Foreign.

You are listening to the Horse Radio Network, part of the Equine Network family.

This is episode 781 of the Dressage Radio show on the Horse Radio Network, brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products.

The Dressage Radio show is the official podcast of the United States Dressage Federation.

On today's show, we're talking all things US Dressage Finals.

It's that exciting time of the year.

The U.S. dressage Finals are here and have happened.

We dive into the finals with great lineup of guests.

First, we chat with Kevin Renig, the USDF president, who shares insights on this year's event and continues the growth of dressage nationwide.

Then we chat with Lauren Chumlee joins the conversation to talk about her incredible show, both for herself and her whole team.

She shares her approach, highlights, and what makes the final so special.

Finally, adult amateur Mila Perry tells us her inspiring story of her first ever, ever finals experience.

Competing and winning, training in first level, and becoming champion.

Whether you're headed to the showgrounds or follow from home, this episode captures the excitement, dedication and community that makes US Dressage finals unforgettable.

Tune in for motivation stories and insight from riders at every level.

This is Reece Koppler Stanfield in Georgetown, Kentucky.

And I am Megan McIsaac from Oregon, Wisconsin.

And you're listening to the Dressage Radio Show.

Hey, Reece.

Hi, Megan.

How are you?

Oh, my God.

It's been a great day.

Reece.

Can I miss all the amazing things?

All the amazing things.

So tell me more.

Okay.

We are on the cusp of our weekend.

Our last series, the lunging series, I feel like I'm ahead of the game, like, as an organizer.

That never happens.

So that's happening.

And then sadly, but so excitingly, I sold my sail horse to the best person.

That is.

That is one of those, like, bittersweet moments where you're like, he was so cool and we were so excited to see you develop him.

But, yeah, I mean, that is that, I think for professional riders, like, that's what we do.

We get horses, we ride them, we enjoy them, and then we sell them.

And it is heartbreaking, but fun, too.

I love it.

I love selling horses.

I love developing horses.

I went to Silverwood one time and I saw eight of the horses I sold at one horse show.

It just.

That is so cool.

And I get to go and cheer on the riders.

I get to see them.

Like, one of my sales horse, actually, two of them went to finals.

Like, how amazing is that?

That I'm amazing horses.

Yeah, it's Amazing core.

What about you, Reese?

Love that.

Well, I've been like on a clinic tour.

I've been everywhere.

Like it's been great.

It's been so fun.

So I just saw friends in Denver.

That was so great.

I saw, I, I, I coached and met listeners from the show.

Hi girls from Colorado.

That was so much fun.

Like I enjoyed that.

I got to see Jessica Gaston who's been on the show a ton.

One of my barn daughters and she is growing her program out there and she's got an amazing group of people.

So I loved that.

Like that was so much fun.

It was actually really easy to get there too.

It was like it was a direct flight.

It was so nice.

Never.

Yes.

So that was great.

And then last weekend I was in Aiken, South Carolina also I was visiting Helen and friends and Helen bought my sister's horse.

So just, it's just fun seeing her develop him and see her barn develop.

So I get, that's what's fun is I get to go and see kind of all my, all my people.

So that's been really fun.

I have a weekend off.

I'm home.

We have, we actually have a horse show here on Saturday and, and then head to Akron next weekend.

So.

Just a busy Little Bee, not gonna lie.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I do have a little cold.

I think it's probably from traveling.

I really tried to airborne it up but yeah, definitely, definitely the planes, trains and automobiles for sure.

Well, you lay low.

Take care of yourself.

I know, I know.

It'll be fun.

It'll be.

But we are, we are laughing when we talk about finals because we, we both of us weren't able to go because we both have just been crazy busy and, and traveling.

So it's fun to hear kind of how everybody did and what happened and all that kind of stuff.

So I'm really looking forward to hearing everybody's take.

But overall I think everybody really enjoyed.

Looked beautiful.

I loved looking at all the pictures.

I was like, woo, this looks awesome.

Watch out for next year.

I'll be there.

I know, I know.

So it was just fun to see like you said.

I, I had two professional riders that were there, so I was getting kind of feedback from them and talking about their tests and that kind of stuff.

And I was so bummed I wasn't there.

I'm like.

But I had, I double scheduled myself so that was dumb.

But I didn't think about it.

But that was, that was really good.

So.

But I'm so proud of you.

You're ahead of the game that made me think I had dinner made.

I have, like, dinner in the oven.

And it was.

It's just that feeling when you're like, I'm ahead of the game.

I'm headache.

Yeah, it's an amazing feeling.

I'm like, I'm organized.

I have the schedule, all of the things.

I'm like, we have the tables, we have the projector.

I mean, it's just so much goes into it.

And I'm like, yes, I'm ready for this weekend.

Love it.

Now, let me just say, do you think because I try to lean into people, like, if I hosted one of these workshops, I would be contacting you and, like, what do I need to know?

So I think that's important, right?

Like, talk to people that organize clinics.

Oh, huge.

Yeah, huge.

That's exactly what I did.

Cause I. I started organizing it, and USCF gives great guidelines on how to organize it.

Kathy Roberts, you can call her, email her anytime.

The faculty is amazing.

I'm always.

Especially the week before.

Like last night, I was on the phone with Anne and we were hashing out the schedule.

And then I also called Jane in Nebraska, and she hosted this whole series last year, and I got her take on it.

So I highly, highly recommend contacting anyone.

That's great advice, Rhys.

Yeah.

And, you know, and again, thank you for running all these.

