Region 1

Celebrating 40 Years
The Clubs That Launched USDF
Meet the charter GMOs that are still in existence today
30 November 2013 • USDF ConneCtion
United StateS dreSSage Federation
n 1973, dressage enthusiasts answered Lowell Boomer’s call and met in Lincoln, NE, to organize the frst
dressage-focused national association in the country:
the United States Dressage Federation. Conceived in
part as a network of regional dressage and eventing clubs,
USDF dubbed the 25 clubs that came on board from the
start charter GMOs (group-member organizations).
Of those original 25, 21 still exist today. In this anniversary month of USDF’s founding, we thought it would be
ftting to spotlight the charter GMOs, some of which are
among USDF’s largest and most vibrant afliates.
I
One DVCTA dressage show outgrew its early base at
Willcox’s farm; after a stint at the Radnor Hunt Club in the
early 1970s, it moved to the Devon Horse Show grounds
in 1975 and was christened Dressage at Devon. About the
same time, one of the GMO’s horse trials grew into the
Chesterland Tree-Day Event. Te club’s early emphasis
was on eventing; as open space became scarcer, dressage
became more of a focus.
Today, DVCTA draws members from Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. As of 2006, Dressage at Devon is its own entity, separate from the GMO,
Region 1
The Charter GMOs
JENNIFER BRYANT
Delaware Valley Combined Training Association
(DVCTA.org)
In 1965, in Pennsylvania’s Chester County,
several Pony Club moms (including Archie Leidy, Jeanne Braceland, Jill Willcox,
and Sheila Wall Hundt) decided to start a
“Pony Club for adults.” Tey reached out
to the wider horse community, sponsoring
schooling shows and horse trials.
DVCTA’S QUAD SQUAD: Quadrille team (led by current DVCTA
president Anne Moss) performs its “Tink Pink” ride for breast-cancer
awareness at Dressage at Devon 2012
T
he following 25 dressage clubs had joined
USDF as “group members” at the time of
the Federation’s inaugural business meeting
in November 1973. Some have since disbanded,
changed their names, or been absorbed into other
GMOs.
Andover (MA) Dressage Club
California Dressage Society
Central States Dressage and Combined Training
Association
Deep South Dressage Association (now DCTA)
Delaware Valley Combined Training Association
Eastern States Dressage Association (now DCTA)
Equestrians Institute (WA)
Florida Dressage Society
Illinois Dressage Association (now DCTA)
Indiana Dressage Association (now Society)
International Equestrian Association (PA)
Kansas City Dressage Society
Long Island Dressage and Combined Training
Association
Midwest Dressage Association
Nebraska Dressage Association
New England Dressage Association
Ohio Valley Dressage and Combined Training
Association
Potomac Valley Dressage Association
Rocky Mountain Dressage Society
St. Louis Area Dressage Society
Texas Dressage Society (now Alamo Dressage
Association)
Virginia Dressage Association
Westchester-Fairfeld Dressage Association
Winds Reach Dressage and Combined Training
Association (now Eastern Iowa Dressage & Eventing
Association)
Wisconsin Dressage Association (now DCTA).
USDF CONNECTION
•
November 2013
31
Celebrating 40 Years
dEvON 1975: Riders in the grandstand-less Dixon Oval at Dressage at
Devon, formerly produced by DVCTA
although many volunteers are DvCtA members, and the
club organizes a popular quadrille exhibition. now a CDiW, Dressage at Devon has become one of the top US dressage shows, with three days of sport-horse-breeding competition, four days of performance classes, and an enviable
list of exhibitions and trade-fair shops.
TREAsURE: ESDCTA members are lucky to live near the USET Foundation headquarters in New Jersey, which draws US dressage’s best and
brightest for championships and selection trials
32 November 2013 • USDF ConneCtion
dRiviNg fORCEs: Jack Fritz and Lazelle Knocke helped to found both
ESDCTA and USDF
Dressage Association. Te new Jersey-based GMo launched
in 1969, with Lazelle’s husband, Fred Knocke, as its frst president.
