I am just watching the I.W. videos from the 2001 USDF National Symposium and was wondering whether there is still one or whether is was replaced by the FEI Trainer Symposium?
There has not been a USDF National Symposium for a number of years. That event was open to the public and usually was held in conjunction with the USDF convention. The USDF FEI-Level Trainers Conference, which has attendance criteria, continues to be held and is a different event.
Jennifer Bryant
Editor, USDF Connection
Thank you so much for your answer!! Is there a reason why they were not continued?? I am working on some things with my horses right now and the Isabel Werth videos from the 2001 Symposium were recommended to me to watch for my things I want to work on. When I watched the preview I got the impression that it was a very nice event!!
Having watched a lot of videos from USDF my best guess would be attendance declined. The last one with like Steffen Peters and a couple other of the big name folks looked nearly empty. I mean it was a big arena, but still, when you look at some of the old ones those looked a lot more packed. Probably just an unfortunate victim of there being more options nowadays, which is good for now, but I know a lot of other events that have cancelled because people just don’t come anymore. Competitions are doing well though, a lot of the ones in my area are stuffed to capacity.
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They put us all one one side of the stadium, and it was pretty full - the side you see in the videos has the coaches, riders, and maybe some owners in it and that was it. So it’s misleading. 
It was a GREAT symposium, and the lack of them has made it feel like it’s not worth my money to go to a convention since.
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Trying to have a symposium with the convention limited where they could hold the convention. There aren’t many places with both space for the convention and an indoor arena (with stabling) nearby that is both convenient and affordable.
Another point that doomed the symposium was the request to make the convention shorter. It was difficult for many members to attend so many days… trainers away from their barns, AA’s away from their jobs, etc etc.
I say the annual FEI Trainer’s Symposium (which is already an annual event) should be open to the public to show what a high level rider/trainer are looking for.
When I have made this comment in the past, I got jumped on saying it was for (a) high level riders to get coaching and this needed to be done in front of an “appropriate” audience or (b) I was too dumb/stupid/illiterate to understand what was being taught.
Yet I have seen George Morris teach Olympians, Boyd Martin and Phillip Dutton and tell Phillip to shorten his stirrups because he was interfering with this horse.
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As previously stated - I think there were many small factors in the decision - I change to make the annual convention more focused on USDF work/governance in order to decrease the number of days people needed to stay in order to get the work done. Increase in high-level symposiums around the country making this one less necessary. Difficulty finding sites that were good for both a riding symposium and a conference/convention.
If you are looking for a symposium by a national/international level trainer, and willing to travel for it; there are several other organizations in the country doing similar style and quality symposiums occasionally. Unfortunately, they sometimes are not publicized nationally, so may be harder to find if there isn’t anyone in your area doing such things. Keep your eye on New England Dressage Association (NEDA), and California Dressage Association, and Scott Hayes Productions websites to name a few. Also,many of these symposiums wind up on-line at the subscription websites line dressage clinics dot com or dressagetrainingonline.
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It has nothing to do with you being “stupid” or uneducated, and maybe the upper level trainers don’t absolutely “need” that degree of privacy - but there are certainly many who prefer this format. There is ONE symposium in the country that has this format. Why try to deprive the people who want this of the ONE clinic that does it? No single symposium is going to be everything to everybody. As I said above, there are lots of other top quality symposiums across the country that are open for anyone to audit. Why gripe about this one that doesn’t happen to suit your needs – go find something that does better suit your needs. I think the main reason that USDF isn’t hosting the open form of clinic is that there are so many others already doing it - there isn’t really a need. In the past 5 years, I have seen: Janet Foy + Debbie McDonald, Debbie McDonald alone working with only FEI level Elite riders, Scott Hassler working with Elite level riders on young horses, Christophe Thealet, Sabine Schut-Kery, Stephen Peters, Lendon Grey, George Williams, Lendon Grey working with upper level youth, and many more without traveling more that 2 hours, and there have been more in my area that I did not attend. – and I am NOT in CA or FL – There are several parts of the country where you can see symposiums with this level of trainer. So, doing yet another clinic like this is not high on USDF’s priorities because it is already being done elsewhere.