You know, we both have been participants, but we need people to run them.

And.

And they are.

They are a lot to.

To organize.

So thank you.

That's so sweet.

And we can't wait to hear a recap.

Next show.

Next show.

I'll tell you how exhausted I am and how amazing it was.

I know.

I love it.

Well, we have a great.

We have a great show for everybody.

We've been missing you guys.

It feels like we haven't been on forever.

So we're excited to be here and we're going to have this break from Kentucky Performance Products.

And again, this is an amazing company.

They work.

I work very closely with them and Delia and her whole team.

And I'm so thankful for them because, again, their products are phenomenal and make our horses look amazing.

So thank you for their support to the show as well.

Does your performance horse have sore, stiff muscles?

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Well, tonight I am so excited to welcome Mila Perry.

She is on the show.

She won at the US Finals, the training level, and the first level adult amateur, which is amazing on her horse, Jabberwocky Eden.

Welcome to the show, Mila.

Thanks.

Happy to be here.

How did I do with her name?

Perfect.

Perfect.

I love it.

Well, when we were chatting before the show, you were telling us all about your mare, who you call Snax.

So I love her already because I love snacks.

I mean, let's be real.

And so tell us about yourself and your mer.

Snacks.

Sure, sure.

So I've been riding my whole life.

I sort of started when I was a kid in 4H and moved up from there.

I live in New Jersey.

I train with Lauren Cholmondeley.

I've been with her for, oh, I think it's been like five years at this point.

I moved from Ohio for work and started training with Lauren, and Lauren helped me with my last mare and then, and then this new one.

So, super, super excited about this new one and excited to sort of tell you about our finals experience.

Yeah.

So tell us.

Okay.

Before we got on, you told us about her name, Jabberwocky Eden.

But tell, tell everybody because her name's super cool.

So I, I like to have themed names with things.

So Jabberwocky is the dragon from Alice in Wonderland, the poem about the dragon that's slain.

And the poem is full of all sorts of made up words and they talk about how they slay the dragon.

And so the sword they used to slay the dragon makes a sound in the poem and it says that the sword went snicker snack.

And so we were trying to find a name from the poem that kind of fit, that was unique.

And so we call her snacks, like the sword snicker snack.

So that's how we got the name.

I love that.

And now this was your first regionals, first finals, Correct?

Tell us.

Yes, tell us about that experience.

Like, were you overwhelmed?

Were you excited?

What was it like?

I've never been to Wacken, Ohio.

I. I'm from Ohio, but I've never been to Wacken, Ohio either.

I was super excited and it was a little overwhelming.

The good News is so the.

I, I think I mentioned before, but I don't think the audience heard.

The mayor's only four and so she's, she's just a baby.

I've had her just over a year and last year we got her and then like a month later decided, oh, we're going to take her to Devon.

So I went and I showed her in the, in the three year old material at Devon last year when I had her for like six weeks.

And then, so we're, we're kind of used to doing fun, crazy things.

So I showed her all season all over the place.

We did the four year olds, obviously we did training first level, she did first freestyle.

So I've shown her all over the place in New Jersey, but this is the first time we've sort of went anywhere.

So we went to regionals in Virginia, which was a lot of fun.

And then finals was really interesting because you hear sort of all the, I don't want to call them horror stories, but all the interesting weather stories from Kentucky normally, right?

Like, oh my God, it rained, it snowed, it was terrible.

This was all inside.

So it was super nice because the weather was typical Ohio, terrible weather when we got there.

Like the horses go inside and then, and then you stay warm.

So it was, it was so much fun because you didn't have to worry about being freezing.

Like the temperature was good, they could stand their back on tracks but you didn't have to go put mediums on and then you're not trying to ride like in the rank.

Wind, cold, rain, sleet, snow.

So it was, it was very, very nice.

I think I, I made a good decision to wait until we moved to an indoor venue.

And Mila, I'm literally in Kentucky.

I live about 10 minutes from the horse park.

And I'm not gonna lie, normally finals would be this either I think it was this week or the next week and we're getting, gonna get snow.

So I was like, I, I was in favor of not being in the weather too because it is not pleasant here sometimes, but.

So I love it.

So what, tell us about the venue and what was it like there?

The venue is super cool, so it's giant.

And I know everyone's like, oh, everything's big.

But like the barns are labeled A through Z and you can find horses in every barn.

So there was a lot of, a lot of horses and people there and a lot of people I knew.

And I don't even think I could see everyone because everyone sort of had different, nooks and crannies.

So the barn is giant.

And then I think there was like five different rings going.

And each ring has its own warm up, and each ring has a super great footing.

So it's just.

It's big and it has everything that you need.

But it was a little spooky for some of the horses.

You know, the.

The indoors kind of reverberate the sound a little bit.

So some of the areas were like, oh, my God, this is giant.

And there's pumpkins and there's bushes and there's all these things, and there's giant screens everywhere.

So it's.

It's sort of a lot for the horses to take in, especially horses that probably are more used to showing in, you know, like, not as fancy places.

You know, you're used to outdoors and things like that.

And like, basically they've been inside for a week and haven't gotten to see the sun.

So it's definitely a little bit of an adjustment for them.

And what was your favorite part about the horse show?

I think that my favorite part about.

The horse show was just being able to, like, be away from sort of the.

The hustle and bustle.

Like, you know, you got to see so many cool horses.

Like, everyone that was there, you know, was there because they won or they got a wild card score.

