MSEDA News

Kerry Millikan and David O’Connor led our ultimate panel of the day, with a call in from Tamie Smith all the way from California. These three powerhouses shared their experiences rising to the top level of riding from three very different backgrounds. While Millikan and O’Connor shared many experiences in their careers, Millikan worked her way through nursing school taking care of her personal horse and a second sale horse. O’Connor rode from a young age but didn’t achieve the level of riding his peers did until he was taken into an intensive, personalized training program that refined his riding skills. Millikan expressed how important it is to study your craft, she paid close attention to horses and riders as a child to learn what she liked and what worked. Smith rode a lot of bad horses, and had a lot of ups and downs in her early career, but always asked herself “ok, what’s next”. All three riders shared stories of the highs and lows of the sport and proved that perseverance does pay off. 

The panelists shared many stories of how show nerves affect each rider differently and how important it is to be respectful of your team members who may process differently than you. The Team experience also teaches riders to fulfil the role as needed for the team, which means do the things you already know how to do at a competition, don’t try to do more as that’s where mistakes are likely to happen. 

Nuggets of advice abounded throughout this discussion. O’Connor encouraged riders to get into a program one believes in and stay there until you have a core philosophy. Use this time to learn your trade and hone your craft. Smith told riders to “be particular” in every aspect of their life from presenting yourself well to knowing the minute details of your horse’s legs. She, notably, admitted that she would never continue to work with an owner who valued results over the horse’s welfare. Smith inspired members to never sacrifice one’s own integrity and honor for an owner, result, or sponsor. Millikan taught riders to channel their nervous energy into results, dare yourself to be better, and to surround yourself with good riders. 

Millikan and O’Connor shared their thoughts on how the changes in the sport of eventing have changed the style of horse that wins, but O’Connor argues that a horse with mostly thoroughbred blood is still the horse that will win at the 5* level. O’Connor also loves steeplechase for riders to learn to go faster than the speed at which they travel on cross-country (but is glad we do not ask it of horses anymore). 

All three riders shared some of the sacrifices they have made to make it to the top of the sport, and told members to ask “What the price to win is, and are you willing to pay it?” Riders must stay true to who they are, work hard, and figure out a business strategy that supports them to their goals. 

David O’Connor and Alexa Thompson stepped in to lead the Junior/Young Rider session when Tamie Smith was unable to attend due to personal reasons. O’Connor has been integral to the development of the current young rider program that involves the pipeline of regional camps to national camps in the U21 program. The YR program is, at its core, an educational program aimed at creating well-rounded horsemen on and off the horse. Thompson is an A Pony Club graduate and YR program graduate, and shared her experience on YR teams that shaped her into the rider and trainer she is today. 

Our junior and young riders were told “You are the next.” In essence, they are to look for what’s next, learn about what’s next, so they can be the next top riders in our country. O’Connor encouraged riders to always add new tools to their toolbox of training tools. Thompson expressed that riders should focus on on what’s next and do it for the love of the horse. 

While the Jr/Yr program is an excellent program for training the next generation of top athletes, O’Connor and Thompson had advice for all of our juniors. Thompson explained how she made it through college while riding and training, noting how she scheduled her day down to the minute and was never afraid to ask for help from those who knew more than her. O’Connor encouraged riders to be interested in other activities beyond horses and enjoy high school, as it is a fleeting time in life. Both panelists expressed hope in our next generation of riders to be even better than the ones before. 

Karen Winn, Wayne Quarles, and Debbie Boeh hosted our required continuing education for officials. MSEDA thanks each of these officials for their time; officials and riders alike learned about rule changes and current event updates pertaining to officiating at MSEDA competitions. 

Winn, Quarles, and Boeh presented several 2025 rule changes for FEI and USEF competitions at both USDF Dressage Shows and USEF Horse Trials. MSEDA sanctioned shows may run under USEF rules, so these rule changes and updates are important for our MSEDA officials to be aware of entering a new competition year. 

Our panel led a discussion about horse abuse and dangerous riding, specifically explaining the FEI and USEF’s take on these topics. While MSEDA does not carry a yellow-card rule, we encourage officials to use MSEDA shows a educational opportunities for coaches and competitors. MSEDA officials were empowered speak up about rule infractions and dangerous riding at a show. Quarles suggested that TDs take another adult with them to have discussions about dangerous riding with competitors to ensure that there was another bystander to oversee the communication. This helps protect officials from safesport violations when speaking to a minor, as well as congruence between each side of a story. 

Winn shared her safety checklist that she discusses with a show’s organizer (USEF and MSEDA) before she comes to an event. This helps ensure that all safety measures are in place, such as communication between event officials and the EMT, and steps to take in the case of an emergency. This document is posted on the MSEDA homepage so officials can use it for the 2025 season. 