Fritz was instrumental in calming the waters and keeping things moving forward at USDF’s founding meeting in
1973. Sensing the need for someone to keep order, Lowell
Boomer called on Fritz’s experience as a college professor.
(For more on that historic meeting, see “USDF notes from
Lincoln” on page 24.)
Te new Jersey-based eSDCtA has enviable proximity to Hamilton Farm in Gladstone, nJ, home to the United States equestrian team Foundation headquarters. Te
iconic main barn with its ornate trophy room overlooks the
Dick and Jane Brown Arena, site of many US equestrian
team Dressage Festival of Champions competitions and
olympic and World equestrian Games dressage selection
trials. Unfortunately for the eSDCtA’s eventing members,
much of the facility’s land was sold of in the 1990s, spelling
the end of eSDCtA’s cross-country schooling sessions at
Gladstone and its eventing team Competition there.
COURTESY OF ALICE MORSE; USDF FILE PHOTO; JENNIFER BRYANT
Eastern States Dressage and Combined Training
Association (ESDCTA.org)
Te late USDF Lifetime Achievement
Award recipient Lazelle Knocke and the late
Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame inductee Capt. John H. “Jack” Fritz are among
the prominent founding members of the
club formerly known as the eastern States
United states dressage Federation
International Equestrian Organization
(IEODressage.org)
America’s frst dressage club and USDF’s
oldest GMo, the Pennsylvania-based international equestrian organization was
founded in 1958 by the late Lilian Wittmack
Roye, a native of Denmark who immigrated
to the US in 1949 on a one-year contract
with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
PvdA PiONEER: Linda Zang and her famous dressage partner, Fellow
Traveller, in an undated photo. Zang is now an FEI 5* dressage judge
and a member of the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame.
Big TOP TO Big RiNg: IEO founder Lilian Wittmack Roye, a native
of Denmark who immigrated to the US to work for the Ringling Brothers
and Barnum & Bailey Circus
USDF FILE PHOTO; USDF ARCHIVES
After her circus career ended, Roye settled in York, PA,
and established a training facility, Bri-Mar Stables. told that
“nobody wants a dressage show,” she proceeded to put on
her own, a groundbreaking competition held at Bri-Mar in
1955. Te ieo went on to host what some believe to have
been the frst CDi (Fei-recognized dressage competition)
in the US, in 1976.
Potomac Valley Dressage Association (PVDA.org)
Te Potomac valley Dressage Association was founded in 1964 at the Potomac
Horse Center in Gaithersburg, MD, where
many dressage notables once trained. Te
original PvDA board included Col. and
Mrs. Clarence edmonds, Linda zang, Sally
o’Connor, Gen. Jonathan Burton, and Col.
Donald Tackeray. (of that list, Col. edmonds, zang, Burton, and Tackeray either were inducted into the Roemer
Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame or received the USDF Lifetime Achievement Award.)
zang’s idlewilde Farm in Davidsonville, MD, was a hotbed of dressage education, as it was home base to the late
US dressage team coach Col. Bengt Ljungquist of Sweden.
numerous dressage notables traveled to idlewilde to work
with Ljungquist, who coached the bronze-medal-winning
1976 US olympic dressage team.
PvDA hosted the frst Col. Bengt Ljungquist Memorial
Championships, created in 1982 by Sam Barish, who would
go on to become a USDF president. Te GMo also hosted
the inaugural USDF Region 1 Dressage Championships and
numerous USet qualifying competitions over the years.
today PvDA members hail from Maryland, virginia,
the District of Columbia, West virginia, north Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and new Jersey. Among the
GMo’s best-known oferings is the PvDA Ride for Life,
a recognized show that benefts the Johns Hopkins Avon
Foundation Breast Center (PvDARideforLife.org). Te
show’s signature attraction is the Dancing Horse Challenge, a costumed freestyle and equestrian exhibition that
has drawn such top names as Catherine Haddad Staller and
Silva Martin. [
Digital Edition Bonus Content
Watch a Washington, DC,-area TV
station’s preview of the 2013 PVDA
Ride for Life and Dancing Horse Challenge, with clips from past exhibitions.