And so it was just so cool to be able to go look at the different rings and see what people are doing and watch different people's freestyles and sort of see horses that you don't see every day on your normal circuit.

So it was a lot of fun.

I love that.

And Mila, what do you do?

Because you're an adult, amateur.

So what do you do outside of horses?

I work and I ride horses.

That's about it.

So I work for Verizon.

I work for Verizon Wireless.

Their headquarters is here in New Jersey.

And I do operations for our assisted channels for.

For customers.

So we help make sure that we do everything we need to make sure customers can buy what they need.

So it's a good time.

That's really cool.

And so tell us, how do you fit riding in?

Like, I always find that such a cool story.

I think I'm just a crazy person.

And if you know my Laura, my trainer, Lauren Cholmondeley, you know, that probably fits pretty well.

Also.

Yeah.

Also, yeah.

Crazy schedule.

Yes, yes.

So it helps because her schedule's crazy.

So she helps to sort of make sure I can fit things in.

So I go to the barn before work.

I Go to the barn after work.

I ride on weekends.

I sort of do in between.

So pretty much I work and ride horses and that's it.

Mondays I go get to the barn at like, like 5am to feed and help turn out and do things and I go to work and come back and do the same.

So Lauren's always great about making sure that I can either have weekend lessons or less.

You know, we lesson at 6:30 in.

The morning a lot.

We lesson at 6:30pm a lot.

So we spend a lot of time in the dark together basically.

Yes.

That is awesome.

And obviously you like to compete, but do you do anything to help you with your mindset and your performance?

I, I really don't.

I would say so.

I've shown for a while, but I, I'd say I'd never have had a horse of this caliber.

I've always sort of bought and trained and resold things trying to get something just a little bit nicer and a little bit nicer.

My, my ultimate goal is to go to the Grand Prix.

So this is the most that I've really ever horse showed in my life, especially like in one season.

So I'd say that the biggest thing this year was I was trying to go for the end award USDF scores that you need.

But when you have a baby horse and you do baby classes, you need like eight scores.

I know it's a lot each thing you're doing.

So we horse showed like a lot.

And, and so I think that that really helped sort of my nerves.

Like I was used to sort of going into the ring the same every single time.

And we had a really good like routine for regionals and finals to set us up for success.

And I think that helped mentally a lot too.

Like we came in the first day into school, the second day we did a warmup class and that really helped like put her at ease.

And the moment I can sort of feel like I have my normal regular horse, like I'm not nervous.

So at finals she was a little bit wild.

In the warmup day she's like, oh my God, what's going on?

This is crazy.

And so we warmed up.

Lately we didn't want to wear out too much.

And then in the warmup class we were in, they, they call it the left right arena, which is sort of like the big center arena, main, main area where you have two arenas sort of across from each other.

And that was the one that was really like noisy and sound reverberation.

So we went into that ring and she was definitely nervous and I was like, oh boy, I don' how this is going to go.

And I was a little nervous during that test, but she kind of figured it out halfway through and took a breath and was like, okay, like, like this is normal.

And as soon as she was good, I was good for the rest of the competition.

So the nerves kind of dissipated as we went through, through the week a little bit.

I love that.

Well, what is your plan now for, for Ms. Snacks?

Ms. Snacks is going to be in boot camp for the next two months because Lauren's going to leave us for the winter.

We stay in New Jersey.

We stay in New Jersey at the farm, the the two of us.

And so we'll, we'll school over the winter.

So we're going to work on some, some second level things just getting started for the next couple months and then we'll, we'll go through the winter.

Next year we'll look at doing the 5 year olds we signed up to do the 4 year olds this year.

I think we were just out of the placings to go to Chicago.

I think we were like 20th and I think they take 15.

So if we can make it, would love to try to do the five year olds but if she's not ready, that's okay.

And we'll keep doing first level and move up to second level next year.

Fantastic.

Well, Mila, this has been so fun to hear about you and snacks.

We want to keep in touch with you on your journey for sure.

But congratulations on a wonderful finals.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for having me.

Well, Megan, you and I both have the cat, two cats that we love and there is a chewy box that comes to this farm at least twice a week.

And my cat cats are.

I called my vet and I was like, oh my gosh, they're not kittens anymore.

Like, what do I do food wise?

And thank you to Chewy because I have new kitty food coming for our grown up kitties.

So thanks for their support as well.

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Well, our next guest really doesn't need an introduction, but we're so thrilled to have her.

Lauren Chumley from New Jersey, International rider and train and breeder and all the things.

Lauren, welcome to the show.

Hello.

Thanks for having me.

Well, we are thrilled to have you back because, number one, you are literally from Ohio and.

Oh, you gotta tell us the story, what you did at WEC Ohio when you were a kiddo.

So back in the Cretaceous period of the late 90s, early 2000s, WEC Ohio was not WEC Ohio.

It was Robert Serena and Robert Serena had some dressage shows in the 2000s, but before that they had quarter horse shows.

And they also rented the facility out for miniature horse shows.

And I showed minis and I drove them in harness.

And I remember showing there and it was so much fun.

I must have been, I was not even out of high school.

I was in, like, junior high.

I must have been like 15 or 14 or something.

We need.

I don't know if I have one.

I don't even think cameras were invented, but I'd have to, I'll have to look.

I know there's something on my computer because it's that old, but, like, I love it.

We're gonna have, we're gonna take this baby out.

Oh, I love.

Yeah much.

It was so fun.

What was it like to go back?

I mean, you are from that area, right?