Finally, the panel discussed the roles of a technical delegate and the president of the ground jury. While both are a necessary part of an MSEDA sanctioned competition, they hold different roles. A TD’s job is to make sure the competition is safe and fair for all competitors, and will check heights of jumps and ensure safety measures are in place. A PGJ confirms that the course is a fair test for the level. Organizers should remember to ask an official to fulfill a PGJ role before their arrival to the competition. Officials can assist in this by confirming their roles (and the roles of other officials) leading up to the competition. 

Karen Winn, Wayne Quarles, and Debbie Boeh provided a wealth of experience to our officials that we know will assist them in serving the MSEDA community in the upcoming season. 

The MSEDA Annual Business Meeting began our education for the day with overviews from each committee chair. Our committees were hard at work in 2024, and have many plans for 2025 already. 

In 2024, MSEDA hosted our dressage show MSEDA at the Park during our new June dates, which were very well received. Our 2025 show will fall on the last weekend of June, and again will be hosted in the Clairborne and Stoneleigh rings. MSEDA Team Challenge Horse Trials went smoothly this year, and we look forward to some exciting changes at the 2025 show, including plans to show jump in the Walnut ring, and hopes to add a 1*L division. The show organizers for both shows are hoping to secure more sponsorships for this season.

All of our committees worked within a tighter budget in the past year to help alleviate some of the issues with the rising prices of goods and services across all industries. We were still able to host a clinic with Tim Bourke, a steeplechase clinic with Cathy Wieschhoff, and a super annual meeting and awards banquet. In spring of 2024, the board of directors met with USEA president Rob Bourke to discuss our participation in the USEA Affiliates program, and decided to continue our membership. 

As we look ahead to the 2025 season, the board of directors are excited to continue to host great educational events, clinics, and competitions, as well as support our membership in their competition endeavors. We hope to see you out in the spring season, and please remember to renew your membership and volunteer!

The 2024 AECs concluded this past weekend at the Kentucky Horse Park. Congrats to all our members who competed and thank you to those who volunteered! 

By MSEDA member and Strides for Equality Equestrians board member Julia Bursten. This article originally ran in the Strides for Equality August newsletter. Photograph by Lukasz Kowalski/Reuters.

Snoop Dogg’s enthusiastic commentary on the sporting events he loves was pop culture’s favorite part of the Olympics this year. We are hardly the first to celebrate the rapper’s unusual new place in America’s heart as the country’s favorite fan-fam, showing up in selfies with Simone Biles and members of the U.S. basketball team. But we are thrilled with how lovingly and deeply he embraced Olympic equestrian events at the 2024 Paris Games. In case you missed it, the biggest photo op of Snoop’s equestrian Olympics occurred when Snoop donned a shadbelly and breeches, complete with half chaps and a Samshield helmet, and wents to the paddocks with Martha Stewart to feed carrots to Steffen Peters’ Suppenkasper and Endel Ots’ Zen Elite’s Bohemian. The iconic videos, available on the @usadressage Instagram and, well, all over the internet, have been celebrated, reposted, shared, and recreated by equestrians worldwide. Snoop tentatively offers Bohemian carrots and compliments the Westphalian gelding’s braids, and he dances with Suppenkasper, the KWPN gelding who became famous during Snoop’s Tokyo Olympics commentary. Further videos–you know, the ones that blew up your texts and DMs last month–show Snoop and Stewart (herself an avid equestrian) watching the dressage finals and generally wandering around with top human and equine athletes expressing the joy and awe that all us horse lovers feel watching world champion horses completing peak performance. What makes this moment in Olympic and equestrian history so special? To us, it’s not just the sheer joy of Snoop and Martha’s field trip to the paddocks–though don’t get us wrong, we loved it for its own sake! But beyond that, it is Snoop showing up as someone who is new to the world of horses and unafraid to admit the complex range of emotions that horses evoke in him. He has said on the record that he loves horses but is afraid of them. The videos show him seeking help from Stewart and members of the U.S. Olympic team to learn how to encounter and connect with the geldings. He famously became invested in dressage after seeing Suppenkasper’s Tokyo performance. And the investment came because he saw elements of his own experience in the ring: he likened freestyle movements to his own dance moves. In these moments, as in his 2024 dance with “Mopsie” in the paddocks and his inquiries about Bohemian’s braids, Snoop showed the equestrian world what it looks like for one particular Black man to connect with horses. As he brought his perspective to bear on grand prix dressage, his commentary invited equestrians the world over to take a step back and envision how our sport appears to the wider culture. But it also showed what happens when someone who doesn’t come from a horsey background gets interested and finds ways to have that new interest supported. Snoop in the paddocks in Paris is a moment of visibility not just for the world to watch an incredibly successful Black rapper play with horses, but for the world to watch the complicated ways interest in horses often begins, the networks of support required to sustain it, and the courage needed to get closer. With these videos, Snoop showed countless potential horse enthusiasts what it looks like to take the first steps toward getting in the saddle, that you don’t have to be white to take those steps, and how you don’t have to — and shouldn’t — stop being your full and authentic self as you hand over your first carrots. And while we don’t think most new horse lovers should start with shadbellies and Samshields, we do love the example Snoop set here of how to get into the world of horses. We hope lots of others follow in his footsteps in the years ahead!