USDF ConneCtion
•
November 2013
33
Celebrating 40 Years
Virginia Dressage Association (VirginiaDressage.org)
Te Virginia Dressage Association was
founded in 1973 as an outcrop of the Potomac Valley Dressage Association. At
frst, VADA was centrally run, with a ffteen-member board. Te biggest change
since the association’s founding was its
splitting into chapters (Northern Virginia,
Fredericksburg, and Central) in 1983. Today, there are eight
chapters.
VADA members are fortunate to have access to good
equestrian facilities, and the GMO has been able to host numerous successful large shows and educational programs.
Facilities such as the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington
and Morven Park International Equestrian Center in Leesburg have been the site of BLM Championships, USDF Region 1 Championships, and many important FEI qualifying
competitions.
Today the IDCTA hosts a full spectrum of dressage and
eventing competitions and educational events.
Indiana Dressage Society (IndianaDressage.org)
Founding members Dan and Melba Kirtley discovered dressage in the late 1960s
while Dan’s Navy unit was stationed in
Colombia. On their return home to Indiana, they found a group of Hoosiers who
were just learning about dressage themselves, and formed the Indiana Dressage
Society in 1972.
Dan Kirtley was the IDS’s ofcial delegate at USDF’s organizational meeting in
1973. Fellow IDS member George Glass, an attorney, served
on the committee that formulated the USDF bylaws.
Region 2
Illinois Dressage and Combined Training
Association (IDCTA.org)
Te IDCTA was founded in 1972. Within
a year, the club’s founders attended USDF’s organizational meetings and decided
to form a GMO of their own, the Illinois
Dressage Association. Te name changed
to the Illinois Dressage and Combined
Training Association in the mid-1980s
when the state’s dressage and eventing
organizations merged to strengthen both
clubs economically.
EARLY LEARNING: IDS founding member Dan Kirtley works with club
member Janice Edelman in an undated photo
JUNIOR OLYMPIAN: IDCTA member Paige Willis and Quest with
trainer Fatima Pawlenko-Kranz at the 1998 AHSA/Cosequin Regional
Dressage Team Championship and USEA Junior Olympics - Equestrian,
held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, CA. Willis and
her Team USA teammates Amanda Barr, Jodie Kelly, and Marissa
Mastronardi won the gold medal.
34 November 2013 • USDF CONNECTION
Midwest Dressage Association
(MidwestDressage.org)
With only a few shows in the midwestern
US ofering dressage classes in the 1960s
and no shows dedicated solely to dressage,
MDA’s founding members designed an
organization to help ensure the sport’s future and promote education and achievement. Te Michigan-based club launched
COURTESY OF IDCTA; COURTESY OF IDS
A thriving mixture of educational events and schooling
and recognized shows, including the Indy Dressage Classic
I & II, keeps the IDS vibrant and active today.
United states dressage Federation
Te GMO played an important role in advancing dressage education. Among its early members were the late trainer and USDF founding member Chuck Grant and the late
Violet Hopkins, who founded a series of instructor seminars
that later became the USDF FEI-Level Trainers’ Conference.
Te MDA’s proud tradition of dressage education continues today with clinics and seminars with some of today’s
brightest stars. Te GMO also hosts a series of four wellregarded schooling shows over two weekends, ofers yearend awards, and maintains its own Hall of Fame.
