Welcome to the weekend Eventing Nation! The 2012 USEA Convention is charging ahead at full speed in Colorado Springs. Friday afternoon featured a smorgasbord of meetings. I tried to make it to as many as possible and my notes are below. Enjoy!
USEA Awards Lunch:
The USEA Awards Lunch featured too many great awards for our sport’s awesome competitors, volunteers, owners, course builders, and other members of our community to list them all here. I will just make a couple of quick notes that Tamra Smith won the $15,000 Rebecca Broussard Travel Grant and Jolie Wentworth won the $30,000 Rebecca Broussard International Developing Rider Grant. At the end of the awards ceremony, USEA President Brian Sabo announced that a new Young Event Horse Grant has been created. The Holekamp/Turner Le Lion d’Angers Young Event Horse Grant will offer $17,500 to the top YEH if they are US-bred or $8,000 if the top YEH is foreign-bred for both the east and west coasts. The grant will be used as travel money to compete at the FEI World Championships for Young Horses at Le Lion d’Angers in France. Lastly, President Sabo announced that the prize money for the 2013 AECs will be $40,000.
PRO Annual Meeting:
PRO director Samantha Lendl opened the meeting with a quick introduction and then turned the floor over to PRO president Phillip Dutton. Phillip started by praising the PRO participants on a great year. He said that PRO has had success over the past year helping to organize particular events, such as Plantation. Phillip also thanked all of the owners and said that PRO has been doing a good job connecting riders and owners. Phillip said that the PRO Derbycross in Wellington has not gotten as much traction as hoped.
Samantha mentioned that PRO has merged with the Eventing Radio Show. Samantha Lendl said that the amazing Samantha Clark and Jess Montgomery move forward as co-hosts. Joe Meyer and Nate Chambers will also be helping as co-hosts–heaven help us all.
Then Buck Davidson and Michael Pollard stood up to talk about new event ideas. Buck spoke about Chester Weber having the goal of creating an Aachen-like event in Ocala with multiple disciplines and big money. This is a goal for the more distant future and Buck mentioned getting it going in 2014.
Michael Pollard said that PRO has been very successful about building the spectator experience at certain events, again referencing Plantation in particular. He explained that a group of riders got together at Galway and discussed the idea of wanting to create a US event supported by PRO that would do the absolute maximum to make a great spectator experience. Michael said his vision is that making a good spectator experience is a great way and perhaps the only way to make eventing sustainable and viable for events and competitors, and to grow the sport moving forward. Michael discussed using the May Chattahoochee Hills event as an exact model that PRO wants to use as an example for an event that can really attract spectators. A few things that Michael envisions for the event include catering to individual key demographic groups (such as having a family section), having a jumbotron to improve the spectator experience, put dressage at a time when no one will be there to see it (Michael was half joking and this drew a lot of laughs from the audience), show jumping on a Friday night under the lights, and running cross-country in reverse order of standing. The trial case would be the May 17th to 19th Chattahoochee Hills CIC3*. Michael said “in order to have an event become sustainable and successful moving forward you need to get eyes [spectators] there.” He said that we have a sport that people want to come and watch, but we need to make this sport provide a safe and fun weekend experience outdoors to get real numbers of spectators. Michael said “I really think if we can create one model event that shows we can attract spectators and put on a viable event then we can take that model to other events.” Phillip explained that the original idea was for PRO to run its own event, but that having the Chattahoochee Hills infrastructure, venue, and event date make it a perfect fit. Frankly, I completely agree with Michael’s vision that we need to grow the spectators of eventing and I’m a big believer that we have such an amazingly awesome sport that many of the people we get out to watch an event just once will become lifelong fans. I am really excited to see what can be created with this event.
One big theme in the PRO meeting was improving the ownership experience. Mark Hart, leader of the Event Owners Task Force, spoke about the mutual goals of PRO and the EOTF in bettering the ownership experience. Samantha spoke about the idea of having owner-rider dinners, getting events to comp owner tickets, and looking for future opportunities to make owners bigger parts of events.
