Ok so I just googled names. Sorry I did not mean to
misrepresent anyone as a Dressage rider. That’s not why I posted this. Carry on. News from USEF Annual Meeting. new GrassRoots Advisory Group. The dressage Rider in the group is Barbara Kohr. https://www.usef.org/media/press-rel…xYRbDmk8PLaMio
I’m confused, Barb isn’t a dressage rider. That being said, she’s done amazing things for our local show scene and we appreciate the heck out of her, but she’s hunter/jumper through and through. In any case, I hope she continues to learn more about the dressage show scene and continues to push forward in that realm.
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Barbara Kohr is a qualified show secretary and manager who, according to USEF records, rides Hunters and English Pleasure.
She has managed at least one USEF/USDF Dressage show. Perhaps she rides Dressage for fun and just doesn’t compete?
The Grassroots advisory group is not new. The link provided was to their report for last year (2018).
Elizabeth Goth rides Saddlebreds and Lisa Blackstone rides Arabians in English Pleasure. Everyone else in the Advisory Group are H/J folks.
It’s nice that they’ve made this effort, (I think the world of Mary Babick) but there are no Dressage riders involved.
That being said, it doesn’t mean that B.Kohr cannot advocate effectively for the Dressage community, (I am in no position to have an opinion about that).
FWIW…Elisabeth Goth is no backyard “amateur.”
She comes from the Bancroft family who used to own the Wall Street Journal, published by Dow-Jones…same family as the owner of Hilltop Farm. She is also VP of the USEF.
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Doesnt Sound very encouraging…
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Skydy, I know her and she does not ride dressage at all. The first iteration of the show she put on was incredibly well run, but it was an indoor venue that is fairly intimidating for young horses, with a tiny, one ring warmup (not her fault, just the venue.) Last year (2018), she had to cancel the show because it ended up being scheduled for the same weekend as Saugerties, and she wasn’t thrilled with the feedback that most established riders would choose Saugerties/pony cup over that show, particularly in light of 2017’s feedback. I’m hoping she learns from that and runs the show again this year, because it’s amazing to have a show with fantastic footing a half hour from my barn.
It sounds like another useless gesture by USEF. They need to come in here and find the most vocal, cogent people speaking about issues and invite them.
If you really want to fix something, you find the most vocal opponents with ideas, not the easiest people to find or the “names.”
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I wonder why the mistaken impression that she is a Dressage rider?
Oh well, perhaps no one in Dressage was interested in joining the advisory group. Would USEF decline to include a Dressage rider if one was interested in participating?
I don’t know. Maybe because she put on that dressage show? My guess is that the choices were connection based - I certainly had no clue that they were looking for a dressage person for an advisory committee.
Though when I look at the conclusions and plans from the group, many of them look right on target: i.e. recognizing that the majority of members consider themselves part of the grassroots, and feel that the needs of the grassroots are not being adequately addressed by the governing bodies…Helping competition managers to put on cost effective competitions … simplifying the sport so that new competitors don’t get lost in complexity… reducing barriers to entry … better relationships with breed specific organizations. All right on target IMO. I hope they actually make some progress on these.
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Any actual grassroots people on the committee?
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So this isn’t just a dressage thing but all disciplines are slowly forgetting the backyard owner/rider?
So the Grassroots Advisory board is meant to be USE-wide and not limited to the H/J section of it? If I understand things right, this came about from Jennifer Baas (Mac123) here, lighting a nice fire under the topic via a well-written response to a letter written by Katie Prudent. Mac123 did more work, which USE prez Murray Kessler noticed and formed this committee. In the meantime, Mac123 organized a group of people who did a survey (lots of self-selection in the group of people who answered it) and gained info about who the grassroots is and what they want/need.
So the findings of this committee resonate with what Mac123 has done and found. But why is she not on that committee?
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I don’t know how the Grassroots Advisory board was chosen nor do I know any of the USDF people that are considering the new rules.
I have however, been very favorably impressed with Mary Babick in my communications with her (about an entirely different subject). I don’t think that you could go wrong by bringing up your ideas and/or concerns about the “grassroots” of dressage with Mary. :yes:
This is definitely not for just dressage. Seems more H/J focused. Barb deals mostly with the USHJA and is H/J other than the one dressage show she put on, Frank Madden is jumpers, Mary Babick is the president of USHJA, Elisabeth Goth is involved with Saddlebreds (from what I can tell), Lisa Blackstone is involved with Arabian horses and western dressage as the VP of that organization, Bill Moroney is the CEO of USEF now and was heavily involved in USHJA as well. So, not sure how this represents or helps us dressage riders.
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It doesn’t seem to do so at all. I’m surprised that no one representing dressage riders is involved.
Why there is no representation is definitely the question. Delving further into USEF records, E.Goth is an USEF board member and L.Blackstone is the chair of the Ethics committee. It seems as if they are examining the “grassroots” from the top down.
As I mentioned before, if dressage riders are feeling a lack of interest about this board from the dressage PTB, a word to someone on the Grassroots Advisory board about interest regarding the board by the dressage “grassroots” may be in order.
I am not up on the politics of the situation, however since Mary is on the board and there are no dressage people involved , I’d recommend asking her about the board and the lack of dressage members, if you get no answers from the dressage PTB.
I know she’ll do her best to answer your questions. (The other members may as well, but I have no experience with them so I can’t really say).
Judging from the comments in that report, those people are totally out of touch.
I’m not of the opinion that you can run a sports federation like a large sales corporation.
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Sorry I just googled names. I certainly did not mean to misrepresent or mislead. That is not why I posted this. I was hopeful that someone on the committee was from the Dressage world. Carry on.
Simply interested in the progress of this advisory committee
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