Area VII Annual Meeting Summary – January 25, 2020
Thank you to everyone who supported the Area VII Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration in Portland on January 25, 2020.
A huge shout out to Katie Holmes and Katy Spaulding for taking many great pictures – which are or will be shared here soon. Neelie Floyd put together another fantastic slide show with great pictures of all of our award winners. Neelie has done this for several years and does an amazing job. Thank you Neelie for all of your efforts! The slide show will also be posted to our website.
Our three speakers – Tik Maynard, Dr. Rachel Gottlieb and Dr. Tania Cubitt - were fantastic. This meeting was full of interesting and entertaining educational presentations. The seminar with Tik Maynard on Sunday was also excellent. Those who participated will be ahead of the rest of the class in the mounted clinics with Tik.
We always have a wonderful silent auction and this year Tally Docken and Sarah Sullivan really outdid themselves. For the first time we had a “Coaches Corner” full of coaching and instruction opportunities. Thank you so much to all of the instructors who contributed to this. It was a bit of a last-minute idea, and a great one, so plan ahead for next year!
Speaking of instructors, thank you to the trainers who participated and supported us along with their teams, in particular Karen O’Neal, Michele Pestl, Sarah Song Sullivan, Anni Grandia Dodson and Julie Hook. A large group of our Young Riders also participated.Thank you for your support and also for putting together the table centerpieces. The annual meeting is not only about picking up your award, it’s also about celebrating our entire eventing community, as well as gaining new ideas and knowledge via the education that is offered. A special thanks to these teams for supporting everyone.
Our vendors were terrific. They all had a strong presence and supported our silent auction in a big way. Please thank them! Gallops, Stubben, LMF Feed, BEMER Veterinary Units, WILCO/Purina Feeds, TulipSprings and Summit Joint Performance.
Organizing our annual gathering takes countless hours over many months, involves a committed group of volunteers and to provide a venue, quality awards, meals and speakers, this event costs thousands of dollars. We are thankful for all of our supporters, donors and sponsors who make it possible.Be sure to read the emails we send to all of our members and visit our website to keep up to date on what is happening in our area as there is an extensive amount of information available via these resources. Although we have a Facebook page, we recognize not everyone uses Facebook, so we make sure important information is available to everyone via email and our website.
The Area VII Annual Meeting has been held on the same weekend in late January for many years and typically rotates between Seattle and Portland. The specific date and location are announced well in advance because we usually have to secure a location that has the ability to host us months in advance of the meeting date. Other groups might already have the space we’d prefer on a given date, so locating a site can be a challenge. Next year’s meeting date and location will be announced as soon as a site has been secured.
If you won an award but did not arrange to have someone pick it up for you as we advised in communications prior to the meeting, Olson’s Tack Shop, The Tack Room Too and Gallops Saddlery have each graciously offered to hold them for pickup. Please contact me at cbayles@wavecable.com asap if you want to pick up your award at one of these locations, either the AR or YR camps, or you can retrieve it from me at an event this season.
Thanks again to everyone who supported this year’s meeting and awards celebration. We all had a great time and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year!
Our annual gathering includes our business meeting, and this year I gave a “state of the area” address. Several people have asked me if I would share it again as it includes quite a bit of information that they found interesting and hadn’t heard before. So here it is!
Welcome to the USEA Area VII Annual Meeting.
Thank you everyone for joining us this year to participate in educational seminars, socialize and to celebrate our achievements and successes of the prior competition year.
Tonight, we will celebrate and recognize those among us who had the most successful competitive results in 2019. But even for those of us who won’t be on the winner’s podium tonight, we need to take this opportunity to congratulate ourselves and our peers for all of the good experiences we had last year – or maybe just surviving it.
As you’ve noticed, the theme for this year’s meeting is “horsemanship” – from veterinary and nutritional perspectives to our relationships and partnerships with our horses.
Today we are fortunate to have three highly qualified professionals join us to share their knowledge with us on these topics: Dr. Tania Cubitt – who spoke to us this morning about the nutritional needs of event horses; Dr. Rachel Gottlieb – who will be speaking to us this afternoon about what equine athletic health looks like as well as updates on advanced diagnostics and therapies in horses: and Tik Maynard – who will be talking with us about horsemanship – what is it, why we should care, how good horsemanship enhances our relationships with our horses and improves our partnerships and performance. We are excited to have these three professionals join us today and we thank them for joining us and sharing their knowledge to help us become better horsemen and women.
As Area Chair, I’m also pleased to present to you a “State of the Area” report and explain how we do what we do:
Area VII is very strong, Our membership has grown every year since 2009.Although we are not the largest area in terms of membership numbers, we are strong financially and play a leadership role at the national level in many areas – for example, the way we run our championships and our year end awards. We also have a very good presence at the national level with a number of our members having
important roles on various national committees.
