Mimi Gochman rides Merino Van de Achterhoek at Aachen. Her achievements will be among those celebrated in this year’s Tom Bass Seminar. © FEI/ Richard Juilliart
The 4th Tom Bass Seminar on Diversity in Equestrian Sports will be held as an online webinar on Saturday, February 25th from 12:00 noon (UTC 17.00.00) to 2:30 p.m. (UTC 19.30.00) Eastern Standard Time. The virtual meeting will examine issues relating to diversity in domestic and international sport.
A live feed of the meeting will be available worldwide via YouTube and SQITV, the digital content delivery service of SportsQuest International, LLC, powered by YouTube.
First launched in 2019, as part of the annual Day of the African Equestrian (DOTAE) celebrations, the seminar takes place in a climate of political, commercial and societal disruption highlighted by questions over migration, police brutality, reparations, cultural and economic imperialism, ‘wokeness’ and a widening gap between ‘the haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in the United States and other countries.
The first portion of the seminar will honor recent achievements of note. Victories celebrated will include (but are certainly not be limited to) those of:
Mimi Gochman — USA representative in the 2022 FEI Youth Equestrian Games (Team Gold Medalist and Individual Bronze Medalist) – selected to the U.S. Nations Cup Team (Jumping) for Vejer de la Frontera CSIO3* (Spain) and Vilamoura CSIO3* (Portugal)
Jefferson ‘Tot’ Goodwin MFH — Champion – 2022 MFHA National Foxhound Performance Trials Championship
Jad Guerraoui (Morocco) — Silver Medalist – 2022 FEI Youth Equestrian Games Individual Competition Muthoni Kimani (Kenya) – Winner, 2022 FEI Against All Odds Award
Mia Rodier-Dawallo — Champion – 2022 U.S. Para Dressage Championship
Pape Seck (Senegal) — Chef d’ Equipe – Team Africa – 2022 FEI Youth Equestrian Games
Mavis Spencer — selected to the U.S. Nations Cup Team (Jumping) for the 2022 Vejer de la Frontera CSIO3* (Spain) and Vilamoura CSIO3* (Portugal)
Thomas van Rijckevorsel (South Africa) — Gold Medalist – 2022 FEI Youth Equestrian Games Individual Competition
Dressage South Africa Solidarity Stars Project – Winners of the 2022 FEI Solidarity Award Team Africa – Bronze Medalists in 2022 FEI Youth Equestrian Games Team Competition
The webinar will also highlight several significant initiatives towards diversity.
Nonprofit organizations and equestrian sports federations from throughout the world are invited to submit a short (3–5 minute) video or PowerPoint presentation outlining highlights of their efforts towards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). No commercial messages please! All materials should be submitted to: [email protected] and must be received by Thursday, February 23rd. Melvin Cox, Managing Director of SportsQuest International, LLC and a Lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz will serve as moderator of the seminar.
Screenshot from the 2020 Tom Bass Seminar.
Topics to be explored during the 4th Tom Bass Seminar on Diversity in Equestrian Sport include:
- Demystifying horse sport — not for rich kids only… Reviving equestrian heritage in lower and middle income communities
- Developing broad-based community support for equestrian activities at all levels
- Building sustainable programs that support diversity in the horse industry
- Incorporating the lessons gleaned from social activism into the ways in which we do business
- Leveraging (new and traditional) media in horse focused education and promotion
- Developing stories that more accurately reflect the life experiences of equestrians of color
- Incorporating the rich equestrian heritages of non-white, non-European communities (including
African, African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Native-American, Romani, South Asian and others) into
our shared equestrian narrative
- Supporting entrepreneurship within the equestrian marketplace
Tom Bass riding his famous Saddlebred partner, Belle Beach. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
A legendary American Saddlebred trainer, Tom Bass (1859–1934) was born enslaved in Columbia, Missouri. He played a prominent role both in the establishment of the American Royal Horse Show in Kansas City and in the promotion of the city of Mexico, Missouri as the ‘Saddle Horse Capital of the World’.
Highlights of his extraordinary career include championships at two World’s Fairs and more than 2,000 blue ribbons. For many years he was the only African-American permitted to compete at the American Royal.
