The USEA Convention officially ended Sunday afternoon. There was a typically light schedule today because many of the convention attendees had already departed. The Sunday morning Board of Governors’ Meeting featured administrative details, a speech by USEF President David O’Connor to introduce the new board members to the USEF, a look at the USEA’s strategic plan which detailed organizational priorities such as the ‘development of volunteerism and leadership,’ a preview of the beautiful new Eventing USA magazine, and even a quick shout-out to Eventing Nation. As I look back at the convention, I have listed the major ‘winners’ of the past few days.
1. Helmet and Concussion Awareness: Between the mandatory helmet rule and the concussion suspension rule, the USEA has taken two major steps forward in becoming proactive about head safety. Both of these measures might seem overly protective, but when it comes to concussions overly protective is the point. Our sport has taken two easy and completely free steps toward becoming safer. To steal a pun from former President Baumgardner, it’s a no-brainer. It’s important to remember that these rules have not yet been approved by the USEF but, barring ridiculousness by the USEF rule committees, I expect buckled helmets to be mandatory at national competitions starting in early 2011.
2. USEF: I give the USEF an A+ for their participation in the convention. The ‘Young RIders to the Olympics’ open forum, the coaching search forum, and particularly the WEG recap speeches informed us about USEF programs and their role in eventing moving forward. Most importantly, the USEF regularly asked for our input. I hope the USEF and their constituents feel that the communication was beneficial because I certainly do.
3. President Sabo: This morning’s BOG meeting was our first look at Presiden Sabo being in control of the USEA, and I continue to be impressed with him. President Sabo has a very different leadership style than President Baumgarner. For example, President Sabo is much more likely to get involved earlier in discussions and he was much quicker to contribute his opinion. I had a chance to meet President Sabo for the first time after the board meeting and he was very nice and said that he reads EN, which is always a plus. I was glad to support President Baumgardner throughout his term and I look forward to similarly supporting President Sabo.
4. ‘Marmaduke‘: In Oliver’s keynote speech he described how the BE counselor had helped him with his drinking problem. Apparently the councilor told Oliver that his brain was divided into two parts. The back half contains everything that makes Oliver himself–the thinking part. The front half contains a Chimpanzee. That Chimpanzee is named ‘Marmaduke’ and, when Marmaduke misbehaves, he makes Oliver to party and do other boisterous things. As you can imagine, Oliver has mixed results controlling Marmaduke. Word is that Ketie Lindsay got an interview with Marmaduke this weekend so we can look forward to that soon.
Lastly, I want to give a big thanks to the USEA for putting on a fabulous convention. We are fortunate to have many wonderful people working at the USEA and it is always a pleasure to spend a few days working along side them. Go eventing.