Marcia Kulak spoke about the PRO Junior Training Scholarship that she helped organize a few years ago. She thanks the riders for their support of this scholarship and stressed that PRO needs to keep putting a priority on bringing in younger members.
Samantha Lendl opened the topic of improving communication with riders. Samantha said that communications among PRO riders, between PRO and the riders, and between riders and sponsors needs to improve. She spoke about the power in getting PRO riders to work together to communicate about PRO and PRO sponsors on social media and in general.
Allison Springer, Samantha, and Buck then presented a few of the membership benefits that PRO provides. One of the highlighted benefits is the PRO group accident and disability health insurance plan. She said that all members of PRO under the professional membership level are covered under the plan, including professional riders, professional grooms, and other equestrian professionals. She said there is a $5,000 deductible and the coverage is for any accident related to equine activities and that riders can claim both accident and disability insurance or one or the other. A buy-up option is also available to increase coverage.
Next up, Samantha introduced Ron Nash to give a lecture on how to use social media more powerfully. After a quick game of simon says, he got down to business and said that social media is like one person setting a certain cadence by clapping their hands and other people catching on. Ron asked what we would say if we had a 30 second commercial to the world about our riding program. His point was that he wants riders to think very clearly about their goals and what they want to project to the world. Ron said that most individuals are not effectively incorporating social media into their programs–it’s not simply enough to have a bio online somewhere, we need to leverage social media in our personal and business lives. He pointed to the rise of social media in the Olympics–the Olympics have nearly a billion Facebook fans–as an example of how social media can be popular with our potential fans. According to Ron, Nate Chambers looks like a Backstreet Boy. I’m just a reporter passing along what was said folks. It’s my job. Ron is a LinkedIn expert and said that it is often a decent business tool because people go there for business. He also said that he is a fan of simplifying social media and relying on one platform (presumably LinkedIn) rather than using multiple platforms. Ron’s an expert but I’ll just add an editorial that Facebook is likely the platform I would recommend to riders wanting one and only one platform to use because I think Facebook is the only social platform that a significant percentage of the people in our world is using.
The Care and Coaching of Future Olympians: The Pursuit of Excellence —
Once again David O’Connor and his vision for the future of US eventing high performance took center stage at the USEA Convention. The Friday morning open meeting was a seminar where David presented to the public many of the ideas he has been expressing to the riders in the high performance seminars over the past two days. David started by saying that his goal over the past two days has been to create a platform for building the program moving forward. Let me just reiterate once again that one point I haven’t mentioned enough is that David’s plans for the US program still need to be approved by the USEF Eventing High Performance Committee, which controls funding for the programs. I expect the Committee to approve almost all of David’s plans…these ideas are why they hired him, but I will also say that David is proposing some pretty aggressive (and expensive) travel plans for 2013. David joked in the meeting that “everything I am about to show you hasn’t been approved yet…I think some of the details such as soft dates might change.” There is an HP Committee meeting this evening, where David will present much of this to the Committee for approval. While this timing likely seems a bit backwards, recall that three days ago David worked for Canada. All I’ll say is that with the enthusiasm shown by the riders and the fans to David’s presentations over the past two days, I pity any committee that tries to stand in his way.
David said that his plan is to bring all of the high performance riders to the USEA Convention every year because he believes our sport is really pretty small. He guessed we have around 300,000 eventing enthusiasts around the country and said “we can’t afford to be separate.”
David restated the pillars of excellence that he described in Thursday’s Event Owner Task Force Meeting: respect, integrity, transparency, and consistency.
Goals for the Program:
1) To be the number one eventing country in the world
2) To have the number one rider in the world 3 out of every 5 years
3) To have 3 riders in the top 10 every year
4) To win four-star events around the world (including our own)
5) To win Nations Cups — David spoke about the experience of going to Europe. He said the plane ride is a great experience, but the real experience as a rider is going over there, getting beaten by the best, and then thinking “ok, what am I going to do about this?”
What does it take? — More money? More competitions? More horses? Better fans? Better technique?
David said that he will defend the riders to the public, but he wants the riders to be honest about what mistakes they made when they have problems, rather than making excuses.
