DOC biking around Rolex this spring. Photo by Pamela Tooker
Many questions have been flying over what changes will be made since David O’Connor has taken over the reins of the US Eventing Team. Today, riders at Fair Hill were invited to an open forum with Sara Ike and DOC to learn what is going on in the world of High Performance Eventing.
Sara opened the meeting with a discussion about upcoming changes in committees. She urged all of the riders to be involved with nominating and voting in the Active Athletes needed for the many different USEF committees. One of the biggest things that I took away from this segment is: There are a lot of different groups that are involved in the running of our sport, and if we want change, we have to invest in it. Those nominated need to take the time to show up to the meetings and give back to the sport. For those of us doing only the voting, we must take it seriously and choose those that we think will make a concerted effort. So many people have expressed the need for change in our sport. Now is the time to step up and help to make that change come about.
Also, Sara asked that the riders, owners, etc would give feedback on the Experience Eventing website. This website was put together to help bring owners and riders together in the hopes of syndicating horses for the future. There are many different options for syndication available on the website. This is a very important resource in promoting our sport and making the upper levels more feasible for many riders. It also allows owners to buy into a horse and get to experience the thrill of owning a horse without having to foot the entire bill themselves. This is a great resource for our sport, and hopefully, it will become more widely used.
After Sara was through, DOC stood and talked about his goals for our country’s team both now and in the future. Unfortunately, a lot of his plans still have to be voted on by the “powers that be” before they can be made officially public. The USEA Convention is going to be the place where most of his ideas will be made more widely known. For those interested in riding for our country, the first step to learning about David’s plans is to attend the Convention. David wants to build our program for THE FUTURE not just for now. The four words that he used to describe what the future holds for our team were: Respect, Integrity, Transperency, and Consistency.
After the meeting today, I am very excited for what the future may hold for the US Eventing Team. I think DOC has some great ideas for ways to bring this program back to the top. We must remember that it will take time. David mentioned that in the early 90’s, the German Eventing Team was pretty much non-existant on the world front. In 1994, they started a new approach to their training and a new program. It took that program until 2004 before they finally broke onto the world stage and made themselves known. Unfortunately, as Americans, we want immediate gratification. In order for this new plan to work, we need to persevere with patience.
All in all, I thought the meeting was very informative, and I am very excited to see David’s plans put into motion!
Go Eventing!