Like, kind of.

Is your family still there?

No, not anymore.

But I lived in, like, northern Cincinnati suburb.

Actually, Westchester is where I lived.

And I rode, like, my whole Ohio riding career took place basically in Lebanon, which is really close to Wilmington.

That's what I thought.

And then I kind of cheated.

And I got a little preview of WEC this year.

I went out there in July for Pony Cup.

Not to do the Pony cup classes because unfortunately, I don't have any ponies that I'm, like, competing at a high level right now.

I, I, I'm, like, bringing some along, but they're not there yet.

But I went out there for the young horse qualifier.

Ah, okay.

Because we lost a bunch of qualifiers out here in Region 1.

And I was, and this is maybe an understatement, freaking out because I was trying to wait as long as possible to start my developing grand prix horses because I had, I had Two of them that I did the developing Grand Prix on.

And I wanted to wait because they're all green.

They're nine.

Right.

So that's all very green.

Very green.

And I was waiting as long as possible to the qualifiers, and I wanted to do three shows because you get two.

Two scores and a drop score.

Right, right.

And then we lost a couple of shows out here.

They lost their.

Their level three status.

One farm, like, just lost all their dates, like, the management change.

And that was.

That was two qualifiers.

So when I say I was, like, sitting in the middle of Hilltops arena on my horse, freaking out, that's an understatement.

Poor Michael.

But anyway, he was like, well, I don't remember whose idea it was.

He's.

There's a qualifier in Ohio.

And I was like, okay.

I was like, can you come to Ohio?

And he's like, yeah, if it'll make you stop freaking out in my arena, I'll drive to Ohio.

If you get out, I will do it.

Basically, that was essentially like, if you will just please stop.

Stop being a psych right now, I will.

I'll fly to Ohio, and we'll do this.

So I did Lilou's first developing Grand Prix at.

In July.

Oh, my God.

So it was really cool to go back there because it's the same, but it's not the same, you know, because obviously, the structure is old, and, I mean, 30 years old.

Right.

But they've put a ton of money into, like, modernizing it and renovating it.

And they made that whole vendor area, which is beautiful, and they revamped all of the rings.

It's almost unrecognizable from the interior, like, as you know, from.

From what it was in the 90s.

But it's still like this.

The bones are still the same, which is kind of cool.

Like, I'm like, oh, I remember all these buildings, but they're like.

They don't look the same, you know?

Cause they've got new siding, and, you know, they've redone a lot of the stall fronts and obviously the mats and the footing and, you know, it just.

It's just like.

It was really, really fun.

It's not like Hueco Cala.

So if people were thinking it's Hueco Cala, you're wrong, because it's much smaller.

Yep.

But it is nice.

And it was really nice to.

The entire show is indoors, and all of the barms are connected by this, like, labyrinth, which I definitely got lost the first three days trying to get to ring One.

And I definitely ended up in the stabling.

And then Michael would be following me.

He'd be like, turn right, turn right.

And I'd ride past the entrance and he's like.

I said turn right.

And I was like, oh, like you know, woman driver.

Here I go.

So I finally figured out where everything was by like Wednesday because we got out there on Monday because I.

Cause the lilu's final was on Thursday.

So I got there.

We drove out.

No, we drove out Tuesday.

Cause I was riding at the stallion test on Monday.

I came home.

Yeah, I test rode at the stallion test like randomly.

That was exciting.

And then Tuesday we left Tuesday morning.

So Wednesday we schooled and Thursday we showed.

Yeah, you're a beast.

You really are a beast.

Wow.

I love it so much.

Dude, I'm so tired.

I'm so tired this week.

I bet, I bet.

Well, you run hard too.

So tell us about Lilu.

Like we've had you on the show about her.

So to update us, what's she up to?

Because she is the intermediary to Grand Prix.

Sorry, intermediary two.

National champion.

And that's huge.

My friend.

Woo hoo.

I.

She was, she was really good.

Like the test was not perfect.

Like I think I missed the.

I. I missed a two.

I've been on.

I have like two.

Itis all of a sudden like the last three or four horse shows, I missed the twos.

I never missed the twos on that horse like ever.

Okay.

And then I started missing the twos at Devon.

And then I missed the twos twice at Devon, I think.

And then I missed the twos in the warm up class for regionals.

I think I got the twos in the regional championship.

I was like, thank God.

But I missed the ones.

And then, and then it's gone back and forth and I'm like, what is going on?

Yeah, we're not going to talk about.

You have no more two.

Itis no more.

No more.

No more.

So, so.

But then you get like in your head about it.

So then you come with the twos, which is something I can do in my sleep.

And so yes, she like I could get eights on my twos, right?

And I mean I come across the twos, I'm like, oh my gosh.

Twos.

So then you get all riding ridiculous because you're like, you gotta.

Yeah, you get all weird.

You get all weird about it.

So I did miss a 2.

But I got the ones.

I got the ones.

Like the pirouettes were really good.

Like the Half passes were decent.

The piano visage was.

I, you know, I watched the video and.

Okay, let's be real.

We're dressage riders, so we're like ocd.

Like, I watched the video my friends took.

I watched the video from Flip My Horse that with Kathy Connelly commentating, and then I watched the video.

I had the video guy take a video too.

So I, like, watched them all.

So you had different angles, right?

So I watched it.

I love it.

Because I'm.

Well, because I'm insane, right?

And I was like, okay, no, it's normal.

Yeah, well, I, you know, they were all fine.

It was all.

