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| Homeward bound. Photo courtesy of the Las Vegas News Bureau. |
I’m writing this on the plane from Las Vegas, site of the
2015 Adequan/USDF Annual Convention. Personally I’d be OK with never having to
set foot in a casino again — if there’s a more pathetic sight than a handful
of all-nighter gamblers on the casino floor at 6:00 a.m., clutching their beers
at the blackjack tables while Christmas music warbles in the background, I
don’t know what it is — but the USDF members I talked to made the most of the
less seedy aspects of Sin City, like the shows, the excellent food, and a
classy wine-tasting venue at our host hotel. (But if anybody indulged in a
Chippendales show, they haven’t admitted it to me yet.)
No beefcake for me in Vegas: I, like many other
convention-goers, was so tightly scheduled that extracurricular entertainment
was out of the question. And a number of Executive Board members and other
committee VIPs had it worse than I, with meetings beginning at 7:00 a.m. and
going nearly nonstop until 10:00 p.m. If I heard any complaints about this
year’s convention, they revolved around the jam-packed meeting schedule. Some
years ago the USDF cut a day out of the convention in an attempt to ease
committee members’ travel burdens, but this year a few people were saying that
maybe it’s time to consider adding that day back again.
The meetings, although a whirlwind, are always worthwhile.
As a committee member (Historical Recognition), it’s wonderful to welcome USDF
members, with their varied perspectives and backgrounds, to the open meetings.
You’d be surprised at how many actionable ideas — not to mention story ideas
for USDF Connection — bubble up from
these informal exchanges. The cross-pollination of ideas can be especially
valuable. In the open Membership Committee meeting, for example, I listened to
several thoughtful comments regarding the challenges facing USDF group-member
organizations (GMOs), which I then took to USDF
Connection’s group of editorial advisors so that we could brainstorm ways
to bring additional GMO-focused content to USDF’s member magazine.
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| Allyn Mann of Luitpold lectures on equine joint health. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. |
And the education! It’s always a treat. This year, the USDF
was fortunate to have chosen the same convention city as the AmericanAssociation of Equine Practitioners, the US professional association of
horse vets. Our top veterinarians attend the AAEP convention, and several of
them spoke at the USDF convention, on topics ranging from equine back lameness
to the role of good old-fashioned horsemanship in keeping our horses happy and
healthy. Some of the speakers are, or have been, US Equestrian Team or FEI veterinarians
and are world-renowned experts. These are the kinds of vets whom you’d pay
dearly for a consultation — and here they were in front of us in a meeting
room, lecturing and answering questions. Priceless. I took notes as fast as my
fingers could type, and I’ll be bringing you reports on selected sessions in
future issues of USDF Connection.
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| USDF president George Williams presents Melissa Creswick of the California Dressage Society with the 2015 Region 7 GMO Volunteer of the Year award. Photo by Jennifer Bryant. |
Convention concludes with a celebration of the year’s
dressage accomplishments at the Salute Gala & Annual Awards Banquet.
Outstanding volunteers are honored, and we learned about the many contributions
of USDF Volunteer of the Year Roz Kinstler and USDF Youth Volunteer of the Year
Rebekah Mingari, both of whom you’ll be meeting in USDF Connection soon. We celebrated our gold-medal-winning US 2015
Pan American Games dressage squad, and we clapped, cheered, and whipped out our
smartphones to record friends and loved ones’ moment on stage as they accepted
rider medals, year-end awards, and All-Breeds awards.
This year’s banquet did have one sad note, however, because
2015 USDF Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Lloyd Landkamer was not with us
to accept his award. Lloyd, a former USDF Region 4 director and an
internationally known show manager and dressage steward (I’m just scratching
the surface of his many roles, contributions, and accomplishments here), lost
his battle with cancer in September. It was obvious, based on the number of
people at the banquet who wept openly before and during the Lifetime
Achievement Award presentation, that Lloyd was far more than a colleague to
many in the dressage world. The dressage world is a small world, and many in
the dressage world and the USDF community considered Lloyd a treasured friend
or even family. We have lost a family member and feel that loss keenly. But it
is those bonds, and our shared love of the horse and our sport, that will help
to keep the USDF and American dressage strong. If you couldn’t make it to Las
Vegas this year, I encourage you to come to the 2016 convention in St. Louis.
You won’t regret it.
