Lexington, Ky. - In support of action taken at the Mid-Year Board meeting, the USEF Board of Directors approved an Extraordinary Rule change to GR 202.1 Membership Requirements amending the approved use of Show Passes effective 12/1/22. These changes were adopted to streamline the membership process and further support safety, education, awareness, and accountability amongst coaches, trainers, and parents. Key changes to the rule are: Non-member participants in the role of riders, drivers,...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian (USEF) Dressage has several rule changes approved for the 2022 competition year, including a complete rewrite to DR120 – Dress, effective December 1, 2021. The changes to DR120 will modernize many of the dress code rules, keeping familiar traditional attire in the rule while giving riders many more choices and flexibility, to suit their modern tastes, fabrics and color choices for the competition arena. The provisions of this section apply to all...

On April 24, 2017, the USEF Board of Directors reviewed and approved the following extraordinary and FEI rule changes: Chapter 2 Membership Categories and Requirements The Board has approved GR201, which will further streamline the Federation’s membership options by removing the different categories of membership and creating a single active membership classification, which is necessary as Federation memberships will be run on an anniversary renewal date. Federation Active members may...

Shelburne, Vt. - The American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) is pleased to announce it recently enrolled its 50th participant in the Ranch Horse Network™. The program, which is in its inaugural year, is designed to recognize farms of any size using Morgan horses for ranching activities and create a promotional venue. This program was designed with the western working "using" Morgan in mind. Whether there is one Morgan or 40 on a farm/ranch, this is an avenue to help promote the western...

Lexington, Ky. - USA Equestrian Trust has awarded $55,000 in grants to help fund four projects by equine non-profits. The awards come on top of nearly $210,000 awarded in May for 10 projects by equine non-profits. Since the inception of the Trust’s grants program, the organization has awarded more than $1.5 million in grants. The projects funded as part of the grants period ending in October were: American Saddlebred Horse Association ($10,000) to help redesign its database of registered...

Like the tale of a great cowboy story, a monumental journey began in the kitchen of a house in a small town in Texas. It was there that a gathering of horsemen and women begin to discuss the merits for the use of Dressage for the Western horse; “Western Dressage” emerged. Understanding the need for an organization to provide education and resources for this discipline, the Western Dressage Association® of America (WDAA) was formed as the first national entity for Western...

The twenty third in a series of blog post from Michelle Binder I began this Western Dressage Blog specifically as a blog for NAWD to help raise public awareness about WD groups other than WDAA. I saw a need for publicity specific to that organization. I also saw a need for a forum that presented the reality that other organizations with different missions and goals regarding WD existed. USEF has not licensed Western Dressage as an independent discipline so at this time there is no officially...

Shelburne, VT - We're now just slightly over three months before the 2013 AMHA Annual Convention and we're still planning the fun and excitement that will take place February 21-23 in Portland, Oregon, at The Benson Hotel. Two new seminars have just been added to the already stellar lineup of speakers. Dr. Marvin Hausman will give a presentation on a new therapeutic strategy to control and prevent colic, laminitis, and tying-up. Physiologic problems in the horse are the result of...

The twentieth in a series of guest blog posts from Michelle Binder This week is all about news, news and more news. Never a dull moment in Western Dressage! This just out via a press release from WDAA: “The WDAA has been guided throughout by the leadership, strategy, and policies of its Board of Directors and Advisory Board, both of which are volunteer positions and provide their services without funding. Each are comprised of distinguished professionals from all facets of the equine...

Morton, IL - The American Shetland Pony Club, Inc., one of the oldest breed registries in the United States, is not sitting on its laurels in 2012. Instead, this multi-faceted and multi-breed association is boldly expanding some of its offerings and upgrading other programs or division for a fresh new approach this year. The American Shetland Pony Club, Inc., (ASPC) was established in 1888 to govern the then-burgeoning interest in Shetlands in the United States. ASPC is one of this...