It was just.

I wanted to just see everything, right?

And like over analyze, you know, the post game replay.

But like, like I did.

I just wanted to see it all.

And the PF passage is like, you know, the first passage is like a little green, and then the first piaffe is a little green, and then she kind of locked into the passage after that.

Then the second piaffe was a lot better.

But, like, when I tell you it's like a third of what that horse can do, I like that.

I was like, I was like, okay, this is like, not embarrassing, but this is.

And I knew it like, when I wrote it.

Like, it's nowhere near good enough.

Like, it's not.

And.

But.

But what I had in the warmup.

Oh, my God.

The pia massage I got in the warm up.

I know I'm not gonna get it in the ring, but like, like, I haven't ridden, like a world class horse before, but that's as close to world class I've ever felt in my life.

And it was fantastic.

And I was like, that's what's to come.

You know, just hang on.

Stay the course.

You know, Stay the course.

Because you've had this horse.

I mean, that's one of the cool things about this horse.

You've had her since she was a baby, right?

Yeah, Yeah.

I bought her as a little baby and I imported her from Arizona.

She came from the great state of Arizona.

Shout out to all our friends in Arizona.

Yeah, shout out.

You breed really nice Dutch warmbloods because I have a bunch of them from Arizona now, so I love it.

Yeah, way to go, Arizona.

Sorry, I said way to go, Arizona.

I know.

Who knew?

And her breeder's like, just the sweetest, kindest person and they follow her.

And actually her breeder, she's such a cool lady.

She's like a.

She's a vet, but she.

They breed like quarter horses, right?

But they Breed like ranch horses, not like pleasure horses, like performance quarter horses.

Really cool what they do.

And then she has one Dutch warmblood mare and it's a negro.

It's a negro mare and she gets one foal a year.

Love it.

And I mean you buy it every.

Year, it's darn well.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, like you know me, I'm like, once I find a mare I like, it's gotta catch em all, you know, like everything that comes out of it.

I'm like, it's mine, mine, mine.

And after the first couple it doesn't even become a question.

They just text me and they're like, she's in fold of so and so she's due.

Then I'll let you know if it's a culture or a Philly.

And I'm like, don't care, don't care.

I actually have her half brother that I just started.

I took him to Devon, I did the currying.

So he's a three year old, same negro mother, but he's by Lord Leatherdale.

He's a stallion right now.

Oh yeah.

Oh cool.

He's a really, really good boy.

If he stays a good boy he could keep all his parts.

Yep.

But this is you, you, if you have all your parts you are on purpose.

Permanent, permanent probation.

Yes.

So like, because I like we have stallions, I have I think six stallions right now.

But like if I own you, you need to be really good.

Otherwise no.

Yeah.

So he's a really good boy.

He went to Devon.

He did well under saddle.

He was high score IBOP and DG bar at the curring.

He went to the Iron Spring curring before Devin and he was a really good boy at Devon.

He didn't try to kill me, so that was cool.

Not that he ever does, but Devin tends to bring out the homicide in a three year old.

I mean but yeah, yeah.

But I rode him in the three year old material classes with like 15 other horses.

He was a really good boy.

He was a really good boy.

So he.

Yeah, yeah.

But he looks nothing like Lilu.

He's like, he's Lord Leatherdale so he's, he's got a lot more bone and he's bigger.

Like I think he's going to end up like around 17 hands.

Yes.

But I keep telling Michael, I'm like if he goes over 17 hands, I'm tying him to your mailbox.

He's your horse now.

He's going to be yours.

Because I need a 172 hand stallion.

Like I need a Hole in the head.

Like I'm five foot five and Lilu.

She looks 16 one.

She is 16.

That's what I thought.

She's bigger.

Huge.

No, she's tiny.

She's a tiny little thing.

She wears a 75 inch blanket and a cob bridle.

I love it.

I love it, I love it.

Size one shoes, little bitty.

No, I love it.

No, I love it.

Is she for sale?

Absolutely not.

I had to ask.

Yeah, no, absolutely not.

And I'm happy to say that to anybody for any amount of money because people I won't like.

It doesn't happen all the time, but I do.

I have had a few pretty like significant offers on her in the last two years.

It started the year she won the pre St. George final at seven.

I got a good offer on her and I laughed and said no.

And I went and told Michael and he's like, did you even think about that?

That's a lot of money.

And then my classic line that he hates what I say.

I said, money's not real, Michael.

And I walk away and he's like, oh my God.

Oh my gosh, yes it is.

The last offer I had was like real money.

Like we're talking life changing money.

And you know, again I went up to Michael and I was like, money's not real.

And he's like, did you even think about it?

Did you even think about it?

Not that he wants me to sell the horse, but like it's real money, you know, like he's like, you think about it like.

And I always said him.

And I said, and I said, michael, my entire self identity for 41 years has, is like set on being poor and fighting the good fight and trying to make it better.

I said, if I have money, I don't even know who I am.

And I walk away.

And he's like, what is wrong with you?

Well, like what is wrong with you?

I mean that's, that's, that's the rider.

That's the rider dilemma, right?

Like it's always the rider dilemma.

And like you said, it's not even a dilemma.

It's literally like I like literally will maybe will probably be living under a bridge someday with that horse.

Oh, so stop it.

Aw, she'll be your cover.

You're like, you have to be our cover now.

Yeah, but how do you replace it?

You can't.

What do I want to buy another one and start over?

Like, this one's awesome.

Yeah, you can't, you can't.

