By Glenye Cain Oakford

The United States Equestrian Federation’s 2018 Annual Meeting, which took place in Lexington, Ky., Jan. 17-20, showcased how recent changes in approach are making equestrian sports’ future brighter.

Themed “Bringing Joy, Embracing Change,” this year’s convention honored champions, delivered updates on key strategies and initiatives, hosted a number of popular educational forums, and welcomed lively open discussion.

US Equestrian President Murray Kessler Photo Credit:Taylor Pence/US Equestrian

US Equestrian President Murray Kessler’s upbeat progress report on the organization’s strategic plan was the Annual Meeting’s centerpiece. A year after launching the strategic plan-including the USEF’s consumer-facing rebranding as US Equestrian-Kessler showed how US Equestrian is rising to the challenges of its vision statement: “to bring the joy of horse sports to as many people as possible.”

“We want to be accountable for the things we say we’re going to do,” Kessler said. “At the end of the day, we have a 28% increase in membership, a $5 million revenue increase, and a whole lot more benefits and programs, and we’re having one of the winningest years that we have ever had internationally, with success across the disciplines and all levels.”

To watch the entire General Session, including Kessler’s presentation and those by senior staff across US Equestrian’s departments, visit USEF Network. To get there, visit the USequestrian.org home page, click the Network & News tab, and scroll down for the 2018 US Equestrian Annual Meeting tile.

Among the General Session highlights:

“You gave us a $750,000 investment last year to get started,” said Kessler. “That means by the end of 2018 we will have delivered a 500% return, but we’ll have that benefit every year going forward because we’ll be at a new level. That’s huge.”

“This has been a big year,” said chief executive officer Bill Moroney, who followed Kessler onto the stage. “We’ve had a lot of major successes, and there are some challenges still to overcome. None of us take those lightly.

“It’s about getting as many people with a horse as we possibly can, regardless of the breed or discipline they end up with,” Moroney added.

The annual Affiliate Roundtable brought US Equestrian’s 29 diverse breed and discipline affiliates together for the annual Affiliate Roundtable. Based on feedback from the affiliate organizations, the collaborative meeting promoted idea-sharing on a number of issues, from membership to marketing to support for licensed officials and ways to improve communication between US Equestrian and affiliates.

The Roundtable agenda was based on feedback from the affiliates, who submitted topics of interest they’d like to discuss. The meeting covered such subjects as

“Everybody in leadership at USEF is focused on growing equestrian sports and bringing the joy of horse sports to as many people as possible through every breed and discipline, and we know we can’t do that without great affiliate relations,” USEF President Murray Kessler said in opening the meeting. “This is a major priority for us. We view ourselves as the governance experts and you as the discipline and breed experts, and it doesn’t work unless we all do it together,” he added.

Affiliate representatives’ desire to see more breeds and disciplines in consumer-facing US Equestrian imagery prompted an idea to form a collaborative library of affiliate-approved, rights-free photos and video that USEF can use to promote those breeds and disciplines. This year’s FEI World Equestrian Games™ at Tryon International Equestrian Center also presents promotional possibilities for a variety of breeds and disciplines, and USEF senior staff reported that the federation is working with WEG organizers on those affiliate opportunities. Moroney suggested that the group consider a “marketing retreat” to collaborate on other marketing-related strategies.

Other topics included membership growth, sponsorship, and improving communications between US Equestrian and affiliate organizations.

The roundtable group agreed to reconvene once or twice by conference call in 2018 to follow up on discussions and continue sharing ideas, both among themselves and between affiliates and the USEF.

The 2018 Annual Meeting’s educational opportunities included a new series of moderated forums on such topics as crisis communications with communications professional Sarah Hamilton, the SafeSport initiative with Malia Arrington of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, and a detailed discussion of a proposed Coach Register by US Equestrian’s Director of Sports Programs, Will Connell. Mark Bellissimo, the guiding force behind the FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018, also updated attendees on that event and the accompanying World Equine Expo.

And there was a new feature that was open to all: the Competition & Member Summit, which had a theme of “Facing Challenges Together” and covered competition calendar management, the cost of participating in equestrian sport and competition, show standards, and prize money and bonus money.

Watch Annual Meeting highlights-including Kessler’s presentation and specific departmental updates from US Equestrian’s senior staff at the General Session, as well as the Pegasus Awards dinner and videos about 2017 Equestrian of the Year McLain Ward and William Steinkraus Lifetime Achievement Award winner Joseph Dotoli-on USEF Network.