The highlight of the Tuesday's events at the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) Annual Meeting was the Evening of Equestrians awards ceremony, sponsored by the Rudin Family, that recognized members and their horses for their achievements throughout the year. USHJA Officers Beth Miner, Chrystine Tauber, and Alvin Topping helped President Bill Moroney present awards to deserving members. Among the awards presented Tuesday night was the USHJA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Larry Langer and Joe Fargis were honored with the USHJA Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Evening of Equestrians Dinner. This award was created to recognize members whose involvement in the sport, as well as in the USHJA, has benefited the industry.

USHJA President Bill Moroney shared his excitement about the 2009 honorees. "Deciding the recipients of this award is never easy. Our industry is incredibly fortunate to have an abundance of people that have dedicated their lives to this sport, which makes a decision like this even harder. However, people like Joe Fargis and Larry Langer, who, in their own way, have been synonymous with dedication and achievement in our sport, are why we created this award."

Read the full article here about Fargis and Langer at www.ushja.org/content/news/pr.aspx?id=560.

Ron Danta and Shelley Campf were also honored that night with the prestigious Volunteer of the Year Award. The Volunteer of the Year Award is given to an individual who donates their time to develop and implement programs in the organization. These two deserving individuals was selected from an outstanding group of volunteers by USHJA President Bill Moroney and USHJA staff to receive the award based on their contributions to the association.

The audience was also on hand to witness the presentation of this year's President's Distinguished Service Awards to Bob Bell, Lynn Jayne, Colleen McQuay, Susie Schoellkopf, Melanie Taylor, Tracey Weinberg, and Julie Winkel for their work on all the exciting new programs and changes that are happening with our sport.