President’s Letter

By: Tracey Erway

Dear Members,
A happy summer to you all. As we move into the showing season, there are a few things I’d like to point out that you may want to provide input on, or you may choose to JOIN US.

We have had some personnel changes and are seeking a new Secretary, Marketing Chair and those with marketing/graphics experience, a Website Chair, and now we’re seeking folks capable of staffing our education committee as well. Most of these positions can be staffed on your own time apart from the Secretary who needs to be available for board meetings and such. Please see our Volunteer Request . We’ve actually started to have quite a lot of fun on the board and working for USAWE. If you have any questions contact me at president@usawe.org.

We have created a new Education Committee, whose main focus is on the creation and dissemination of educational materials for our Foundational riders L1-L5. That committee will be chaired by Holly Linz (R6 Director). We hope we can determine a means to create a video library for release via our website. This is one of the most member-requested services.

We have also begun a Competitions Council made up of some of our most active members, judges, Competition committee members, Professional Instructors and Board members. This Council is looking into ways to make competitions and schooling shows more affordable, easier to run, easier to participate in, and more welcoming to AO’s and the general community. This is headed up by Glenna Hoekstra (R2 Director).

We have scheduled 5 Regional Championships in OR, CA, TX, IL, and VA.  3 will host International Qualifier shows in conjunction (CA, TX, and VA). We also have an International Qualifier scheduled for OR in 2026.

We are starting a website analysis and review to determine what changes we need to make to our site. While it has served us well in the past, the technologies introduced into it in the past year or so have stretched its capabilities. We are hoping to enact some significant changes if possible.

If you’re not aware, we installed a system on our website to partially automate our membership and horse recording efforts. This has worked out well but it is important for members to know not to just paypal money to the organization, but to log onto the system via the website and follow the instructions for renewals, new memberships, and horse recordings. Renewals at the end of the year will come to you automatically and ask you to log in. This change has not been without issues but we believe in the long run it will save volunteer time and make it easier for members.

Show managers, the Licensed Officials Committee has advanced a number of judges and TDs. Be sure to check our list of Licensed Officials as you schedule your shows.

Much more to come this year. I hope you all are doing well.

Tracey Erway

President

USAWE