To: Area VII Members
From: Your Area VII Chair - Cynthia Bayles
We have so much news to catch up on as we enter another new year.
First, our Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner was held on January 26, 2019 at Emerald Downs:
Thank you to everyone who supported the Area VII annual meeting. Our annual meeting provides us
with a chance to celebrate the prior year’s season, to socialize, to learn about new things from interesting speakers, to spend money on great items in our silent auction (the proceeds benefit Area VII programs) and to recognize riders, horses, volunteers and others who excelled in and out of competition during the prior year.
Please visit our website at www.areavii.org for a complete list our 2018 award winners and photos. Our
2018 year-end champions are:
Beginner Novice Junior: Jess Because, owned and ridden by Harper Padgett
Beginner Novice Senior: Clooney 14, owned by Annika Asling, ridden by Karen O’Neal
Novice Junior: Little Sure Shot, owned by Harper Padgett, ridden by Dane Padgett
Novice Senior: Apollo, owned and ridden by Tracy Stein
Training Junior: Hungarian Villian, owned by Brenda Henry, ridden by Makenna Henry
Training Senior: Normandy’s Kivalo, owned and ridden by Kelly Langerak
Young Rider Preliminary: Tucker Too, owned by Anni Grandia, ridden by Lilly Linder
Open Preliminary: Staccato, owned by Janine Jaro, ridden by Jordan Linstedt
Open Intermediate: Argentine Gaucho, owned and ridden by Amy Evans
Open Advanced: Revitavet Capato, owned by Barbara and Gary Linstedt, ridden by Jordan
Linstedt
Rider of the Year: Jordan Linstedt
Horse of the Year: Staccato, owned by Janine Jaro, ridden by Jordan Linstedt
Volunteers of the Year: 1st - Rick Resto, 2nd – Cindi Carrell
As the new Area VII Chair, I’d like to extend a special thank you to the many people who worked so hard
to put this year’s annual meeting together – including arranging the facility, the speakers, obtaining and
organizing the awards, putting together the silent auction and so much more. In particular, John
Meriwether, Lorilee Hanson, Maggie Rikard, outgoing Chair Rachel Kosmal McCart and our new Young
Rider Coordinator Barb Jensen, deserve our thanks for the many hours they put into organizing and
arranging the awards for our annual celebration. Many people contributed items to the silent auction,
which is an important fundraiser for us. Diane Snow and Gallop's Saddlery - thank you once again for
donating so many fabulous items!
Our guest speakers included Jen Verharen, who spoke to us about setting goals and overcoming
setbacks and Max Corcoran, who talked to us about conditioning horses, which of course branched off
into many discussions and questions. Jen always draws a crowd and as usual drew rave reviews. For
most of us this was our first opportunity to listen to Max, who shared a lot of very interesting experience
with conditioning event horses through the highest levels. Max also graciously doubled as our awards
presenter. Max was a very engaging speaker and it was lovely to have her join our eventing family for
our celebration. We hope she will visit us again in the future.
On a sad note, as most of you have heard by now, we recently lost a person who was very special to
many of us in Area VII and who, although intensely private, was also extremely generous, supportive and
cared deeply about our sport. Dee Strand was a very special person with a huge heart as well as
endless kindness and generosity. She will be greatly missed.
I’d like to extend a very special and heart felt thank you to Greg Tryon, who joined us to share some of
his memories and thoughts about Dee, her contributions to our sport and her impact on the Tryon
family. Greg’s presence and words meant a lot to us – especially those of us who were fortunate enough
to have known Dee.
So - the day was filled with education, socializing, celebrating each other’s successes from 2018 and
remembering special horses and people who have meant and will always mean so much to us.
Congratulations to our 2018 year-end award winners and the best of luck to everyone for a successful
2019 season!
Other important topics for the new year:
Safe Sport:
If you haven’t yet educated yourself on the new requirements of Safe Sport, now is the time. This new
legislation affects every one of us in some way. In a nutshell, The USEF Safe Sport Policy and U.S. Center
for SafeSport Code are aimed at protecting all participants in our sport. The required training is about
recognizing, reducing and responding to misconduct and abuse in sport. Effective January 1, 2019, all
USEF members 18 and over with an Adult Competing Membership must complete Safe Sport training in
order to be eligible to participate in USEF activities, including competitions. As an adult (18 and over)
USEA Member competing at the Preliminary Level or above, this affects you. But it also affects trainers,
coaches, judges, owners and since the intent is to protect our youth, I encourage parents to educate
themselves on this very important issue. There is extensive information on this subject as well as links
to other resources available on the USEF website at www.usef.org. Please educate yourself on this now,
because the training is required to be completed prior to competing.
Amateur Status:
Another subject we all need to make sure we understand going into the new competition year is the
answer to the question, “What is an Amateur and what do I have to do (or perhaps more accurately NOT
do) to hold an Amateur Card”? This goes under the subject of know the rules. For the definition of
Amateur Status, please refer to the U.S. Equestrian Federation Rules for Eventing, Appendix 3.1.3
Amateur (A). You can also email amateurinquiry@usef.org and request assistance if you are unclear
about whether you qualify as an amateur or professional. Amateur v Professional is not as clear cut as
one would think – so if you are an adult and competing as an “Amateur”, please educate yourself so you
don’t run afoul of the rules.
Information resources - Area VII Website – www.areavii.org :
Please note that although there are a number of Facebook pages out there that sport the name of “Area
VII” somewhere in the title, FB is a social platform and is not controlled by the Area (hence the posts
that have zero relation to our area and the plethora of advertising). Please visit the Area VII website to
stay up to date on important happenings in our Area, including but not limited to, USEA approved
educational activities including clinics, Young Rider Activities, Adult Rider Activities, Instructor
Certification Program Clinics and Testing, important announcements including those from the Area VII
Council, calendar updates and other news that the Area Leadership deems important for our
membership. By periodically checking into our website www.areavii.org and the US Eventing website at
www.useventing.com we will all keep informed about what is happening in our sport and in our Area.
Happy New Year to everyone and wishing you all the best for a successful 2019!
USEA Entry Forms and commonly used links
Complete list of Forms on the US Eventing Association site
US Equestrian Federation Resources & Forms page