US high performance riders visited the USOC training center here in Colrado Springs this morning
USEA Open Forum:
USEA President Brian Sabo started the open forum with a review of many of the topics that have been discussed at this year’s convention and written about here on EN. As always, please forgive typos.
President Sabo started by mentioning something that thankfully has not needed a ton of attention at this convention–safety. The leadership of former President Baumgardner and President Sabo has led our sport out of the very dark times of several years ago and President Sabo was able to say that eventing in the United States today can be considered a safe sport.
President Sabo addressed rumors from the convention that there could be a redistricting of our areas. President Sabo said that there is no desire to do this over the wishes of the areas and this has nothing to do with drawing in more revenue for the USEA. He said that if it does go through and that it will take a while for them to go through, that the desire is just to level the playing field for different areas. He said the current area system was drawn up 40 years ago and the demographics and competitions in those areas have changed over the years.
President Sabo addressed the age of leadership in our sport. He said that if you don’t want it to be an “old boy’s club,” then get involved however possible, especially as a volunteer. “The volunteer issue nationwide is going to emerge as the biggest problem we have.” President Sabo said that volunteers are the most critical part of our sport and asked that younger people get involved as much as possible. He pointed out that the inductees to the USEA Hall of Fame have all spent time volunteering and giving back to our sport.
President Sabo then opened the floor to the audience for questions.
An attendee from Area IX explained that if you want to be a member of the local combined training club in their area, you are required to volunteer for 4 hours — this does a great job of getting the kids engaged. The forum continued to discuss the importance of volunteers, not just to make events happen but to raise the quality of riding in our sport. John Nunn said that when he is walking a course while horses are on course he always tries to thank each volunteer and he is always shocked to hear back “thank you, that is the first time I have heard this today.” President Sabo chimed in and said that organizers are another group that deserve but often don’t get thanks. John Nunn said that as a sponsor he pays close attention to which events lead to the most thank you notes for prizes. Lisa Sabo said that volunteerism and generosity separates eventing from other sports–our athletes love to give back.
Robert Kellerhouse said that he believes different sports have different cultures that draw different types of people and he feels very fortunate that the culture of eventing draws the people that it does.
President Sabo said that in terms of incoming memberships, right now we are weakest in the younger demographics. He said we need to look at other horse sports such as hunter/jumpers as good models of how to develop younger riders. We are strong in the adult amateur demographic, but we need to focus on the kids. One audience member said that the USEA needs to do a better job of connecting with the local eventing associations.
I started writing for Eventing Nation three years ago during a very tough time for our sport. The fact that the USEA Convention Open Forum was dominated by a congenial discussion of volunteerism, thank-you’s, and eventing culture puts a huge smile on my face. We always have things to improve about eventing, but a clear theme of this convention is that the sun is shining above our sport right now.
“It Takes A Sport” Round Table Discussion:
Olympian and longtime friend of Eventing Nation Peter Gray joined David O’Connor and President Sabo at the front of the room for the round table discussion.
Peter started the discussion by saying that he is a big believer that the culture of a country impacts the culture and therefore performance of an eventing program. Peter said that one of the things David did really well with the Canadians is starting with a younger group of athletes who were aggressive and ready for coaching. He said that David changed the mentality of Canadian eventing from just going to have fun to going to win.
Peter believes that the natural cultural inclination of the United States is more serious and more ambitious than Canada, but he believes the US will still have a challenge taking the competitive step up to compete with the very best nations in the world.
Peter said that he is so impressed by the comprehensive program that David has put forth, stating that David has clearly left no stone unturned from the grassroots to the very top. Peter observed that having a great business and a great family life is important, but he thinks riders will have to become a little bit selfish to thrive as top world riders under David’s program.
David then addressed the audience and said that clearly not everyone has the time, the drive, or the opportunity to be a top rider in the world, but he believes that it is important for a program to give really high quality educational opportunities to every level of the sport. David says that the quality of the education shouldn’t be different for various dedication levels, the difference should just be the aggressiveness of the participation by the riders. He said that the top athletes at every sport are a little “manic” (think crazy). The very best is separated from the best by personality.
