Thursday at the 2010 USEF Annual Meeting saw a blizzard of meetings and attendees rushing from one conference room to the next in an attempt to cover as much ground as possible and to share in ideas and opinions on a vast slate of topics.

Licensed Officials, Connemara/Welsh, Roadster, Arabian, Eventing, Dressage, Hackney, Breeders, National Show Horse, Morgan, Western and Carriage Driving were just some of the breeds and disciplines of equestrian sport that had committee meetings during the day. Of course, the biggest attended meeting was the Board of Directors meeting that took place late in the day for several hours.

USEF staff were spread far and wide in their work to ensure that all of the meetings were going as planned and I spent a bit of time alongside two longtime USEF staff members - Lisa Owens (Assistant Executive Director of Horse and Competition Services) and Jennfier Keeler (Director of National Dressage Programs). As always, we seemed to be able to laugh at the frantic pace and the hundreds of requests that come our way. To laugh during times of stress is a very valuable personality trait! After the Board of Directors meeting was the first in a series of galas to celebrate and spotlight achievements in sport in the 2009 competition calendar.

The Silver Stirrups Awards, presented by the Performance Horse Registry, started with a cocktail reception (should every event start with a cocktail reception?), and the leading sires, owners and breeders were honored during the plated dinner and awards program. Ken Ball, Director of the PHR, served as one of the night's award presenters, and Charlotte Skinner, well-known equestrian announcer provided her wonderful services as emcee for the evening. Trophies and ribbons were presented to an impressive gathering of equine owners, and images of many of the top sires were displayed behind the owners as they came to the stage to be photographed and presented their awards.

Members travelled from across the country to pick up their Silver Stirrups honors, there were quite a few who left with more than one award. For breeders, there is no award higher in the Federation (with possibly the exception of the USEF Breeder of the Year Award presented during the Pegasus Awards) that can match the prestige of the PHR's Silver Stirrup.

When the Jockey Club launched the PHR in 1994, many Thoroughbred owners raced to register their horses in what would become known as the first central database in North America to combine pedigree and performance records of Thoroughbreds and half-Thoroughbreds, documenting the influence of the breed in events away from the track.

This is where the first Silver Stirrup Awards were presented in an effort to recognize, reward and promote excellence.

Two short years later in 1996, the PHR expanded its scope to focus on building a database for the entire sport horse industry, spurred by the support of industry organizations, such as the American Horse Shows Association, the United States Equestrian Team and the Federation of North American Sport Horse Registries. This fulfilled one of the registry's primary commitments, to provide owners and breeders complete information on which to base future buying and breeding decisions.

Many positive changes followed in the years to come, including a move from the Jockey Club to the American Horse Shows Association, now the United States Equestrian Federation, in September of 2000. In 2004, PHR became part of the USEF, and is now considered an official branch of the National Governing Body. With the move, the registry became the source for sport horse breeding for the Federation. Now the lineage of horses competing in the United States can be tracked and honored.

All breeds are now eligible for registration with the Performance Horse Registry in an effort to develop a comprehensive database of pedigrees and breeding influence on the sport horse world.

In addition, the Silver Stirrup Awards continue to recognize performances of PHR horses at all levels of competition in every major discipline, including widespread recognition in dressage and eventing disciplines. The program also recognizes leading sires, owners and breeders. Once registered with the PHR, a horse may be nominated for inclusion in the awards program on an annual or a lifetime basis.

Today, a “dry tech” is planned to run through all the videos and scripts for the remaining award programs and galas. It's sure to be a busy afternoon of last minute “tweaks” and script edits. Always a fun and frantic time, but its part of the behind-the-scenes fun at the USEF Annual Meeting.

So…more committee meetings and luncheons, followed by the evening's big party – the awarding of the 2009 USEF Horse of the Year awards, where one very special horse will be named the overall Horse of the Year!