Sinead and Max both team O’Connor folks… just saying.
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yes, did you listen?
This podcast is also available on spotify, so not required to be member.
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Thank you! I checked Apple but didn’t see it so thanks for sharing here.
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Has the US ever considered having a grassroots event (like Badminton grassroots) at Kentucky 5*?
The US do it already at the AECs, it is just not promoted very well.
https://grassroots.badminton-horse.co.uk/about-the-competition/
BE80 too; https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/naf-title-sponsor-be80-championship-bramham-776444
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Is this a new program or business as usual? I’m just wondering if we are seeing the first results of restructuring, or if this is a continuance of the regular program.
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At what point does “developing” become “developed”? Alison Springer and Caroline Martin seem pretty well developed to me.
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Apparently the cutoff is being on a Pan Am games, world championship, or Olympic team. It seems to be much more about participation on the Team than what the rider has done as an individual.
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I’m sure there must be a method to this program, I’d like to know if this is new, or if this is the way things have always been done.
The program doesn’t affect me in any way, I am just curious.
The list seems to be very East Coast biased.
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What does it mean that Leslie Law is tagged as “development coach”? Is this a pre-existing position or a new one? Not close enough to it all to know. Thanks.
Leslie Law has been the development coach for a while now. What is described in that announcement is pretty much what he has already been doing.
In past seasons he has traveled to Aiken to work with the development riders, many of whom are presumably already down south for the winter. Then, during the regular season, he makes several trips to the development riders’ facilities to work with them and their horses. In the past that has consisted of a certain amount of time given to that rider on that day, typically in SJ.
I’ve seen Leslie teach the rider on up to 4-5 horses, but not necessarily only the ones that are considered the “development” horses. The idea behind the program is to develop people who have a string of horses coming up the levels. They (i.e. USEA) want to know that the time and money they are putting in will be maximized which is easier if the rider has a large string. So they like to see some of the younger ones as well that could be potential team horses in a few years.
I’ve watched quite a bit of his teaching at these private sessions. Is Leslie good at what he does? I think so, but I personally don’t like the man. Erik Duvander is any a complete different league that will be tough for others to match.
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Duvander revamped the program in 2019. https://useventing.com/news-media/news/us-equestrian-looks-to-the-future-of-u-s-eventing-with-reinvented-pathway-program. The link to the criteria in that article doesn’t work, though, so it’s hard to say if the criteria used for the recent list are the same.
Before 2019, it was whatever David O’Connor had put in place. https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/david-oconnor-transitions-eventing-technical-advisor-role “O’Connor stepped into his position in 2012, and he developed the pipeline of programs that now exists for younger riders through the high performance program.”
Thanks for responding @Gardenhorse . So, if I understand correctly, this is not new, it’s how it’s been done since 2019. There sure are lot of committees (though I’m not a person familiar with corporations, so perhaps it’s not an unusual number.)
I wonder how the search to fill the new position is coming along…