EDUCATION STANDOUT: MDA member Violet Hopkins founded the
USDF/Hopkins National Seminars for Instructors (now USDF FEI-Level
Trainers’ Conference), which were held at her Tristan Oaks Farm in
Union Lake, MI. Te late Col. Anders Lindgren demonstrates at the
1985 Hopkins seminar.
in 1969 and was invited to be a part of USDF’s formation
by Col. Donald Tackeray. Several MDA members attended
the 1973 organizational meeting, including Lillian Zimmerman as the club’s ofcial delegate.
Wisconsin Dressage & Combined Training
Association (WDCTA.org)
Lois Aller was a pioneer of sorts: one of the
frst Wisconsin residents to take up dressage, in the 1960s. Impressed by a dressage
demo that Aller gave in 1971, a group of
people decided that the state needed an
organization to promote the sport. With
around a dozen members, the Wisconsin
Dressage Association was born.
When Lowell Boomer approached WDA about being
a part of a nationwide dressage association, USDF had its
support, and WDA became a charter GMO. [
2013 Adequan/USDF
Annual Convention
December 4-8, 2013
Hyatt Regency Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
USDF ARCHIVES
www.usdf.org/convention
USDF CONNECTION
•
November 2013
35
Celebrating 40 Years
GERMAN ENGINEERING: DSDCTA members gather for an undated
photo. Te German saying on their sweatshirts reads “As little as possible, as much as necessary,” a well-loved dressage maxim.
In 1986, the club expanded to provide more opportunities for the growing number of members involved in combined training, forming the Wisconsin Dressage and Combined Training Association.
Today the WDCTA comprises six chapters, with members residing throughout Wisconsin and in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Te GMO ofers year-end awards for both
dressage and eventing and hosts many educational events,
including USDF instructor/trainer workshops.
Region 3
Deep South Dressage and Combined Training
Association (DSDCTA.org)
Ann Ticehurst, a Florida-based dressage
instructor and judge, had been studying
dressage with Col. Hans Handler, then
director of the Spanish Riding School of
Vienna. Ticehurst arranged for Handler’s
son, Michael, to travel to Florida to conduct a week-long clinic in September 1971. Te clinic attracted twelve riders from across the South, all of whom
were so impressed with Michael’s teaching and excited
about their educational experience that they decided then
and there to form a dressage organization. Tey chose the
name Deep South to refect their varied locations.
Today the Deep South DCTA has six chapters with
members across Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Te GMO
ofers a full roster of clinics and schooling shows, with dressage and eventing year-end awards and other honors.
36 November 2013 • USDF CONNECTION
Region 4
Central States Dressage & Eventing Association
(CSDEA.org)
Te GMO now known
as the CSDEA was
founded in September
1970 as the Dressage
and Combined Training Association. Te
group consisted of 128 members throughout the states of
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois,
and Michigan. For their $10 (seniors) or $5 (juniors) annual
fee, members received a three-page newsletter adorned
with a hand-drawn picture of a horse.
Today the CSDEA boasts members from Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Dressage and eventing clinics, dressage shows, horse trials, and
year-end awards ofer members educational and competitive opportunities.
Eastern Iowa Dressage & Eventing Association
(mwnet.com/EIDEA)
Tis club was founded in 1972
as the Winds Reach Dressage
and Combined Training Association, later changing its
name to the Eastern Iowa
Dressage & Eventing Association.
Te EIDEA ofers schooling shows, educational events,
and year-end awards. Monthly meetings feature lectures on
a wide variety of equine-related topics.
COURTESY OF WDCTA; COURTESY OF DSDCTA
EARLY ELEGANCE: WDCTA founding member Lois Aller rides
Student Prince at Prix St. Georges at the 1967 Bloomfeld Hills Show in
Detroit, MI
United states dressage Federation
Kansas City Dressage Society (KCDressage.com)
In 1967, several dressage enthusiasts, including Arlene Rigdon, Lois Arnold, and
Linda Landers, began an equestrian study
group. Te gatherings grew and in 1973
evolved into the Kansas City Dressage Society.
