BOARD UPDATES

Earlier this year, nominations were invited for the member elected position of Sport Operations Director. Two candidates, Derek Pullem and Simon Bates, were proposed for this position, with both approved by the Nominations Committee and British Dressage Board. The current post-holder, Simon Bates, is eligible to be elected for a second four-year term. Voting will open on 14 July.

In addition, applications were invited for two Extra Director appointments to the Board, with specific expertise in the areas of Finance and Business Development. The current post-holders, Caroline Godfrey and Suzanne Homewood, are both eligible to be re-appointed for a second four-year term and were the only applicants for these roles. These two positions are not subject to a membership vote and will be re-appointed after receiving Board approval. All appointments will be effective from the date of the next British Dressage Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 18 October.

2023 Board elections:

I have been involved in dressage since 1996, mostly as an organiser, including two terms on BD’s Rules and Fixtures Committee, and my current position as Sport Operations Director. I owned and ran Keysoe from its formation until sale of the business at the end of 2020, having grown it from small family farm to successful international competition centre.

My first term as Sport Operations Director has not seen as much evolution of our sport as I would have liked, as the worldwide pandemic rather affected progress, with the main priority and focus being on maintaining rather than progressing the sport during those times. We have still made good progress (with more to come) in balancing the sections and pathways, particularly for Silver riders, and offering a range of opportunities for every individual. This is being achieved through steady progress, without massive changes and bombshells appearing with each new handbook. We now have two seasons of Area Festivals, while Quest becoming a 12-month competition is the beginnings of an evolution of that part of the sport. Our elite calendar of Premier, High Profile and international shows is also growing into new venues to meet increased demand.

Moving forward, our sport needs to widen the base at grass roots level by increasing the reach of Quest. This is our product that interfaces the most with the unaffiliated market. It is an affordable and consistent product to bring riders in to British Dressage, but we need a way to bring in venues where there is low existing Quest membership. We also need new venues where there is an existing market, without damaging the venues that are already there. We have seen from the recent survey of members that My Quest is a more popular product than Team Quest, and so we need to find a way for individuals to be able to compete in two tests at the same level at a show. The Associated Championships are another important route into the sport, and these need to be able to continue to grow and allow more breeds and types to come into this competition.

We should be encouraging and assisting unaffiliated organisers to follow a consistent set of our rules, and to adhere to all of our welfare standards, to help the natural transition through to affiliated competition. Good unaffiliated sport is good for the affiliated sport. New members, venues and judges come through from the unaffiliated market, and our members use unaffiliated competition to prepare and consolidate their training outside of BD’s recorded results.

We need to make the transition from unaffiliated to affiliated dressage, and from Club to Full as simple as possible, and to remove any intimidation that people feel when they look in from the outside. This is an inclusive, welcoming, and supportive sport, and we need to make sure that message is clear for all to see. We do need to grow our online learning and information, and a relaunch and rebrand of the “BD at Home” content that worked through COVID as a vehicle to draw riders in, and to grow riders within our sport.

Full members need a simplification of the pathways for Regionals and Area Festivals. It needs to be an easy and natural choice for a rider who is nearing the top of Area Festival Silver, to choose between moving up an AF level or moving to the Regional route at their current level. At present, it is more complicated than necessary. The qualification structure for both needs to follow a similar template, which is a number of scores exceeding a set percentage. The sport will change with the needs of both its equine welfare and sustainability challenges. Both will fairly equally affect the way sport evolves in future.

For equine welfare, I would like to see horse injury managed in the same way that human injury is recorded, whereby any serious injury that results in a horse not being able to compete for a time can be recorded. We should have provision that horse membership can be extended where a horse is off for a reported injury, when accompanied by a veterinary certificate, so that there is no commercial pressure on the recuperation and recovery period. This will also give an opportunity to monitor the different types of injury and the frequency that these injuries occur within dressage horses.

