President’s Letter
By: Tracey Erway
Happy Summer Everyone,
I hate to tear you away from the engrossing read of the significantly updated Bylaws, but I urge you to finish up and provide the Board of Directors any comments you may have via the Bylaws Feedback Form. This September we’ll address the comments and put our new bylaws into place.
Other new developments:
1) Expect the election process to start in September with our new Elections Chair Marcy Kline-Greene at the helm. Be thinking about who you know with the knowledge, background, and time to help manage this organization via election to our Board of Directors. I can tell you that as President, this has been almost a full-time job for me. Each Board member is vitally important to the organization so it is imperative that we identify qualified individuals who can dedicate time to their roles.
2) Very shortly we will approve our first ever 5 year strategic plan. This is an evergreen plan developed with committee input to help USAWE have a known, forward direction and to stay on track over time. Thank you Sara Barnwell and Leesa Nero for your work over the past year.
3) The website redesign development has already begun. I’ve been working with member and professional web developer Adrienne Ray with Equine Online Design to reformat and restructure the site for clear information for new competitors, faster access to key information, more intuitive access to what you don’t even know you want to find, setting up a structure to support our new Educational endeavors for members, judges, and PIs, and providing focus on local resources for every region. I’m excited about this project as I believe this website is key to attracting new members, as well as being the hub of information and communication for our entire membership.
4) The Professional Development Committee is preparing for the release of their updated program with a welcoming expansion of new opportunities for Professional Instructors (PIs). Our goal is to increase the number of PIs to better support our entire country and provide PIs with website marketing and visibility via our more communicative website.
5) Our President-Elect, Robin Bond, is working on a Sponsor and Partner program for USAWE and its members. If you want to be involved or your company might want to be involved, please contact Robin at president-elect@usawe.org.
6) Note, our favorite topic: Rule Change Proposals are due at by the end of August. If you hurry, you can offer your wisdom and desires via this Rule Change Proposal Online Form.
7) Finally, please know that the International Committee has two positions to fill for our 2026 International presence: Team Coach and Chef d’Equipe. Contact Barbara Price at international@usawe.org for more information.
With all that is going on with USAWE operations and programs, the most important piece of USAWE is still the happiness of our membership and the safety of our equine partners. I wish you all the best of luck in your preparations for the upcoming Championships and Qualifiers. I wish I could attend each of the Championships to thank you all for your ongoing support of USAWE.
As always, contact me if you have any issues, accolades, complaints, or just to say hi at president@usawe.org.
– Tracey M. Erway
President, USA Working Equitation (USAWE)