This one's awesome.

And I take it in the.

The awards ceremony at finals.

I galloped it around the other three girls.

It was me and a young writer from Region 1, Abby Fodor, who's also an inventor.

So she's brave.

And Kuhn.

Yes.

And also brave.

Yeah, also brave.

And I was like.

I was like, do you guys wanna go fast or slow?

And they're like, go as fast as you can.

I love it.

I didn't go as fast as I could, but I went a little bit.

And the TDs were all upset.

You know, they're like, slow down.

But, like, I come ripping around the back corner, and then, like, you go out the gate, I literally drop the reins and on the buckle.

Like, the horse is.

The horse is fantastic.

Like, it's got.

It's got the brain.

It has more brains than it has physical talent.

And it's just been.

It's just phenomenally easy to train.

Like, it's such a great braid on that horse.

Yeah.

I could ride it.

I always.

I knew when she was 5, I was like, I can ride this horse in any arena in the world.

Like, oh, I have a lot of stuff for you.

So, Lauren, what's next?

Oh, well, I was just.

I was down at Hilltop today for my weekly lesson, and I rode her.

I haven't ridden her since the show, but I brought her.

And we just did a little, like, pia passage.

We're the ones.

A little bit.

You know, just the stuff.

Yeah.

And the pia passage today was just, like, phenomenal.

It was, like, so much better than even anything I got in the ring at the show.

But, like, you know, Michael's like.

Cause I've been, like, kind of chomping at the bit to do the Grand Prix.

Like, I do, and I generally.

I.

You know, I have a tendency to go in the ring early.

Okay.

Admit that to God and everyone.

Like, I'm like, I can get through the test.

Like, I can rodeo through.

I'm really good at that.

Right.

But that's, like, not good enough at some point.

Right?

We all know that.

It took me a really long time to learn that, and I'm starting to learn that.

Okay, but slow.

Okay, I'm slow.

But, like, you know, all summer, I was like, I think I could do the Grand Prix.

I could do 15 ones.

I could do it.

I could do it.

And then I took Devin, and Devin was not a great show for me.

I did the Medium Tour cdi.

I mean, but I will say, like, she didn't do anything wrong.

I just didn't Quite have what I needed in the ring.

And it just wasn't quite.

Like, I didn't.

The weather was horrible.

The weather was horrible.

But, like, I just didn't quite ride it.

Like, I needed to ride it.

Like, I wouldn't call it a horse fail.

I would call it rider fail.

But it was like, you know, and, you know, I have lots of people that follow us.

They're like, what happened?

I'm like, dude, she's nine.

Like, she's nine.

I'm an idiot.

We're trying to figure it out.

Like, she wasn't bad, but like, I.

The first day I like, blew a lead in the right pirouette.

The second day I blew a lead in the left.

It's cdi.

There's no mercy.

Not only is it cdi, not only is it cdi, it's Devin, and I think Devin's a really hard cdi.

And like, the judging.

I'm not going to say the judging was unfair because it was fair.

But if you blow a pirouette.

Yeah.

At a CDI, you're on a 3.

It's not a 5, it's a 3 and it's a 3.

That's a coefficient.

So like, okay.

And I missed the ones.

I missed the twos.

My halt sucked.

Like, you know, it was just not great.

So I. I got kind of like terrible scores, but, like, not good enough.

Like, I was just disappointed how I wrote it because I have no, like, delusions of winning.

It's.

It's not.

I'm not there to win.

I'm there to write a good test.

And I didn't ride good tests, so I went regionals and I.

This happened at Lamplight too.

Like, the first day I rode, I just like under rode.

And then it was kind of.

Cause she's just not.

She's green.

So you have to support her, you know, you have to.

Yeah, of course.

It's just not that.

Yeah, it's just not that trained yet.

So I tried to go in the ring and be like, pretty princess, look at my harm.

And then just nothing happened, you know, so then.

But then.

Then the second day, then I'm mad about the first day.

So then I go in the second day and I ride the hell out of the test.

And like, that happened at Lamplight too.

Like, the i2 is stinky.

Like, embarrassing.

And then the Grand Prix, the developing Grand Prix was really good.

And I was like, okay.

So then I went Devin.

And both days were kind of.

Yes.

And then I went to regional.

Same thing.

I did My warmup class stinky.

And then at by, I was like real mad at myself for the set for the regional, the championship class.

And I like.

And they won that.

Like, she was so good.

Like, she was.

It was a good test.

Like I was cruising around, I was like, this is good.

I'm doing.

This is so much better.

And then I was like worried, but into finals because the I2 finals on Thursday and there is no warmup plus.

And I'm like, well, I have to bomb one in order to get mad.

Like, what am I gonna.

Oh, yeah.

And again, not mad at the horse.

Never mad at her.

Like she's perfectly good, but like just mad at like this like pretty princess thing I'm trying to do because it's just not who I am.

So why am I trying to do.

It in the ring?

But like, I didn't have the warm up class, so I was like kind of freaked out a little bit.

Like I just had to go in the ring and do the championship.

Yeah, do it.

But I, Yeah, but I did it.

And I, I won't say that I.

It was like, you know, I want to, you know, I watched the test once and I watched the horse and I watched it again.

You watched the rider, Right.

So I was watching myself ride and I was like, okay, there's like stuff to work on, but there's not.

Like, you don't see the panic that I have.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, it wasn't like I was like, you know, flailing and kicking and being ridiculous.

It wasn't, it wasn't ugly.