Sustainability needs to grow as a priority, with a clear hierarchy of implementation. BD as an organisation should develop and implement best practices at its head office, and with its own network of staff and volunteers, then implementing best practices at the Championship shows run by British Dressage, before taking these refined and implemented ideas and best practices, and offering them to our members, venues, centres, and yards.

British Dressage is now well established as a charity, so with a healthy Reserves position we should also be looking at further investment in our charitable aims and objectives that fulfil a wider remit for the sport as a whole.

How To Vote

The voting process will be hosted online, with the electronic ballot opening from Friday 14 July 2023. Eligible members will receive an email with details of how to vote electronically using the unique link provided by independent company, Mi-Voice.

If you wish to vote by post, you can download a ballot form at britishdressage.co.uk from 14 July 2023. If you need a hard copy, please send an SAE to Ben Waterhouse at British Dressage, Building 2020, Meriden Business Park, Copse Drive, Meriden, West Midlands, CV5 9RG.

All ballot papers/votes cast must be received by 5.00pm on Friday 1 September and any received after this time will not be counted.

Each current paid member has one vote. Please note that Community members are not eligible to vote. Mi-Voice will scrutinise all votes (electronic and paper) and carry out random spot checks for authenticity. British Dressage will not have access to the voting papers, or any record of which members voted for which candidate.

The result of the ballot will be announced at the British Dressage Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 18 October.

2023 Board elections: SPORT OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

I came to the sport of Dressage relatively late in life when I met my wife eighteen years ago. At that time, you still needed to be a class winner to enter the Regionals and my wife competing at Elementary was a major achievement at local competitions. My learning curve was steep, as the extent of my equestrian knowledge was limited to horse racing and watching Badminton and the Horse of the Year Show on the BBC. But the bug bit me and now it seems perfectly normal to spend every spare moment mucking out, planning the dressage season campaign, and then working out how to fit in all the trips around the country. My wife now competes three horses at levels between Medium and Grand Prix, including the remarkable “Rosie”, or Cheeky Wee Red, the ex-racer who we took all the way from Novice to Grand Prix level.

As a groom for my wife, I have experienced the evolution of the British Dressage competition structure first hand. I first took an active interest in the competition structure in 2015 when the Gold, Silver and Bronze sections were introduced. This was when my alter ego – “Groomwithabroom” (or GWAB) was born on the old BD forums. The more I discussed with other members the more I realised that they shared my concerns over the new competition structure. So much so that BD invited me to sit on the Sport Operations Committee in 2018. Groomwithabroom didn’t disappear after 2018 though, you can find some of my views on my blog at https:// groomwithabroom. wordpress.com/. This has led me back to working informally with several members of the BD team at Meriden over the years.

We have all now become accustomed to the Gold, Silver and Bronze structure and enjoy the opportunity to compete in winter and summer seasons at Area Festivals and Regionals. These are significant achievements by the BD Sport Operations team. It is fair to say that many members still struggle with the complexity of the eligibility rules and sometimes feel that the reward for success can feel more like a penalty when it tips them over into competing in a higher section. If I were elected, my two principal objectives over the next four years would be:

• Simplify the eligibility rules as much as possible.

• Rebalance the competition structure so members are encouraged to compete at their highest level possible, but not pushed too early into a higher section, particularly for their second or following horses. We have two very successful competitions, Area Festivals and Regionals. Both can lead to championships at national level, but Area Festivals have always been aimed at the grassroots rider – and as such need ‘protecting’ from the riders who could be > competitive at Regionals. There needs to be a much smoother transition from Area Festivals to Regionals to encourage those riders who are capable to compete at Regional level on their current horse.

Similarly, there needs to be opportunities for the talented grassroots combinations to compete at the advanced levels without the commitment to the ‘professional’ Gold circuit that comes with entering Premier Leagues. More and more members are reaching or aspire to these levels, and we need to look closely at the opportunities available to them, such as through the number and timing of High Profile Shows offering Silver sections. So, what do I see my role as Sport Operations Director, and by extension the wider Sport Operation team at BDHQ delivering? It can be summarised in these three actions:

Enable: Provide a range of competitions for the membership, from new riders just starting out to international competitors. We need to make sure we can sustain these competitions by making them a financially viable option for the venues.

