After much exploration, I was lucky enough to find Western Dressage through the Western Dressage Association® of Colorado. Not only are these people supportive and encouraging, but they have excellent trainers from the top of the industry who can help both me and my horse, plus give us a job to do.
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Guy Brown, WDAA’s newly elected President. |
This year marked the addition of new directors along with Guy’s new Presidency. “This is not a changing of the guard,” he told me, “but adding new blood, reorganizing WDAA officers and identifying committees we feel will better be able to address the membership needs and fulfill their expectations. The Founding Board Members did extraordinary and necessary work in creating an organization. Now that we exist and are growing, we need to focus on how we can turn our attention to fulfilling membership needs?”
The approach will be to form the necessary standing committees. “These can be as simple as budget or as exciting as education,” according to Guy. “We are rolling out very distinctive educational programs that we intend to offer through our educational partner HorseShow.com.”
“Our next evolution is to continue to improve our programs, not by just training horses but by training judges, trainers and competitors. We just completed a Train The Trainer™ clinic in Colorado, which was a huge success. Another standing committee will probably be one that deals with assisting states in the formation of State Affiliates. We’re also getting lots of international requests and will be forming a committee to deal with those alliances. We anticipate that every nation will have its own distinct governing body and requirements. It will be incumbent upon us to understand those requirements and find people who are willing to pull together an organization that parallels our mission.”
“We hope that in this process, we will engage our membership by having a more direct line of interaction, so that we can become better aware of their needs as expressed by them, as opposed to what we think their needs should be. Here we are, a newly formed non-profit organization with an educational mission, gathering data that will enable us to better serve our membership, fulfilling what they want?”
“We are expecting 14 standing committees, five project committees and one special project committee. That’s over 20 committees! I think this is going to stir up the imagination of a lot of people who want to make contributions to Western Dressage. This is like the marriage between horse and rider that is so fulfilling!” As he spoke, I could hear the enthusiasm in his voice.
Before I talked to Guy, I just thought I was inspired about Western Dressage. Now I understand why it has been so attractive and satisfying to me and to my young horse. We have a job to do, great people to train us, and a magnificent support group. So come on ladies, and gentlemen as well. Here’s a way to live your dream!
Pat Van Buskirk serves as the Technical and Website Manager on the Board of Directors for the Western Dressage Association® of Colorado, a WDAA State Affiliate. She is an avid horse enthusiast and has been writing for various horse and auto magazines since 1994.
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