilt, then completely wiped out with a rain storm of 5”in 3 hours. If you would like to make a donation to help in their reconstruction, here is the link https://gmhainc.org/annual-fund-support-gmha.asp I’m sure there are other barns in the region that have suffered – please contact me and hopefully we can pull together as a region to support each other with supplies, clean up or anything else.
All of the above is putting pressure on those trying to qualify for Regionals. The deadline for qualifying is August 28th. There are still a number of qualifiers available, and you can find the listing with entry info here: https://usdf.org/calendar/competitions.asp. You’ll have to select Region 8. Best of luck to all.
Finally, broken record that I am, let’s talk Convention. The 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. Also, as I have mentioned in the past, there is a scholarship available to young riders to attend. I understand it is tough for students to get away from school, friends, etc. but I think it is really important to have them be a part of the direction of our sport (see above re the future). The deadline for the scholarship application is August 31, and here is the link: https://usdf.org/awards/other-awards/youth-convention-scholarship.asp.
Some other dates to look forward to include:
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