Encourage: Ensure that success is rewarded by encouraging members to take on new challenges and not by penalising them. We need to recognise personal achievements more, as we used to do with rider groups.

Engage: We need to engage with the membership and communicate not only the changes in rules, but the reasons for those changes – and to listen to the feedback. Engagement is a two-way street, and we need to help and encourage more members to volunteer to support the sport at competitions and to be public ambassadors as part of the debate on equine welfare.

So why do I think I am the best candidate to guide the Sport Operations team at British Dressage for the next four years?

I have a wide knowledge of the rules and structure of the sport, plus a keen interest in equestrian issues beyond BD, both nationally and internationally. I also have hands-on

2023 Board: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Meet our Business Development Director, due to be re-appointed for a second term.

I am very excited to be appointed for a second term as Business Development Director, at a time when our sport, horse welfare, and its role within social and environmental change can play a crucial part in helping build and sustain a healthy, harmonious future within a more natural world.

The last four years have seen so many changes impacting the way we work, play, and interact with nature. Expectations, priorities, and relationships have changed, and that includes what we expect from our equestrian networks and of course our governing bodies and membership organisations. The health of our horses and their environment continues to be a priority as our natural resources start to become more impacted from climate change, and economic stresses take their toll on many areas including suppliers to the market, event venues and competitions.

British Dressage itself has changed considerably over the last four years, with huge leaps forward in the quality of communication, particularly online, from our website to our social media presence, providing access to so many new followers and members by sharing what we do and what we stand for. Working with our media partners Horse and Country, live streaming events, bringing friends, family, and worldwide connections closer to our sport through video has enabled our members to stay connected, wherever they are.

BD at Home, created during the pandemic, has extended into many support areas such as fitness, nutrition, member stories, training, experience of some of the actual challenge faced by members trying to navigate their way through the rulebook and qualification process, from Novice Area Festival to High Profile Shows and Grand Prix. I can also bring in a strong understanding of how to plan and ensure the timely delivery of change based on my day job as a Major Projects Manager. access to our top rider tips and advice, and so much more, that our members have told us they find invaluable.

We have an opportunity to build on the solid foundations of the last eight years to make the structure of our sport more progressive and less complex. We should aim for a system where everyone is motivated to compete against the best, without being overly penalised for a single success.

One person cannot do this alone. Even with the Sport Operations team and the support of the BD Board of Directors there is no guarantee of success. But if you are generous enough to vote for me in this election, I am committed to working with every member, be they rider, owner, judge, volunteer, or organiser to try to deliver these goals in the next four years.

Our new insurance and legal partnerships have enabled us to offer even better benefits to our members, helping to reduce the overall cost of horse ownership. Our National and Winter Championships have taken steps to reduce waste, be more inclusive and celebrate our diverse culture and membership. Our sponsors and marketing partnerships have continued to introduce educational content, giving firstrate access to expert advice. >

And we have been leading the way across the UK equestrian sports with our approach to horse welfare through our rules, judge training, and education tools.

I therefore believe that we need to continue to build on the member engagement, communication, and community, providing greater access to advice, guidance, and support across many aspects of health, welfare and of course our competitions. We will continue to increase our range of member benefits, diversifying with new

2023 Board: FINANCE DIRECTOR

Meet our Finance Director and Deputy Chair, due to be re-appointed for a second term.

Caroline Godfrey

Over the last five years I have thoroughly enjoyed being on the British Dressage Board. My roles as Finance Director (and as Interim Chair for 10 months) have allowed me to get under the skin of the organisation and to fully contribute to its ongoing development. We are fortunate to have a skilful and committed workforce of paid staff and volunteers, and it has been my responsibility to work with the Senior Management Team and the Board to ensure that our finances are well-managed and used appropriately for the benefit of members and the sport of dressage.

In my first term I have been instrumental in establishing a Finance & Business Development Committee, to provide professional oversight and guidance for the organisation in these key areas.