It can be a lot better still.

So the final was good.

It, I mean, she scored a 68, which was nice.

Like, that's a nice score.

And I again, I missed the two, so it's like, it could have been harder.

And the episode was green, but like, everyone's like, oh my God, are you so happy?

That was such a great test.

And I'm like, happy, yes, but more just relieved that I finally wrote decent test.

Oh, it's hard.

It's so hard, like you said, with a young one and a green one and you know, this was inside and all the others are out.

And this is the first year, and this is the first year she's done it and like, and like, you know, I've had a bunch of horses developing Grand Prix and Grand Prix.

She's like horse number nine or something.

Right?

So it's not like, it's not like I haven't done it before, but it's a little different.

With this one, like, this one.

This one is like a hatter.

She's a baby.

And it's like the best quality one that I've had.

And she's such a good girl.

And, you know, I just, I, you know, I told Michael every day, I said, you know, I'm not trying to go here and win.

Not that I don't want to win.

I do, of course, but, like, I don't think that's a reasonable expectation just yet.

But what I want to do is go and ride a good test, and if I ride a good test, the scores take care of themselves.

Yep.

With that horse.

Because I feel like.

I feel like the judges like that horse, they can't really score you much higher than a six, five, you know.

Right.

So.

And that's fine for a while.

Right.

But like.

But then, yeah, I. I feel like most of the judges that have come across really like this horse, they really want to score it, but I keep giving reasons to not score it.

Like cross cantering every pirouette or missing a 2 or blowing the ones or halting like a sapet, you know, like.

Well, it's.

I just think, you know, you're highlighting what it is to truly develop a horse, and I think that's so important.

It's, it's.

It's a long.

Not.

It's a long, long game.

And, you know, the jump from small tour to.

To medium tour, big tour, it's a big jump.

It's a big jump.

And then you gotta go, you know, and you go in the championships, you have all this pressure.

You don't have a whip, like, because, you know, like, you can't.

You can't fall back on a little help from the, you know, whip aid to just kind of, you know, a little bit tap them on her.

Can't do it.

So you have to just train them.

And the training is just green.

And she does train really fast.

Because the test I wrote at finals and regionals was, like, miles better than the test I wrote in August at Lamplight, which was good.

That was a good test, too.

So I'm like, okay, this is like.

It's all on the right track.

It's all on the right track, but it's.

I love it.

You know, in a perfect world, I probably could have waited another year and done it at 10.

But I, you know, I didn't.

And it's, you know, like, then.

Then you're going to have some good.

It's just not consistent yet.

Right.

It's all there.

But I think you know the type of horse that she is.

Like, once you, once she really understands what you want her to do with her body and how she needs to be, she'll do it.

Like, I think in a year it's going to be literally push button.

I think it's going to be the easiest Grand Prix horse ever.

As soon as she gets this strength and she really, really understands the questions, which she's really starting to understand now.

Like, oh, you want me to p off?

Like, which piaff do you want?

Do you want this one?

This one?

This one?

She's like, oh, you want that one?

That one?

You want that one?

Oh, you want me to do that piaff for more than three steps?

Like, it's, it's, it's just been really, really fun.

Like, very cool.

Really fun.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah, it's.

I won't even say it's been frustrating.

I've just been kind of disappointed that I haven't been able to support her properly every single time out there.

But it's a lot of learning for me too, because, like, you know, like, yeah, I've done a lot of Grand Prix, but not high level.

Right.

You know, and it's a different ball game.

It's a different ball game.

I mean, Devin was my first time doing a Medium Tour CDI ever.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

This is so fun.

Well, Lauren, you are so awesome.

We love you so much and it's been so fun to see see you on this journey with this horse.

We're going to continue.

Girl, we're in it now.

We are committed to this story.

Me too.

So much.

It's so fun.

It's so fun.

So thank you so much for your time tonight.

How can our listeners find you online and follow Lul?

She's so cool.

How are we going to follow her?

How do we do it?

I have a ridiculous website.

Lauren Chumley, dressage.com.

you can go there and see what kind of people we are.

It's Ricky List by design.

And then I'm super active on Facebook.

I post my sail horses there.

I post lots of stupid things there.

Funny things, you know, just like, it's just very real life.

Like, it's not all butterflies and rainbows.

Sometimes I like, fall off and I post that, like, you know.

Yeah.

And I'm on Instagram a little bit.

Facebook's probably the fastest because I'm a millennial and Instagram's like a little bit Gen Z, but I'm trying to be on Instagram a little bit.

More because you know that's a good, a good place to be too.

But I'm the for fastest service.

Please see Facebook.

Love it.

Well, Lauren, thank you so much and we're gonna keep, keep in touch with you for sure.

Awesome.

Thank you guys so much.

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Well, tonight I am so happy to have on which I cannot believe we have not had him on the USDF President Kevin Renick, how are you tonight?

I'm great.

Reese and Megan, thank you for having me on the podcast.

I know.

Well, you and I have been talking about the podcast literally and meetings and stuff for years and you've been an awesome supporter of us, but we're happy to have you since you became president.

First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm from California.

I was born and raised in California.

My wife and I live in Rancho Marietta, which is near Sacramento.

And we have a dressage training business.

There's.

I have another business which is horseshoe photography.

So I'm on the road a lot doing horseshoe photography.

Our background is in breeding training and sales.

It's kind of how we got our start working.

We both met working on a breeding farm.

Actually, my photography business partner also worked on the breeding farm with us, so.