Money — David said that with grants such as the Rebecca Broussard grant and the Jackie Mars grant and USEF funding we have the potential to send 17-18 horses over to Europe if we need to. He said that funding is going to be much more spread out and targeted so we don’t deplete our good events here.
Competitions — David said we have great competitions over here and, while we would like more, he doesn’t believe the answer is more competitions.
Horses — Producing good horses is a constant battle and we need to get better about this, but David explained he doesn’t think our horses are a huge weakness.
Fans — Do we need better fans? David said absolutely not, we have awesome fans!
Technique — Do we need better technique? David said absolutely! David said the Germans made a decision in 1992 that they weren’t good enough and went about improving their program–and then they dominated the Olympics. He said Germans brought their riders to a central location, educated them, sent them out to mentor with top riders, brought them back to teach them how to run their businesses, and then they started winning. They started winning in 2004 — 12 years after they started their program.
Head Coach’s Role:
–To set the plan for the program
–To asses where we are on that road
–To help athletes achieve technical excellence
–To help athletes plan the achievement of their goals
–To set a positive environment for athletes, owners, and fans
Self Assesment (How Good Are You?):
–Technical riding
–Selection of horses
–Owner management
–Stable management
–Sports psychology
David has asked the riders to do a personal SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat) for their programs and fill out a rider bio for the USEF. David has been meeting with the high performance riders over the past few days to have a personal discussion of their programs.
The Four Year Plan (The Lists):
—The US Global Talent List — The ability now to win anywhere in the world. This might not be a very big list right now.
—US World Class — The ability to compete anywhere in the world.
—US National Potential — Competitiveness in US international classes
—US Under-25 — Talent and attitude to be an elite rider/trainer
—US U-18 — Talent and attitude to be a world class rider
2014 Goals:
–To medal at the WEGs and qualify for the Olympic Games
–This is part of the building process
–Asses the right type of horse to compete at this competition
–To win 4* events
2015 Goals:
–Win the Pan Am 2* Games with mixture of emerging athletes and veterans
2016 Goals:
–Team medal at the Olympics
–Individual medal at the Olympics
David says he really believes his program will take 2-3 years to start working and he asked for the audience’s patience while things get going.
Education:
–We need to be very strong on education
–Encourage riders to use personal coaches
–Training sessions: the first goal of training sessions will be about assessment
–David isn’t going to select assistant coaches at this point
2013 European Trips:
— Saumur: May 23-26 — This is prep for WEG because the WEG course designer, Pierre Michelet, is also the Saumur course designer and his courses have a really unique style. David said the style is big and bold jumps to narrows and you can’t pull back.
–Luhmuhlen CIC: June 13-16 then…
–Aachen CIC Nations Cup: June 25-30 — David wants the riders to do the Luhmuhlen and Aachen trip as one (they are two weeks apart) to learn from the top of other disciplines at Aachen and show the Germans that we are coming for them.
–Boekelo CCI*** Nations Cup (Oct 10-13)
–Pau CCI*** (October) — Again WEG prep since Pierre also designs Pau
–Burghley, Badminton, and Blenheim may have a few riders with grants, and they will definitely be supported by personnel. David says he doesn’t believe in going to Burghley or Badminton unless the rider thinks they can win.
–Haras du Pin (August 22-25) — The WEG test event. David said we will be there at least as spectators.
David extended an invitation to the audience that if they are going on vacation they should come with the team to competitions as spectators. He said the USEF is working on group seating to have USA sections, course walks, and everything to make fans and owners very much a part of the experience.
2014 trip plans will be altered after the XC designer has been selected for the Olympics. We will also do Luhmuhlen and Aachen, Burghley in September, the Rio test event, and the Boekelo Nations Cup as well.
David finished the seminar by saying “and that’s what we are going to do!“
Call me a hapless starstruck fan, but I’m completely pumped. Simply changing the tone to an open, transparent, and optimistic program has and will continue to have a really positive impact on US high performance. From talking with many of the high performance riders over the past two days, the change in attitude about the US program and the mounting excitement is absolutely palpable. One rider joked with me that “I am so frustrated it’s still December, I want to get going today!”
If you’re going out tonight, be sure to stay safe and have fun and go eventing!
