Inside USDF

Opportunities for All

That’s the goal of the USDF Activities Council’s six committees

By Sue Mandas, USDF Activities Council At-Large Director

As the at-large director for the USDF Activities Council, I would like to take you on a tour of our six committees.

Going alphabetically, I begin with the Adult Programs Committee, chaired by Holly Hilliard. The committee members strive to offer education programs that adult members value and will participate in. They frequently look to USDF’s group-member organizations (GMOs), seeking ways to support and enhance dressage education at the local level, and they created the USDF GMO Education Initiative (GEI), which can provide both monetary and organizational support. The National Educational Calendar and Map is another of its brainstorms, and this is also the committee that comes up with ideas and presenters for the educational sessions held at the Adequan®/USDF Annual Convention. Due to the success of the virtual sessions held in 2020, they are developing more Zoom modules for this year that will be available through the USDF website.

Next is the Awards Committee. Led by chair Amy Swerdlin, this committee oversees the roster of USDF horse and rider awards. It frequently reviews existing awards programs and evaluates the potential of new ones, such as the Diamond Achievement award, which beginning in the 2021 competition year recognizes riders who have earned the full slate of USDF bronze, silver, and gold rider medals and bronze, silver, and gold freestyle bars.

Chaired by Roberta Williams, the FEI Junior/Young Rider Committee develops educational and competition opportunities for riders aged 12 to 21 who compete in the FEI Pony, Children, Junior, and Young Rider divisions. The committee verifies the selection of the US dressage teams for the FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC) and keeps an eye on these riders’ progression toward participation in US Equestrian’s US Dressage Festival of Champions. New for 2021 is the Amanda Johnson Pursuit of Excellence Trophy for the NAYC Junior division.

The Regional Championships Committee is chaired by Janine Malone, with Anne Kuhns as vicechair. This committee is hands-on with all things concerning the Great American/USDF Regional Championships, and 2020 was an especially challenging year. The committee rose to the occasion and made many adaptations to the qualifying procedures in order to make the dream of competing at Regionals possible for many USDF members.

The Sport Horse Committee, chaired by Kristi Wysocki and co-chaired by Natalie DiBerardinis, strives to foster and advance the breeding and development of top US dressage sport horses. It has created the USDF Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum, the USDF Youth/Young Adult Dressage Sport Horse Breeders Seminar, the USDF Sport Horse Handlers Clinic, and the USDF Sport Horse Seminar. The USDF Youth/Young Adult Ambassador program engages and mentors the breeders of tomorrow. The Sport Horse Committee also supports management, owners, breeders, and competitors in dressage sport-horse breeding (DSHB) competition.

The Youth Programs Committee, chaired by Roz Kinstler, focuses on educating and recognizing the young equestrians who are the future of our sport. This committee created or supports the USDF Youth Dressage Rider Recognition Pin Program, the USDF/USEF Young Rider Graduate Program, the USDF Youth Volunteer of the Year award, USDF youth convention scholarships, the USDF Shining Star awards, the USDF nomination for the USEF Youth Sportsman’s Award, and the USDF Ravel Education Grant. It is also very involved with the USDF Dressage Seat Medal Semi-Finals. One of this committee’s huge recent accomplishments is the creation of a Quick Reference Guide for the Youth/Young Adult Dressage Rider, available on the Youth page of the USDF website.

These six committees are always looking for input and suggestions, all of which can be directed either to the committee chairs or to me. They work hard to make the sport of dressage one that every USDF member can be involved in on some level. Let us hear from you!