Lexington, Ky. – The USEF Board of Directors met on Saturday, January 14, at the 2023 US Equestrian Annual Meeting in Lexington, Ky. During the meeting, Judy Werner was elected Vice President and Ellie Brimmer was added as an athlete representative. Judy Werner (Waterloo, Ill.) brings a long history of service in US Equestrian governance, having served on numerous committees and councils, including as Vice President of the Executive Committee, Hearing Committee Co-Chair, Audit Committee...

Following Annual Meeting and a review of requirements for foreign athletes competing in USEF national competitions as well as USEF athletes competing in foreign national competitions, an amendment to Bylaw 203 has been proposed requiring all foreign athletes wishing to compete in USEF national competitions to comply with USEF membership requirements. The proposed amendment to the USEF Bylaw 203 will be considered by the USEF Board of Directors following a 21-day consultation period during which...

Ju’Riese Colón is the Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Center for SafeSport with a professional background in children’s safety policy and education. She spoke at the USEF Annual Meeting about participant protection and SafeSport in the equestrian community. Here are five takeaways from her presentation. 1. The equestrian community has become a leader in participant protection efforts. The U.S. Center for SafeSport was designated in 2017 as the nation’s safe sport...

Sydney Moriarty is a lifelong hunter/jumper rider and a second-year medical student at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine. In 2021, she graduated with a B.S. in Clinical Neuroscience from Virginia Tech, where she worked at the Helmet Lab assisting on the Equestrian STAR helmet rating project . Moriarty gave a presentation on the history, future, and current research around equestrian helmets, body protectors, and air vests. Here are five key takeaways from her presentation: 1....

Sarah Hamilton from strategic communications consulting firm Kivvit gave a presentation on social media to kick off Friday’s Workshop Sessions. She reviewed the basics, different platforms, strengths and weaknesses of social media, and best practices. Hamilton concluded by fielding questions from the audience for a thoroughly informative session. Social media is a communication tool “Social media is just one tool in a larger communications and marketing external relations plan that...

Lexington, Ky. - Following a review of Area VI community feedback, modifications to the 2023-2027 U.S. Eventing Calendar were recommended by the Eventing Strategic Calendar Task Force to the Eventing Sport Committee, who in turn recommended the modifications to an Ad Hoc of the Board of Directors. Due to hardships demonstrated for qualification under the current structure and criteria, and to limit the travel to achieve those qualifications in the interest of horse welfare, the following...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian is pleased to announce the athlete/horse combinations that will represent the United States at the 2022 FEI Endurance World Championship, scheduled to take place February 25, 2023, at Butheeb, United Arab Emirates. The following combinations will represent the U.S. Endurance Team and are listed in alphabetical order: Marissa Bartmann (La Plata, N.M.) and RGS Rollo Ze Monarch, a 2010 Arabian gelding owned by Jessica DiCamillo Karen Binns-DiCamillo (Las...

Alex Waldrop, the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), shared U.S. horse racing’s history and recapped some of the challenges that horse racing has faced in the past 15 years. The challenges affected horse racing’s social license to operate and required earnest changes to improve horse welfare. “An old adage comes to mind: ‘If you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.’...

USEF Chief of Sport David O’Connor, University of Kentucky Equine Science professor and member of the FEI Equine Ethics and Welfare Commission, Dr. Camie Heleski, and Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare, Roly Owers, spoke to the USEF Annual Meeting about equestrian sport and the social license to operate. Here are five takeaways from their presentation. 1. Social license to operate is an unofficial but essential piece of the puzzle. Owers describes social license to operate as...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian is pleased to announce that Salvino, Betsy Juliano LLC’s 2007 Hanoverian stallion, was voted the 2022 International Horse of the Year and Cannon Creek, the Wheeler family’s 2011 Holsteiner gelding, was voted the 2022 National Horse of the Year by the USEF membership. Salvino and Cannon Creek were honored during the SmartPak/USEF Horse of the Year Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 14. International Horse of the Year Salvino, 2022 USEF...