The strength of the areas within the USEA is often measured by starter numbers – how many competitors started in events in the area in a given year. Starter numbers throughout the country declined during the recession starting in 2008, but have recovered along with the economy. In 2019, overall starter numbers throughout the USEA set a record of 41,210.
From about 2010 to 2015 our starter numbers in Area VII were between around 2,400 to 2,600. Then in 2016 there was a material increase to over 2,900. Our record year for starters was 2018 with 2,955 starters. Unfortunately, in 2019 our starter numbers declined by 245 from the prior year down to 2,715, primarily due to the cancelation of the WIHT. We had 11 events in our area last year. Whidbey organizers tell us they are running again this year through Intermediate at a new location and we are rooting for them!
So which levels have the most competitors? In 2019 we had 2,710 starters in Area VII as follows: Beginner Novice - 483; Novice - 858; Training - 628; Modified (2 events) - 34; Preliminary - 354; Intermediate - 91; Advanced - 9; Advanced/Intermediate - 9; FEI (all levels) - 138; Full formal 3-day BN through T - 106.
Starter numbers are also important to each area because the areas receive funds from the USEA known as “allotments”, which are intended to fund basic administrative expenses The starter numbers in an area are part of the allotment calculation. Area VII has historically received around $5,500 a year in allotments.
So, where does the rest of our money come from? Clearly $5,500 a year is not enough to cover all the things we do for our members from awards to running our championships to subsidizing clinics to putting on this annual meeting.
USEA also provides financial support in the form of grants for certain programs and activities. We apply for and typically receive every one of these!
I know we all get a little tired of being asked to get out our checkbooks, but the reality is, that it is thanks to our generous sponsors and donors that we are able to provide so many excellent educational opportunities – such as camps and clinics that are sponsored by and partially underwritten by the area, as well as our fabulous annual championships competition with its amazing awards and goodies to all competitors, and the beautiful year end awards that we’ll be handing out tonight. So - when you see us out there putting on various fundraising activities or asking for sponsors and donors, please remember that it’s thanks to our generous sponsors, donors and fundraisers, that we are able to provide all of these fantastic benefits to our membership.
Please thank our supporters whenever you can. Send a thank you card with a note about how much we appreciate them. Post a thank you and tag them on FB or “like” their page if they have one. We truly could not do what we do without them.
Not everyone has the financial capacity to donate cash to the area, but we all have at least a little bit of time to contribute. Our volunteers are the backbone of our sport. From jump judging, sorting awards, bit check, putting up and taking down dressage arenas, setting fences, handing out awards, painting jumps and so much more, the fact that we have volunteers who are willing to invest their time and energy to do all of this is why eventing is relatively affordable compared to other equestrian sports. Can you imagine what it would cost to event if we didn’t have such an amazing volunteer base?
The on-line Volunteer Incentive Program has become very popular and for many is an easy way to sign up to volunteer during event competitions. It’s a great program but please don’t forget that there are also many people who volunteer in ways that are not reflected in the VIP program, which is only used for volunteering during actual USEA competitions.
We appreciate all of our volunteers – in all capacities, whether their names show up on lists or reports or if they are anonymous.
What are their functions of the “Areas” within USEA?
The main functions of the Areas include: • Develop an Area competition schedule • Promote the Sport of Eventing by Providing educational and development activities via the Young Rider and Adult Rider Programs • Communicate with the USEA membership residing in the Area • Provide for annual Area Awards • Provide for an annual Area Championship competition
In order to fulfill these functions, each area has an Area Council. The Area Council functions as a board with oversight responsibility for the actions of the Area. The Council consists of an Area Chair, who serves a three-year term, and a number of council members, who also typically serve for three years or longer. All of these positions are intended to rotate to keep the energy flowing, create new ideas and to represent our broad geographic area.
All of these positions are volunteer positions and no one receives compensation.
I’d like to introduce the current Area VII Council Members (note the council members and their contact information is located on our website): Lorilee Hanson – Treasurer; Barb Jensen – Young Rider Coordinator; Maggie Rikard – Adult Rider Coordinator; Jonathan Elliott – Board of Governors; Meika Decher – Organizer’s Representative; Sarah Broussard – incoming Organizer’s Representative; Luigi Meneghelli – Webmaster; Lou Leslie – Many other duties as assigned; Katie Peet Walker Bystrom – ICP Coordinator; Sarah Song Sullivan - Secretary; Diane Snow and Stephanie Goodman.
These are your area representatives. We are here to provide support for the entire area. If you have any questions or ever want to talk to any of us, please don’t be afraid to approach us as we are all here for everyone and the good of the area. If you are interested in becoming more involved, please let one of us know!
Thanks again to everyone who supported the Area VII Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration in Portland.
The best of luck to everyone for a successful 2020 season!
Best Regards,
Cynthia Bayles, Area VII Chair