July 2023
Greetings Region 8!
As you may have noticed, I try to start these newsletters with boring weather-related chit chat. WELL, what the _ELL with the smoke, heat, massive thunderstorms, hot, cold??? Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my.
I do have very exciting news! The Region 8 website, https://www.usdfregion8.org/, is officially updated. Many, many thanks to Darian Quinn who held my hand through this and never accused me of being a neanderthal. For those of you who don’t know Darian, she is an amazing photographer, and if you would like beautiful photos of you and your equine partner, she is the best. Her website is www.q2photography.com. I am happy to promote her for her dedication to Region 8 and her donation of all of her time helping me get the site up to date. To entice you to check the Region 8 site out, I have posted the agenda and minutes from our meeting last month there, and will not address them in this newsletter. Tempted?
Sabine Schut-Kery held a fantastic Region 8 Youth Clinic in June at Weatogue Stables in Salisbury, CT. Brenna Donovan, Leah Drew, Maggie Elsbernd, Gabriel Epstein, Rosa Murphy, Callie O’Connell, Isabella Thorpe, and Cameron Wyman had a wonderful experience. Those of us there to audit also shared in her education. Sabine was so empathetic with the riders, focusing on simple exercises that improved the connection between horse and rider – both in the riding sense and the emotional sense. As your Regional Director, I have to say I was very disappointed that we had so few auditors. Sabine is an Olympic rider and her instruction applies to all of us, not just young riders!
On the topic of our youth riders, the Region 8 NAYC riders are coming together. After the qualifying season has come to an end, the following riders have been submitted as Nominating Entries: Leah Drew, Sophia Forsyth, Emily Jackowski, Lucy Sheldon, Gabriel Epstein, Nash Gagnon, and Isabella Thorpe. I’m sure their equine partners are staying up at night in anticipation. Going to NAYC is no small or inexpensive effort. Throughout the summer show season, the riders have various fundraising efforts including braiding, raffles and donations. If you plan to ride at HITS on July 7 and 8, Lucy Sheldon will be donating her sewn in braiding fees. You can get in touch with her on Instagram or Messenger at @lucysdressage. Keep your eyes open for a raffle for a $1000 (!) gift certificate to SmartPak. Who can’t use that?! If you are feeling generous, you can also make a direct, tax-deductible donation to support them. Please contact me for information on how to do that.
Finally, broken record that I am, let’s talk Convention. The schedule has now been posted at https://www.usdf.org/convention/Conv2023Agenda062223.pdf?t=6/30/2023%209:53:09%20PM. Please consider attending. Without our attendance and input, USDF has no way of knowing what is important to us. Also, as I have mentioned in the past, there is a scholarship available to young riders to attend. I understand it is tough for students to get away from school, friends, etc. but I think it is really important to have them be a part of the direction of our sport. Here is the link: https://usdf.org/awards/other-awards/youth-convention-scholarship.asp
Here is the link to the show season calendar on the USDF website: https://www.usdf.org/calendar/competitions.asp.
Some other dates to look forward to include:
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
All the best,
Helen
vandeh13@gmail.com