Greetings Region 8!

Happy New Year one and all! I hope you and yours had a beautiful holiday season.

When I last wrote to you, I was attending the Convention in Lexington. It was very successful with the highlight being the Salute Gala on Friday night.

One contentious issue that arose during the rules discussion regarded a proposed USEF rule change impacting judges’ and other officials’ relationship with students, boarders, etc. Thanks to the number of comments to the USEF website from interested parties and contacts from various USDF committees, this rule is being rethought and we hope to see a revised proposal at some point.

As I mentioned in my previous bulletin, the turnout at the Convention was rather slim this year. I would still be interested in hearing any comments from those who attended AND comments as to why you didn’t attend. Both will help make next year’s convention better.

Looking forward, there are a lot of educational opportunities, highlighted by a week in January in Florida: On 1/16 a D4K Teaching Teachers to Teach zoom; the Trainers’ Conference 1/16-1/17; FEI Education Day 1/18.There will be a Young Rider Graduate Program on 1/14-1/15 which is open to for individuals who have aged out to audit as well. Also, there is a Zoom call 1/12 for L Program participants and grads, and another Zoom roundtable February 6 for L Program organizers and GMOs to provide information on running the program. If your GMO is interested in hosting an L program, this would be very helpful. You can register in advance here for the call:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BHckko7oRFqcrueAoxOwMA.

And speaking of the L Program, CNYDCTA is offering the program starting February 25. For information or to sign up, go to www.CNYDCTA.org.

Some other dates to look forward to include:

2/6/2023 – Applications due for hosting the 2024 Region 8 Championship

4/4/2023-4/8/2023 FEI World Cup in Omaha NE

9/21/2023-9/24/2023 Region 8 GAIG/USDF Championships in Saugerties NY

11/9/2023-11/12/2023 USDF Dressage Finals

11/29/2023-12/2/2023 2023 Adequan/USDF Annual Convention in Omaha NE

Again, Happy New Year, and all the best,

Helen