On June 18-19, MSEDA hosted Tim Bourke for a two day clinic at the beautiful Valley View Farm. Everyone had a wonderful, educational time. We heard from two clinic participants on their takeaways and thoughts! 

 " I had the best time riding with Tim at the gorgeous Valley View Farm. It was two super educational days focusing on three main components and how they translate over show jumping and cross country. Tim was incredibly knowledgeable and encouraging while also pushing us to and outside our comfort zone." - Jett Jenkins

"Tim Bourke had a great way of explaining his training exercises, making it easy to understand how to do them, and more importantly why. His teaching method is clear and concise and continually builds up the riders confidence. My biggest takeaway from the clinic was his explanations of the canter and how to ride for the type and quality of canter needed approaching a fence, after, and in between.  I would definitely attend another clinic with him and Valley View farm was so awesome to let us use their amazing facility!" - Zara Bewley

MSEDA Dressage at the Park had a wonderful turn-out with our new dates, June 29-30, at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park. Along with our new dates, we moved the competition to the Stonelea and Clairborne arenas, which have synthetic footing and are very close to the barns. Competitors loved these changes--the show boasted three rings each day, with 90 entries and 250 rides. 

As in past years, MSEDA hosted a team competition. Teams signed up to compete against each other. The MSEDA team composed of Susan Posner, Karen Winn, Kara Hertz, and Anabelle Friend won the competition! The second place team was Last Chance to Enter , followed by Hidden Gem Equine in third. Congratulations riders! 

A huge thank you to our sponsors: Bimeda, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, and Kentucky Performance Products. These companies helped make competition in the new space possible. We are so thankful for the organizers, officials, and volunteers who made this an incredibly successful event for our competitors. 

A non-professional and informal guide on how to prepare and ride an Introductory Level Dressage Test. Complied by Adult Amateur Jenny Hardy

You CAN absolutely do this! Download the guide here: Stall to Center Line .pdf

Most of us have spent time finding the right trainer. We check their show records, their students show records, we scrutinize their horsemanship and check their reputations. We then spend our money and time so we can progress, but do we practice being good students? A good student sets realistic goals, actively listens, does their homework, works to find positivity in the negative and is honest with themselves and their trainer.

Setting realistic goals varies from person to person and horse to horse. Lets be honest, these goals can change from day to day. Openly discuss these goals with your trainer and come up with a plan to achieve them. Planning lessons are just as valuable as under saddle. Take the time to sit down and have an open conversation with your trainer. It will better help them to get you where you want to be.

Once you have your goals set you can begin working with your trainer to achieve them. In your planning lesson make a list of steps to achieve your goal. At your next under saddle lesson you should be actively listening. Don’t just assume they said “add more leg.” Don’t feel dumb asking how, or why, or saying can you repeat that. Our trainers want us to succeed and progress. If we don’t say we don’t understand or ask questions we are not providing our trainers with feedback to help them help us.

Do your homework. Trainers don’t give us exercises to entertain themselves! After your lesson you can write down a quick recap and what you and your horse need to work on. We spend a lot of time working on making our horses better, don’t skimp on your own mental and physical fitness.

Don’t forget to check in. Be proactive and honest. Where are you in your journey? Where are you doing well? Where are you struggling? What can you do to continue to make your weaknesses better? If something isn’t going right, say something. You may need to go back and retrain, or fill in knowledge that wasn’t solidified.

No one is perfect. As horse people we have our fair share of setbacks. Learn from them! Mistakes, injuries and other setbacks are wonderful opportunities to still learn. 

Discuss your errors with your trainer. What will you do differently next time? How will it look in the future? How will you take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again? Injury and rehab are great opportunities to audit lessons, read rules, volunteer, work on your mental game. It takes a positive attitude to find an opportunity within a setback, but it will help you achieve your end goal faster.

Practice these steps and you will not only help your trainer help you, but you will make yourself more self-sufficient and achieve your goals more efficiently. Don’t forget that success isn’t linear. It’s helpful to look back on where you were a month, 6 months or even a year ago and see your progress.