In February of that year, at Lowell Boomer’s request,
Rigdon and her then husband, Ron, traveled to Lincoln, NE,
for the USDF founding meeting. KCDS was one of the largest dressage organizations in the country. Many of KCDS’s
founding members were instrumental in establishing USDF
and its original set of bylaws.
Younger dressage enthusiasts may not know that there
was a short-lived national championships competition
predating this year’s inaugural US National Finals. Tree
consecutive national championships, called the INSILCO
Championships, were held in Kansas City, MO, in the mid1980s, attracting such riders as Carol Lavell, Robert Dover,
and Kay Meredith.
Today the KCDS ofers a wide spectrum of activities
to its members, who reside primarily in western Missouri
and eastern Kansas. Events include USEF-licensed/USDFrecognized dressage competitions, an adult camp, a junior
symposium, schooling shows, clinics, and numerous yearend awards and perpetual trophies.
CLAY TESKE
Nebraska Dressage Association
(NebraskaDressage.org)
Tis GMO got its start in USDF’s own
birthplace of Lincoln, NE. USDF founder Lowell Boomer started the Nebraska
Dressage Association in 1973, the same
year that USDF itself was established.
ACROSS GENERATIONS: NDA (and USDF) founder Lowell Boomer
(center) at the 2003 NDA annual meeting and awards banquet with
NDA members and dressage pros Heidi Basler and Jami Kment
Within a year, the charter GMO was ofering several schooling shows and clinics. By 1975 the NDA had a newsletter,
the Contact, published four times a year; and educational
opportunities, including judges’ forums, schooling shows,
and clinics.
Today the NDA sponsors two USEF-licensed/USDFrecognized dressage competitions over one weekend. Other oferings include schooling shows and a schooling-show
championship, year-end awards, and a variety of clinics and
workshops.
St. Louis Area Dressage Society (SLADS.org)
Dressage instructor Sonya Kershaw and
about nine novice dressage riders—most
of whom were Kershaw’s students—started the St. Louis Area Dressage Society in
1973 in Arnold, MO. Approximately ten
were in the initial group, most of whom
were only familiar with upper-level dressage through photographs. Early club activities included clinics with Violet Hopkins, founder of the
USDF instructor seminars.
In the early years, SLADS ran several schooling shows
and fun activities. Today the calendar is crowded with
activities, including the SLADS Fall Classic, which this
year is also the host competition for the Great American/USDF Region 4 Championships. Clinics, seminars,
schooling shows, and year-end awards are also on the
SLADS roster.
Region 4
Rocky Mountain Dressage Society (RMDS.org)
Te Rocky Mountain Dressage Society was
formed in 1971 by 26 dressage enthusiasts.
From its early days in a part of the country
where dressage was virtually unknown, the
RMDS has grown into a large and vibrant
GMO with twelve chapters; members in
Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah; and its
own central ofce.
Te RMDS produces its own championship show
(which this year is also the Great American/USDF Region
5 Championships) as well as the Rocky Mountain Sport
Horse Championships. Te area is now rich with quality
equestrian facilities and dressage oferings: CDIs, clinics,
schooling shows, and workshops. Te RMDS ofers a long
list of year-end awards and perpetual trophies. [
USDF CONNECTION
•
November 2013
37
Celebrating 40 Years
Region 6
Equestrians Institute (EINW.org)
By 1974, a group of
western Washington
state parents who’d
started a Pony Club
chapter back in 1960
decided to emulate the
Pony Club model and establish a “horsemastership” club for
adults. USDF founder Lowell Boomer reached out to the
fedgling Equestrians Institute, which soon became a charter USDF GMO.
A favorite memory of many members is the Christmas
party and parade of decorated horses, ponies, and carriages through neighborhoods—an annual feature during EI’s
early years.
EI, which now has members throughout the Pacifc
Northwest, is a unique GMO in that it includes driving as
well as dressage and eventing. Its slate of activities includes
driving trials and clinics in addition to USEF/USDF dressage competitions, US Eventing Association-sanctioned
horse trials, and clinics and educational opportunities for
all three disciplines. Tere are year-end awards for driving,
eventing, and dressage, as well.
