President Elect’s Letter
By: Doreen Atkinson
To the membership of USA Working Equitation,
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Olga Hendrickson has resigned her position as President. The Board of Directors support Olga and thank her for her contributions to our organization. The Board of Directors (BOD) will continue to conduct business as usual and, following the bylaws of USA Working Equitation (USAWE), will fill the vacant President position. I will be performing the duties of President until the vacancy is filled. We thank you in advance for your patience and support.
USAWE’s Secretary, Kris Blacklock, has been invaluable in preparing corporate records, updating documents and keeping the committees and BOD informed of the annual statements that are due each year. It has been a long, arduous, time consuming and detailed task. I appreciate her eagle-eyed attention to detail and the long hours that she has put toward bettering the administrative side of USAWE.
The Board is a talented and passionate group of individuals who also donate a tremendous amount of time in Board and committee meetings to grow this organization. The Board meets on a monthly schedule, and you are welcomed to audit any meeting. The dates and link are on the USAWE calendar. I would love for each member to give a big high-five and hug to any of your BOD members you may meet. They are super.
The USAWE committees are hard at work as well. We have a talented Marketing and Promotion Committee, chaired by Karen Boso, that is developing plans to market USAWE in many areas. The Youth Development Committee, chaired by Alex Tyson, has plans to promote, fund-raise and grow the youth riders in WE. The International Competition Task Force, chaired by Kellee Campbell, is developing a program for the future international team which will offer educational and training opportunities for all interested USAWE members. The Licensed Official Committee, chaired by Christy Reich, is hard at work educating and promoting our Licensed Officials (Judges and Technical Delegates). These are only a few of our great committees. You can find the committees, with contact information for each committee, listed on the USAWE website. Volunteer opportunities can be found for many of these committees.
I will be attending the United States Lusitano Association (USLA) conference with other USAWE members in February to meet with Pedro Torres, seven-time World Working Equitation Champion, and Joao Duarte, the President of the World Association of Working Equitation (WAWE). We plan to discuss their experience in developing international teams and competition formats. I am excited to be able to watch Mr. Torres’ clinic with master riders and I will recap my take-away for you. WAWE will have a board meeting in February, which I will attend via Zoom. I will provide an update for our members from that meeting as well. I hope to compete in the Masters level this year on my gelding, Obadiah, as part of my plan to qualify for participation on the international competition team. Jed, my other Lusitano, will continue to compete in our region shows.
Good luck and happy shows to each of you this year. Let’s all help WE grow.
