New England Dressage Association

NEDA Business - President's Message

December 2007

Greetings NEDA Members:

It’s official. As of Sunday, November 4, 2007 you all did it. You went and re-elected me for a second term as NEDA President. You get 3 more years of me picking on you to become more involved with your favorite dressage organization. That can wait for now. I’ll have plenty of time to work on you, and I might even have a new topic besides volunteering.

What I want to do now is to let you know that 2007 was a very successful year for NEDA. This was the year we had our highest number of members ever: 1,975 to be exact. We will break the 2,000 mark in 2008 so tell all your friends to join and be part of the largest single chapter GMO in the country. Joining has been made easier with the installation this past year of our online signup and renewal process. It’s not hard, as even I renewed online for 2008. NEDA will continue to improve services to its members.

Our Educational events were fantastic as usual this year. Flextime and camps were well attended and our Spring Symposium with Scott Hassler enlightened those who attended with the proper way to prepare a young horse for competition. The NEDA In-Hand clinic with Janko van de Lageweg and the USDF Sport Horse Seminar with Hilda Gurney gave our New England breeders an opportunity to learn from the best how best to present their horses in breed competition and to learn what they are looking for in a dressage sport horse. Most recently, our NEDA Weekend, three days of instruction by Ingrid Klimke on how to train in the Classical Method, and how to care for our equine athletes by the German Olympic Team Veterinarian, Dr. Ina Goesmeier.

The Spring Show was filled to capacity and ran as smoothly as a well oiled machine thanks to its great Show Secretary and Manager, backed up by some of the best volunteers NEDA has. We also want to thank the management and staff of Apple Knoll Farm for all their help in making it a success. The Fall Festival was probably the best ever. Five days of Breed Show, New England Series Championship, Regional Championships, CDI and Open Competition with nearly 600 horses and 1,500 rides. Everything a dressage lover would want at the biggest show in the country topped off by performances by some of the best FEI level horses in the country and the return of Rocher to the ring after an 18 month lay off. All this brought to you thanks to hundreds of volunteers and great show management.

In the background of all our events are our PR people who don’t get nearly enough credit for all they do. The hours spent producing the TIP and Salute to keep our members informed, as well as keeping our web site up to date with current NEDA news and working to get the news out about NEDA events with a national advertising campaign is absolutely amazing. Also doing outstanding work this year was our Sponsorship Department. They have the fun job of arm twisting, I mean convincing companies and individuals that NEDA is the place they can get the best bang for their buck in reaching out to the equestrian community and they surpassed all expectations this year.

2008 was an outstanding year for NEDA and I want to say THANK YOU all, and to the 2007 Officers and Board of Directors and the volunteers who are dedicated to NEDA and have a love of the Sport of Dressage.

Sincerely,

Paul Cormier

		2008 Premier Sponsor