PAST PRESIDENTS: In 1997, CDS honored (from left) Maureen Van
Tuyl, Loris Henry, Paquita Parker, Terry Wilson, Peter Lert, Lisa Beckett, Melissa Creswick, and Alexsandra Howard
Region 7
38 November 2013 • USDF CONNECTION
ON THE MAP: CDS founding member Hilda Gurney and her legendary Toroughbred, Keen, in an undated photo. Te pair won team
bronze in the 1976 Olympics, and both are now members of the Roemer
Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame.
the frst Grand Prix-level rider in the state and now also a
USDF Hall of Famer.
According to CDS central-ofce manager Paula Langan, American Dressage Institute founder Migi Serrell
contacted CDS “about lending support to the USDF founding” and that fve CDS board members attended the 1973
USDF founding meeting. One of those members, Stephen
Schwartz, was elected USDF’s frst president and served as
CDS president that same year.
CDS has been a leader in US dressage education and
competition throughout its history. It was the frst to ofer
judges’ forums, and the GMO brought in such notables as the
late Col. Alois Podhajsky from the Spanish Riding School and
the late Maj. Anders Lindgren to give clinics and to further
COURTESY OF CDS
California Dressage Society (California-Dressage.org)
Te GMO giant—with its 35 chapters, a
busy central ofce, and thousands of members throughout California and spilling into
Las Vegas and other surrounds—was the
brainchild of just seven energetic people
who sought to further the sport of dressage
in the Golden State by facilitating “more
competition and more instruction available to interested
riders,” as founding member and frst CDS president Susan
Davidge wrote in the inaugural issue of the CDS newsletter,
Dressage Letters.
Te fedgling club held its founding meeting at the home
of the late Elizabeth Searle (later a USDF Lifetime Achievement Award recipient) and Hermann Friedlaender. Also in
attendance at the founding meeting was early California
dressage star Hilda Gurney, now a member (as is her 1976
Olympic partner, Keen) of the Roemer Foundation/USDF
Hall of Fame.
Founded in 1967, CDS really got under way in 1968, its
frst ofcial activity being a dinner to honor Kyra Downton,
United states dressage Federation
instructor education. Te GMO pioneered championshipshow divisions for amateur riders, a futurity competition for
young dressage horses, championships for junior riders, an
instructor-training program, and regional competitions for
adult amateurs, among others. Educational oferings include
grants, a unique series of clinics for adult-amateur members,
and symposia. Chapters organize their own activities and offer their own year-end awards, as well.
Region 8
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: LIDCTA co-founder Anne Gribbons on
the appropriately named Tappan Zee, an of-the-track Toroughbred,
in 1976
USDF Hall of Fame. During Muma’s tenure as owner, Graf
George won team bronze at the 1992 Olympics with rider
Michael Poulin.
Te LIDCTA ofers clinics, shows, and year-end awards
to its members. [
COURTESY OF ANNE GRIBBONS
Long Island Dressage and Combined Training
Association (LIDCTA.com)
In 1974, when David and Anne Gribbons
started the Long Island Dressage and
Combined Training Association, most
dressage-minded enthusiasts in the area
were actually eventers who were looking
to better their dressage scores. Te Gribbonses (who have since relocated to Florida) brought in such European experts as Vladimir Littauer
(Te Development of Modern Riding).
One LIDCTA member, Dee Muma, made her mark on
the dressage map in the early 1990s as the owner of Graf
George, who now is a member of the Roemer Foundation/
USDF CONNECTION
•
November 2013
39
Celebrating 40 Years
New England Dressage Association (NEDA.org)
When New England dressage enthusiasts
Priscilla Endicott and Pamela Fitzwilliams
returned home from the 1968 Mexico City
Olympics, they sought like-minded riders in the area who wanted to learn more
about the sport.