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The FEI Trainers Conference is sponsored by the USDF…an organization of which I am a member…yet that organization choses to exclude a sector of its membership…a sector which makes up its broad base.
Yet this is the usual answer…eg., those DQ’s with their thin skin requiring speshul treatment. If these riders want a “private” closed lesson, let them contract for that lesson with the clinician.
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And it winds up on line within days so nothing “private” about it. The exclusivity of it also bothers me.
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Thanks…
In January-Feb., I would be about 1 hr from the usual FEI Trainer’s Conference venue so it is an easy commute to that location vs air travel to ATL.
Call me a curmudgeon…Closing off the FEI Trainer’s Conference just bugs me as a slap in the face to the general USDF membership.
AA’s makes the bulk of the USDF membership and by limiting attendance, the USDF explicitly chooses to exclude those AA smurfs from this educational opportunity. Which, by definition, brings some of the best riders and trainers and thus would provide a key educational setting for an aspiring dressage rider to calibrate their eye.
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Dressage is becoming evermore like the hunters and jumpers where the trainer rides all week and the AA shows up on the weekends to show. The trainers like it this way because they make more $$. The USDF likes it this way because these trainers bring 20 horses to a show, all paying fees. They don’t now, and won’t in the future, care about the people who own those horses, just the trainers. The symposium is just one symptom of many.
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And BTW I was looking for videos from this years conference on eTRAK and so far there are none. I just hope they did not stop to publish them there… I really liked to watch them
AA’s not excluded, see past criteria:
All eligible attendees must be current USDF Participating Members at the time of the program and meet one of the following criteria:
- ď‚· Current trainers who are teaching students at the FEI Level and who have trained several successful FEI Level horses
- ď‚· Current USDF Instructor Certification Examiners
- ď‚· Current USDF Certified Instructors at any level
- ď‚· Current FEI Judges and Current USEF Judges - "r", "R", "S"
- ď‚· Current Intercollegiate Dressage Association coaches (team must be actively participating in
IDA) - ď‚· Current USDF L Program Faculty members
- ď‚· USDF L Program Graduates
- ď‚· Current USDF Instructor/Trainer Committee members
- ď‚· Past Olympic, World Cup, World Equestrian Games and Pan Am Games Riders
- ď‚· Members of the USEF HP Dressage Long List
- ď‚· Riders of all past USDF Horse of the Year top 10 winners at the FEI Levels
- ď‚· All past USDF Year End Award top 10 winners in the Adult Amateur and JR/YR Divisions at
the FEI Level - ď‚· All Great American Insurance Group/USDF Regional Championships FEI Champions and
Reserve Champions of Open Divisions - ď‚· All USDF Gold and Silver Medal Rider Award Recipients
- ď‚· Current USDF Executive Board Members
- ď‚· Qualified FEI Young Riders, current and previous year
o Must have met minimum score requirements to compete at the NAJC
- ď‚· Brentina Cup qualified riders, current and previous year
- ď‚· Current and past participants in Young Rider Graduate Program
- ď‚· Previous year USEF National Junior Dressage Championship Riders
Eligible attendees may bring up to three guests who are actively riding, training or competing at the FEI Level.*
Well, I don’t see a many AA’s meeting any of those requirements, a few will but not a lot.
AZTD is right, it isn’t exactly excluding specifically AA riders - it excludes the grass roots of the sport. I’m an AA, and have attended (once) because I’m an L graduate. But for me, it is usually held too far away from home making it cost prohibitive (usually held in Wellington), or during the week when I’m working (last year, they had one in SoCal too - still a plane flight and hotel bill, but not as BIG a cost). So they do allow AAs in if you meet the criteria.
The problem with the FEI Trainers’ Conference (maybe should be renamed FEI Rider’s Symposium) is that it excludes that huge swath of membership that is really the core of the sport. And it isn’t just USDF that excludes them - my own GMO has become more and more focused on the elite riders, on the “accomplished” riders - on those who can afford the fancy horse and full training. This:
Makes me sad - I don’t have a problem with people putting their horse in training - I think it is a good thing in many ways. But I do have a problem with that becoming the EXPECTATION of the sport, and that is the message that is starting to project, loud and clear. I agree, this is a symptom - the tide, it is a’changing.
