T HE C ENTERLINE Journey to Becoming an R

By Missy Gilliland

I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in an area where I saw successful professionals that were great riders and also judges (Ellie Stine-Masek, Bev Rodgers, Julie Sodowsky, Dorie VlattenSchmitz). That made a big impression on me very early on. I wanted to be good at different aspects of the sport, not just riding.

The L program was hands down the most educational thing I’ve done in my whole career. I’ve even audited it a second time because I love the material so much. Whenever possible, I make the time to take horses to demo ride for L programs as well. This program needs to be supported. It’s invaluable, in my opinion.

Luckily, I graduated with distinction from my L program and had all the riding requirements met, so it was just natural to move on with an r program. I actually enjoy being challenged and having goals. It energizes me, so I just went on with it.

The r program was very different than the L. Less educational and more of a “sink or swim” feeling to it. It was also INCREDIBLY expensive and time consuming to meet all of the apprentice requirements.

Next step is trying to get my R license. I just applied for a program but probably won’t get into one until next year.

The thing I enjoy the most about judging is going to different places and observing different trends in the areas riding. Strengths and weaknesses. I think it’s hard to look at your own work (horses and students) and see holes. It’s easier when you’re looking at a horse/rider for the first time. It helps me to then go home and try to communicate more clearly with my horses in my own riding, and to my students when I teach.

I strongly encourage everyone to do the L program, even if you have no interest in judging. For people considering becoming a judge, I would say that it only really makes sense to do it if you have a stubborn personal goal about it. Not only is it expensive to go through the programs, but I lose money when I’m judging a day vs working at my barn, so it doesn’t make business sense for me. It's just a standard of professionalism that I aspire to and that’s enough for me.

ADA Board

President: Tania Radda 480.235.7654 t.radda@azdressage.org

1st VP: Kathy Smith ksmith@azdressage.org

2nd VP: Amy Burnett

Secretary: Nicole Zoet-Oostermyer ozranch3@aol.com

Treasurer & Trustee of Records: Cynthia Ganem cganem@azdressage.org

Maeike Zoet mzoet@yahoo.com

Michell Combs

Susan Skripac

Alanna Almgren

Heather Lynch

Kadriya Musina-Sallus

Jarred Sallus

Committees

Awards: Maeike Zoet-Javins m-zoet@yahoo.com

Centerline Editor: Beth Martinec centerline@azdressage.org

Webmaster: Sue Leutwyler webmaster@azdressage.org

Education: Pam Polydoros

Finance: Cynthia Ganem

Fundraising: Kay Lorenzen

Futurity: Susan Skripac

Juniors/Young Riders: Heather Lynch

Membership: Michell Combs

Scholarship: Ann Damiano a.damiano@azdressage.org

Recognized Shows: Kathy Smith

Scores Compilation: Sue Leutwyler

Vendors: Michelle Scarzone

ADA Board Attorney: Wendy Riddell w.riddell@azdressage.org

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Show season is well underway in the southern part of our region and I hope everyone in our northern states are staying warm and getting a little horse time this winter while we get quite a bit more snow than usual!

We are accepting bids for the 2024 Great American/USDF Region 5 Championships through February 6th. If anyone is interesting is placing a bid for the Regional Championships or has any questions about the process, please contact myself or the USDF office and we’ll be happy to help! The final date for a Regional Championship to be held in 2024 will be October 13th in order to fit into the National Championship time frame, so please keep that in mind when looking at facilities and possible weekends. The Finals will be held in Lexington, Kentucky in 2024.

If you have an educational activity that your barn, group or organization is doing, please let me know so I can add it to the Region 5 educational activity calendar that is sent out with the monthly Regional updates by USDF. We would love to keep everyone as informed as possible. We can also post events on the Region 5 website. Please feel free to send me an email reminder for anything you’d like to see posted.

If you intend to qualify for Region 5 teams to the North American Youth Championships, then please make sure you take note of the application structure for 2023. The application and fee should be turned in to the USDF office by March 14, 2023 in order to avoid stiffer fees. If you apply by March 14th, the fee is only $50 per application. Applications submitted between March 15th and April 25th are $100 and the final application deadline is May 9th, but it will cost you $300 to apply between April 26th and May 9th. At this point in time, absolutely no applications will be accepted after May 9th. If you plan to compete for NAYC, please also be sure to contact Joan Clay, our Region Coordinator for the FEI Juniors and Young Riders and let her know your intent. Her email address is jnclay@comcast.net and her phone number is 970.420.0887. The 2023 NAYC will be held at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival, Flintfields Horse Park, Traverse City, Michigan – August 7-13, 2023.

Till next month!

Heather Petersen

Region 5 Director