Our new coach stressed the importance of breeding and training horses in the US rather than relying on buying horses overseas. He said that inevitably we are going to be out bought and over spent. David says that we have an opportunity to build an entire industry of people who specifically dedicate themselves to developing horses from 3 years old to 7 years old, when the horses can be passed along to the “manic” people.
David said that there is no doubt that becoming a top professional rider comes at a price. The question is whether or not the rider wants to pay that price. He said that he never anticipated making a living until after he stopped competing, he just had to make enough money to keep surviving as a rider. He said a big part of his decision to retire in 2004, relatively early for a rider, was made because he felt it was time to go make a living and have more of a life. David says that he doesn’t believe the athletes can have it all while competing, but they can have that spot on the podium and that is one of the most important things that they will ever have.
Peter then introduced an interview from Chris Stafford with Michael Jung where Micahel Jung responded to a few questions related to being a top professional. Michael said that his father was a major role model in his life. Michael Jung said that he prefers the thoroughbred horse because they have more power and they are very good learners. Michael said that he concentrates on his own training rather than giving lessons or running a sales business. He said that all of his horses are owned by owners or sponsors. He says he has around 25 horses owned by sponsors–this drew gasps from the USEA audience. Michael thanked his team that helps support him and said that his favorite part of riding is the training and development of young horses. So basically Michael Jung spends his entire day riding a stable of 25 amazing horses without having to worry about lessons or selling horses–no wonder he won two gold medals at the London Olympics.
David then stood up and said that he knows Michael, and that Michael has done a great job of setting up a family support system. His program is family based and completely dedicated to getting him at the top. Michael is clearly one of those “manic” people that has the personality to win at the highest level. David said “there is no question that Michael has set the standard.” We need to get better and set a new standard to compete with Michael and beat him, and David made it clear that he thinks Michael is beatable. David also explained that the Germans took a very structured approach to breeding their horses, going to 4-5 of their top breeders and requesting specific lines of horses. It has been abundantly clear all weekend that David has an incredibly high amount of respect for the German program and that he is completely driven to find a way to beat the Germans.
A member of the audience raised the issue that being like Michael Jung and riding 25 horses without having to teach takes an incredible amount of funding. I definitely agree with the point that if we want the US to win internationally somehow we are going to have to find a way to help our top riders be able to focus almost exclusively on riding.
President Sabo offered the balanced perspective that eventing is a sport with a huge number of constituents who have no ambition to ride advanced. He said that this discussion is about the complete US eventing program and community. As an editorial note, I think that having a successful US high performance program is crucial to the long term health of eventing. I decided to dedicate myself to riding after watching David win gold in Sydney. Spend time at Rolex watching how the children look at their heroes galloping around the course. But, I also agree with Brian that high performance issues only personally touch a small percentage of US eventers and we always need to think of success for eventing as about having great programs from the top to the bottom levels. President Sabo said that the USEA has performed studies and seen that it takes just two cross-country rides to get someone hooked on eventing.
The conversation turned to whether or not we can encourage colleges to back equestrian programs more to develop our athletes at the college age. David said the USEF has been working for a while on a program to get equestrianism made a Division III NCAA sport. We just need a few more colleges to sign up to make that happen. David said that equestrianism in the US in $100+ billion industry, spread out between racing, sport horses, and recreation. He highlighted that there are many, many careers in horses beyond riding.
John Nunn said that eventing needs to treat itself like a retailer in the sense that we need to be agressive about reaching out and selling ourselves to new potential customers. This drew applause from the entire room. Sally O’Connor stood up and said that the US has a great number of horses and we should take advantage of the opportunity to recruit those riders and horses.
Next up: The USEA annual meeting lunch with keynote speaker Mary King. Go eventing.