Te group gathered informally at Endicott’s home in Massachusetts until someone suggested they
take the next step. Te New England Dressage Association
was ofcially formed in 1972, with Endicott as president.
NEDA became a charter GMO at USDF’s founding meeting
in 1973, and Bill Woods attended the frst USDF conventions as NEDA’s ofcial delegate.
NEDA FALL FESTIVAL: Tis huge and prestigious show, also the Great
American/USDF Region 8 Championships, is the GMO’s biggest annual
competitive undertaking. At the 2013 show, Region 8 Fourth Level open
champions Mary Lauritsen and Ansgar pose in the winner’s circle.
Today NEDA is USDF’s largest single-chapter GMO,
with members residing throughout New England and New
York state. Like the California Dressage Society, NEDA has
been at the forefront in ofering outstanding educational
and competitive opportunities to its members. Te late
Sally Swift of Vermont, founder of Centered Riding and
Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame inductee, was a
NEDA charter member and got her start teaching clinics to
NEDA members. Early in its history NEDA began bringing
European dressage experts such as Maj. Anders Lindgren
and Maj. Hans Wikne over for clinics, and today the NEDA
Symposia attract top talent from around the world and
40 November 2013 • USDF CONNECTION
auditors from up and down the East Coast. USDF “L” programs and instructor workshops are just some of the many
other educational opportunities.
In the competition realm, NEDA sponsors the New
England Breeders’ Futurity, coupled with many other sporthorse oferings, including a stallion-service auction. Tere
is a roster of schooling shows, and the best-known of NEDA’s recognized shows is its Fall Festival CDI, coupled with
the Great American/USDF Region 8 Championships. A
robust slate of committees keeps the NEDA machine welloiled and thriving.
Digital Edition Bonus Content
Watch the New England Dressage Association’s “Trough the Years” slide
show, created in 2012 to celebrate the
GMO’s fortieth anniversary.
CAROLE MACDONALD; COURTESY OF TRAFALGAR SQUARE PUBLISHING
YANKEE INGENUITY: Sally Swift, the late Centered Riding founder
and Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame inductee (front), got her
start teaching NEDA members (photo undated)
United states dressage Federation
Region 9
Alamo Dressage Association (AlamoDressage.org)
About seven people met in San Antonio,
TX, in 1972 with the intention of starting
a dressage club. Among them were Cindy
Joiner; Lorrell Joiner, who was elected the
group’s frst president; and Lisa Russell,
wife of 1952 US Olympic show-jumping
team bronze medalist Col. John Russell. Te
founders named their club the Texas Dressage Society because
it was the frst dressage club in the state of Texas—the frst one,
in fact, in the entire area now known as USDF Region 9.
Ten-US national dressage team coach Col. Bengt
Ljungquist often traveled to Texas to assist the fedgling
club by ofering dressage clinics, helping with organization,
and teaching members how to put on dressage shows. Te
club also sent some members to an international show in
Mexico City, with John Russell acting as coach.
In 1981, the GMO was rechristened the Alamo Dressage
Association.
In its early years, the Alamo Dressage Association hosted large (for the era) dressage shows. In 1974, the club was
proud to host a dressage show to which future Olympian
Hilda Gurney brought her famous Keen for a demonstration ride.
The ADA today offers its members a slate of schooling and recognized dressage shows. Its San Antonio Fall
Dressage I & II shows feature the breast-cancer benefit Ride for the Cure Dressage Team Challenge, which
benefits the Susan G. Komen Rally for the Cure. There
are dressage clinics, seminars for new scribes and ring
stewards, and a freestyle symposium, among others. The
ADA also offers scholarships to junior riders and plenty
of year-end awards.
The Next 40 Years
Tese charter GMOs helped grow the USDF into what it is
today. We salute all of our GMOs and look forward to the
future! s
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USDF CONNECTION
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November 2013
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