As the door shut behind him, a 13-year-old show jumping stallion named Judgement tried to relax over the dull roar of the engines. This was no mere vacation—this was his shot at the Olympic short list, and carefully stored in style, he settled down for a long FedEx flight to the Olympic Selection Trials in California. While the cost of the departing flight from Newark to Los Angeles might have been worth every penny, Meghan De Garay, office manager at Iron Spring Farm, which owns Judgement, didn’t realize the farm could have used that same service and paid much less for Judgement’s returning flight from Los Angeles to Newark. As much as $800 less than the regular fare, all for a no-extra-charge, no-strings-attached benefit, already included with USEF membership.


“There aren’t many carriers that ship horses within the United States,” Meghan says. “For intercontinental flights, you need to use something like FedEx.”

One of three horses to carry world-renowned rider Beezie Madden at the show jumping trials, Judgement arguably came close to joining the ranks of the 2004 Olympians in Athens—bringing added distinction to his well tailored résumé, his owners, and perhaps even to FedEx, who made sure the highly esteemed athlete got there without a scratch. But that’s just the tip of the FedEx iceburg at Iron Spring Farm.

“Any important documents that I’m counting on getting somewhere on time, I send via FedEx,” she tells me. “When you’re shipping something this valuable, and across different time zones, you have to be able to track the package.”

Documents like paperwork and registration for transfer of ownership. Documents like show entries and x-rays for pre-purchase exams. And then there are shipments of an extremely delicate nature—semen, fresh and frozen, and embryos that have to be handled with the utmost care. These are the kinds of shipments where every move, every touch and every tick of the clock counts. Thanks to customer service at FedEx, Meghan rests easy throughout the shipping process. But imagine just how much easier if she took advantage of the substantial savings on top of the service. Every USEF member stands to save as much as 16% on FedEx services. Many of Meghan’s clients are already using it.

“I had heard about it, but hadn’t thought about Iron Spring using the program,” Meghan says. “I’m definitely going to call and check it out now,” Meghan says. Getting the farm in on the savings act would not only help Iron Springs management—it would help USEF too, which for Meghan, sweetens the pot even more. “I think it’s a great way to support the Federation and its programs. It also helps my clients. Any discount helps when you’re dealing with horses,” Meghan says. “We all know it gets expensive. This is one of the more usable benefits of membership the purchasing program offers.”

To join the ranks of hundreds of USEF members taking advantage of deep discounts through the USEF Purchasing Program, give us a call and we’ll send you the details. Call toll-free (877) 576-6872, or visit www.usef.org/content/marketing/groupPurchasing.php. The program is free with your USEF membership, and believe us, there are no strings attached.

To share your USEF purchasing program experience, please call Sarah Lane, Public Relations Manager, at (859) 225-6974, or by e-mail at [email protected].