A Letter from your WDAA President
Dear Members,
Spring is certainly arriving with a flourish around here! I think most of us got enough rain or snow to keep the muck boots by the back door a bit longer.. Even with all the blustering and blowing, Spring symbolizes foaling, new beginningsand hope. I am working with our board and staff to plan for the future and I have a couple of projects I need your help with.
First, I am excited that many of you participated in our first Question of the Month membership poll to help us with planning.
The first Question of the Month was emailed to ask for your opinion regarding saddle types. The rules committee will use your preference to guide us as we attempt to clarify the rules regarding saddles.
We received responses from 302 members.
We learned:
- 58% are in favor of side saddles,
- 59% want saddle horns to be optional,
- 60% don’t think Australian saddles should be allowed for shows.
I will present this information to the rules committee this month before we work to amend rule WD 120.
Thank you for your enthusiasm for this project. I have been receiving wonderful, encouraging emails from some of you, thanking WDAA for respecting our membership’s wishes and offering some inspiring suggestions. We will send you another question soon so you can continue to help us plan for our future together.
Second, I have been working with USEF to expand Horse of the Year (HOTY) awards for Western Dressage to include Open, Amateur, and Youth divisions for each level and rail classes and Equitation.
USEF conducted a study and determined we have enough competitors to offer Open and Amateur awards, but not Junior rider or rail classes and Equitation. They say we have to propose a rule change that can’t be effective until December 1,2019 to get just the Amateur and Open awards.
Since the standard rule change procedure takes so long, I took a leap and proposed a change to include the Junior rider division, all rail classes and Equitation as well as Open and Amateur divisions. I need you to increase the number of riders in divisions you want USEF HOTY Awards for. If the number of riders falls short, the proposal will be amended in committee to include only Open and Amateur divisions for HOTY Awards and it will take us at least another year to try again for junior riders, rail classesand Equitation.
So, grab all the junior riders you can find and help them become USEF competing members and record their horses. Then, bring them to USEF shows and let them ride in Western Dressage classes where they will have the time of their lives! I know that we can get HOTY awards expanded for them if we put our notions in motions! Don’t forget to ride in the rail classes and Equitation classes too. We can do this!!!
Thank you for riding with us!
Cindy Butler,
Your President Western Dressage Association Of America