I also encouraged the introduction of a Nominations Committee, which promotes good governance by ensuring any nominees have the requisite skills for their proposed role.

The pandemic in 2020-2022 involved a lot of financial modelling and it was the continued loyalty of our members that enabled us to come out of the crisis in a strong financial position. My top priority for the next four years is to see that the Reserves we have built up are reinvested in projects that will benefit the widest range of members and stakeholders.

The Finance role is a ‘back room’ one, not requiring the dressage expertise of many Board roles, but I am committed to using my skills and experience as an accountant to ensure members’ resources continue to be products and services that help support a more environmental approach to all aspects of sport. We also want to celebrate and reflect even further our diverse and engaged membership base so we can continue to retain, and attract new people to our sport, and grow beyond our current record number. used wisely and that we offer value for money in all that we do – as a grassroots rider this really matters to me. I am excited to continue in this role for another term.

This ensures we maintain a strong commercial baseline that enables us to invest in our office teams, our competition structure, our officials and venues, and every aspect of our organisation. With reliance on such a wide range of stakeholder groups and people to run and execute our sport, the participation and engagement of our members is what keeps us growing and thriving.

I am confident that we can, with the aid of a new Commercial Manager working alongside our existing strong Marketing and Membership teams, find new suppliers and partners that can reflect our priorities and ambition for building a sustainable sport that brings people and horses together in harmony, whilst delivering value for our current and future members.

When I was elected as Finance Director in 2018, I knew a lot about finance as a chartered accountant of many years, knew something about dressage as a grassroots competitor, but knew very little about how British Dressage as an organisation worked. It was a fairly steep learning curve, but an exciting and interesting one! During my time on the BD Board, I have been fortunate to work with a very focused management team and Board Directors, to help develop strategies that ensure BD’s financial position remains strong. I have also worked closely with the finance team to improve financial reporting and with the Chief Executive to deliver a holistic business strategy. At present our focus is on the reinvestment of funds into the sport: we are fortunate to have generated surpluses and now are looking to apply these to a range of projects, to benefit as many members as possible across all regions and competitive levels.

WHAT HAVE I DELIVERED IN MY FIRST TERM?

• Established the Finance & Business Development Committee – to provide a format for in-depth discussion of business matters for the charity on a regular basis.

• Encouraged the introduction of the Nominations Committee – to promote good governance by ensuring any nominees have the requisite skills for their proposed role.

• Appointed new Auditors through a competitive tender process.

• Appointed investment managers through a competitive tender process and formulated an Investment Policy.

• Oversaw the finances in detail during the pandemic to support the finance team, including during staff vacancies and changes.

• Acted as Interim Chair for 10 months.

• Worked with the Chief Executive to set up Designated Funds and plans for reinvestment.

• Acted as a sounding board to the Chair and Chief Executive.

• Ongoing suppor t for the finance team, including work on improving management reporting and drafting of statutory accounts.

WHAT IS MY VISION FOR THE FUTURE?

• Deliver on the reinvestment of reserves, in line with the agreed management plan.

• Invest BD resources effectively to protect value as far as possible in a time of high inflation.

• Continue to manage costs so that value for money is achieved, while still enabling BD to deliver on its plans and to grow as a sport.

• Be mindful at all times of pressures on members and stakeholders due to rising costs and to reflect that in financial planning.

• To have a flexible approach so that social impact initiatives and any other ‘hot topics’ can be financed as required, such as equine welfare, sustainability, and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion.

• Review of Auditor and Investment Manager appointments on a cyclical basis, as a matter of good governance.

• Continue to suppor t the Chief Executive and Chair in their roles as required, particularly in respect of finance, governance, and business management.

• Work with the finance team to continue to improve regular financial reporting, which will enable the Senior Management Team and Board to be better informed.

I have thoroughly enjoyed contributing to British Dressage and in my new term will continue to work with the Board and the Senior Management Team to deliver best value for our members across all levels, ensuring that the values and aims espoused by British Dressage are lived out in practice and are fully funded by prudent financial management.