For Diane Pitts, her entrance to the horse world and eventually equestrian governance was the result of a request from her youngest son, who came home one day and said he wanted to start riding. She signed him up for a camp, not knowing it would become a lifetime passion for him, or that the horse world would become a mainstay in her life.
Prior to that, Pitts, who grew up in a globe-trotting Army family, had limited horse exposure, largely through a few leisurely trail rides, though some of her family members rode. However, as her son’s interest grew, she became the ultimate barn mom, trading her high heels for barn boots as she shuttled her son to eventing competitions. While doing so, she discovered that over the course of a weekend, there was quite a lot of downtime between his rides.
“You sit around and talk to people, and I discovered that I loved horse people,” Pitts said. “I much preferred horse people and comfortable shoes, and when you’re a lawyer, you tend to get asked your opinion on a lot of things, and consequently I got involved on the local Area Council.”
Pitts, who retired from practicing corporate law in 2002 after 24 years working for the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist, P.C., had previously served as president of various governance groups at her sons’ schools, like PTA and site-based management. With that experience coupled with her practice of corporate law, getting involved with sport governance was a natural next step — and is one that’s kept her active and engaged. After joining the U.S. Eventing Association Area V Council, she became the Area V Young Rider Coordinator, and more opportunities to serve equestrian sport followed. In 2008, she was elected to the USEA Board of Governors, and she served as the organization’s president from 2013 to 2016, before serving as chair of the USEA Foundation until 2022.
Diane Pitts (right) with the other two members of the FEI Tribunal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jose Alfonso Rodriguez and Cesar Torrente. ©Diane Pitts
Being on the board of a U.S. Equestrian affiliate organization presented more opportunities to be involved with the Federation itself. Her tenure has included seats on the Safe Sport Task Force, Eventing Technical Committee, International Disciplines Council, Legislative Committee, Investment Committee, Governance Committee, Audit Committee, and the Eventing Sport Committee. She also currently holds an Independent Director seat on the USEF Board.
“I’m proud that the Federation is becoming better and better at anticipating issues and listening to members. The process of Strategic Planning is an organic process that is continually reviewed, updated and adjusted. The importance of Town Halls in the governance process can’t be underestimated, and I hope members learn to participate and make their opinions known. I am very heartened to see the Federation take a strong leadership role in the issue of horse abuse,” she said. “Fortunately, it’s a cause that everybody can get behind.”
Her experience as a practicing corporate lawyer made her a good fit for many of the governance-focused committees as she enjoys evaluating the minutia, diligently reading meeting minutes and rule change proposals to ensure everything is accurate and, most importantly, serves the USEF membership.
“I really like the governance stuff — it’s what my brain is wired to do,” she said.
One of her aims is to always simplify policies and procedures. She is particularly proud of serving on a task force that put together USEF’s Safe Sport Policy before the U.S. Center for SafeSport was created, as well as sitting on a task force that reworked the eventing portion of the rulebook — ultimately cutting it by about 10 pages.
“I think one of the hardest things for me is to let go a little bit of the minutia and try to take a 60,000-foot view and think not just about the sport I am most familiar with,” Pitts said. “We’ve got such a good board, and it’s been a great learning experience for me – in particular learning about other breeds and disciplines and their unique issues and challenges. The Federation and its structure offer some very unique governance challenges. It’s hard to govern 28 different breeds and disciplines. The presence of the three Olympic sports in the organization creates a requirement for all breeds and disciplines to adhere to the rules and regulations of the USOPC that would not otherwise be a factor. Holding that all together is a high wire act.”
One of her current roles is chair of the Audit Committee, which reviews all Conflict of Interest forms submitted to the Federation by board members, officers, volunteers, committee members, hearing panel members, team selectors, employees, and anyone else involved at a certain level with the USEF. It’s an exhaustive process, but one that’s incredibly important to get right. The group also meets independently with our external auditor to review the yearly audit and provides oversight of the Federation’s financial guardrails and procedures.
“The committee is all board members, and we go through everything and meet and re-meet, ask questions,” Pitts said. “We take it very seriously, because if somebody is conflicted, for instance, in team selections, it’s not a small thing.”
In addition to her work with USEA and USEF, Diane was also elected to the FEI Tribunal, which is the independent judicial body of the FEI. The Tribunal is currently comprised of nine lawyers from across the globe, which makes their conference calls difficult to organize. She currently serves as the Tribunal’s Vice Chair. Pitts says that the time on the Tribunal has been fascinating, as they handle cases of horse doping, safeguarding (FEI’s safe sport), horse abuse, etc. It’s an opportunity to use her legal training, and she said she works with an amazing group of people. As part of her role with the Tribunal, she was part of a three-person team from the Tribunal that attended the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to handle any issues that arose on appeal. “Versailles was spectacular,” she said.
While she’s never competed, Pitts began riding thanks to her son, and once his Young Rider horse, Yogi, stepped down from competition, she started riding him. Currently, she regularly rides a leased horse in Texas at the farm of Rebecca Brown, an Advanced level Eventer. She is also a syndicate member for one of Brown’s horses. Although Diane and her husband, Kenny Rogers, are both lawyers, her sons both became doctors. Her youngest who got her into horse sports, still rides when his schedule allows, and she’s going to welcome her sixth grandchild this year.
Though a board seat is not always an easy position to hold, Pitts believes in the work the board is doing, and she’s found a great sense of community in the horse world.
“I’ve been embraced by horse people,” she said. “It’s a welcoming community, and I really enjoy it. It’s a passionate group of very opinionated people.”