Highlights from the 2015 USEF ANNUAL MEETING By Kim MacMillan
than in a meeting room at a convention center. Yet the busi- ness conducted at the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Annual Meeting each year affects nearly all U.S. horse owners in some way or another. Being “in the know” about the USEF is something that benefits all sport horse breeders and owners. Here’s a look at the USEF’s structure and some specific highlights of this year’s USEF meet- ing, which was held in Lexington, Kentucky, in January.
M
Structure of the USEF The USEF is the governing body for equestrian sport in the U.S. and the U.S. representative to the Fédération Equestre Internationale, the international governing body for eques- trian sport. While the USEF is not a breeder’s organiza- tion in the same vein as the breed registries, happily the importance of sport horse breeding in the U.S. is becoming increasingly recognized by the USEF. In 2003 the USEF was formed as the official govern- ing body when the former USA Equestrian (which was the American Horse Shows Association before that) joined forces with the United States Equestrian Team (USET). At that time the USEF took over the task of selecting, training, funding and sending our U.S. teams to international compe- titions such as the Olympic Games, the Pan Am Games, the World Equestrian Games, the Nations Cup tour, and other World Championships such as the World Saddleseat Cham- pionships and the FEI World Driving Championships for Ponies. The USET still exists, but now acts as a charitable fund-raising organization only and they are designated in the USEF’s bylaws as their only “sustaining affiliate member.”
80 March/April 2015
ost equestrians would rather be spending time with their horse
A vast and varied organization, the USEF is made up of discipline affiliates (dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, hunters, para dressage, reining, show jumping, vaulting, Western) and offi- cial breed affiliates (Arabians, Andalu- sians and Lusitanos, Connemara Ponies, Hackneys, Friesians, Morgans, National Show Horses, Paso Finos, Saddlebreds, Shetland Ponies, Roadsters and Welsh Ponies). The hierarchy of the USEF is orga- nized into three major councils; they are the
Administrative and Finance Council, the Interna- tional Disciplines Council and the National Breeds &
Disciplines Council. The USEF’s annual meeting involves committee, subcom-
mittee and council meetings for all of these entities, two days of board of directors meetings and two nights of awards ceremonies. Besides all of the above gatherings, there are several other important meetings held during the convention to address the major issues facing the USEF. They include the meetings of the following committees: Drugs and Medications, Marketing, and Licensed Officials, as well as the Hearing Committee, the Legislative Commit- tee, the Safety Committee, the Horse Welfare Initiative Task Force, the Horse Recording and Identification Task Force, and the dizzying list goes on. The USEF Board of Directors consists of three officers;
four athlete representatives; four representatives from International Disciplines Council (one each from dressage, eventing and show jumping and one representative from the other five FEI disciplines); four representatives from the National Breeds and Disciplines Council; one member of the Administration and Finance Council; two independent members; and one from the USET. After rule changes and topics of concern are discussed in
each committee, they are passed on to the board with each committee’s thoughts and recommendations for changing the USEF’s extensive rule book. It is a tangled, but actually quite interesting, process used to form the rules and regula- tions that govern equestrian sport in this country. Kudos to the many athletes, trainers, judges, horse breeders, veteri- narians and other horse people who volunteer their time on the various USEF committees, councils, task forces and the board of directors.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100