Like so many equestrians, Judy Sloan’s earliest memory involves horses.
“My father used to hack on Sundays after church with my grandfather up the hill to our house in Millbrook, N.Y., and then he’d pull me onto his big Irish hunter and walk me around,” said Sloan.
Those toddler moments marked the beginning of a lifelong love affair with horses that would take Sloan to the FEI level in dressage as an amateur. She’s passionate about helping horses and horsemen thrive and excel through her work with a variety of organizations, including U.S. Equestrian, where she serves on the Board of Directors as the secretary/treasurer. She is also an active Member of the team that operates the USEF Community Outreach Program – designed to increase access to horses and equestrian programs at the community level.
Sloan got her start on an “all arounder” pony who could show one weekend and fox hunt the next. A lack of resources and access meant that Sloan hung up her hard hat when she headed to Georgetown University to study English, and she stayed out of the saddle for 13 years. When the pull of the barn became too strong, she found a $3,000 Thoroughbred mare in a local bargain newspaper who got her back into the saddle. Before long, Sloan decided to try out dressage and she immediately fell in love with the sport, which was a welcome respite from the demands of her career.
Sloan spent 40 years in the corporate world, with 25 years spent as a senior partner at Deloitte. After retiring she found herself with much more time to enjoy the sport from the saddle, and she started getting more involved with causes she cared about, like improving access to the sport, elevating horse welfare, protecting open space and supporting therapeutic riding (she’s volunteered with Vinceramos Therapeutic Riding Center and serves on the Advisory Council for Gallop NYC.) She’s also involved with Brooke USA and Horses For Mental Health, and she serves on the board for the Caribbean Equine Disaster Relief Fund and the Advisory Committee for The Dressage Foundation.
“I feel blessed to have the opportunities that I do, and there’s so much need in the sport itself in terms of horse welfare and accessibility and those are things I’m super passionate about, so it’s an honor to work to try to further those causes,” she said.
These days Sloan has several horses, including an 18-year-old Lusitano named Donatello DC and 16-year-old Westphalian named Libertino, both of whom helped her earn her USDF Gold Medal. She’s looking forward to making her show ring debut with her newest partner, a 9-year-old Lusitano named Nobel Das Figueiras.
While Judy does enjoy competing, for her it’s more about what happens at home when she’s training with Katherine Bateson and Molly Maloney.
“You can say ‘Oh I was 10th in the country,’ or ‘I was the fifth best amateur’ or something, but it’s really about the daily ride,” said Sloan, who lives with her husband David Sloan and two dogs in Wellington, Fla., and Millbrook. “For me, the accomplishment is when you feel such harmony in those moments. It’s not always every day, and you treasure it when it happens.”