Oh my gosh, I love that.

I know.

I always feel like those farms should, you know how it's like below deck, you know, we, I feel like we, we should do that for farms, but I don't, I don't know.

I don't know if we should.

I, I don't know if.

I mean the.

Well, this is a topic for a whole nother podcast.

Exactly.

Yeah.

The disappearance.

I mean, big breeding farms are disappearing and you know, create.

It creates really good horse people, you.

Know, it really does.

I mean, when you're, when you're getting drug on the ground by a foal at the end of a rope, you learn a lot.

You learn a lot.

You Learn a lot just at any kind of big like that.

And I think we've all kind of worked there.

So it's so cool that you've had that experience and you come from the breeding aspect, the horse show aspect.

I mean, that's what's so great, to have you as the president of usdf.

So how did you even want this job?

God bless you.

How did I want this job?

Well, I started out, I actually got approached to be to get on the board of the California Dressage Society, which is our main GMO out in the region 7.

And I was like, oh, I never thought I had much to contribute.

I'm surprised you guys asked.

And so, yeah, so I got on the board of USD of CDS and I served my time there.

I served on that board for nine years.

And those years I served as president.

Oh, wow.

California Dressage Society.

Well, at the time, I'm not 100% sure what the counts are now today, but it's the third largest, second or third largest dressage organization in the United States.

Huge next next to usdf and active.

It's huge and active.

Thank you.

Yes.

And so my time, I tie.

I termed out, my time was up and everybody still thought I was doing a good job.

And I was like, this is a perfect time to go.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're like, I'm going now.

See you.

Yeah, yeah.

Better to go, I still like you than when they're chasing you.

There you go.

If you want nonprofit anything, that's what it is.

Yeah.

So I decided to bet, you know, next step would be national and see what I have to contribute nationally.

So.

So I've been on the USDF board.

I served as VP for five years and this is my first year as president.

Wow, thank you.

What is your favorite thing about being president?

My favorite thing about being president?

US Dressage final in the US Dressage Finals, right?

Yeah.

No, the US For Shaw finals is great.

But, you know, USDF is a great organization.

It's really an honor that to be the president of the organization.

And I guess my favorite thing about being president is that the membership has enough confidence in me that they elected me to be president.

Yes.

I'm there to serve the members in the sport of dressage, so I just try to keep that in my focus.

So thank you.

I love that.

So, Kevin, tell us, how did it go in Ohio?

Because Megan and I both weren't able to go, so, I mean, we're hearing great reports.

How did it go?

It was fantastic.

It was fantastic.

Let me Just.

If I may, let me just back up a little bit.

The Kentucky Horse park has served us amazingly as the host site for our US Dressage Finals.

As you know, the weather in November can, in Kentucky can be unpredictable.

Gonna snow, and it's gonna snow next week, just so you know.

I know no one's jealous to be here.

It's gonna snow, so.

And.

And my wife and I and our barn have traveled to the US Dressage Finals a couple of times, and we hauled the horses out, too, so we made the drive and.

And did the whole thing, so.

And it's a great experience.

And I mean, my wife loved it there.

Erica, She's.

She said it should be there every year.

She loves it.

There's.

But the dates came available at the World Equestrian center, and one of the number one feedbacks that we got is people are concerned about the weather and what is the weather going to be when you get there now?

So when the dates came available at WEC in Ohio, we gave it a really hard look to see what that looked like, with the goal of creating an equal show experience for all competitors.

Because in Kentucky, you have the experience of those who are competing in the All Tech arena, the heated covered arena, and the experience for everybody else that was competing outside.

Totally different experiences after doing.

Megan and I have done both.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They're very brisk.

Sometimes outside it can be brisk.

That's right.

And the stabling.

Yeah, and the stabling.

Yeah.

I mean, different.

Yeah.

The whole experience.

Yeah.

You know, and now our big concern, though, it was moving it to Ohio is can we create a special feeling like you have when you go down centerline at really any of the rings in Kentucky?

Because, I mean, Kentucky's.

The horse park's just amazing.

It's beautiful.

It is beautiful.

I'm biased, for sure, but it is gorgeous when the weather is nice.

We've had beautiful weather this week, but it's gonna snow next week.

So we, of course, toured the World Equestrian Games or World Equestrian Center.

We had that here.

We, you know, it's around now.

No worries.

Yeah, we toured the World Equestrian center many times.

The organizing committee did.

I. I only got to go out once, but.

But we did tour many times and.

And really came up with a game plan that we felt was going to be a really good experience for all the competitors and an equal experience for all the competitors.

That said, when I flew into, you know, when I flew into Cincinnati and drove to the horse park, you know, on.

On Monday before the finals, the minute I walked in the door And I saw the sanctuary, the main ring and I mean it wasn't even finished yet.

The court was, the judges booths were up, but banners were still hanging over the walls and everything.

But I saw all the decorations and I could get a glimpse of what it was going to be.

And a huge sigh of relief came over for me and the members of the organizing committee that this was going to be a special show.

And it was really a joint effort between the organizing committee, the USDF staff and the World Equestrian center staff.

The World Equestrian center staff was amazing.

They did amazing job keeping the police clean.

I mean they would, they were literally following us around, cleaning up after us.

You know, the horses would, down the corridors, they're, they're sweeping, sweeping the floors and it was immaculately clean.

Wow.

Their staff was amazing, helping us set everything up.

Our normal band of volunteers were there.

They were of course, as usual, all.

Amazing, which are very loyal volunteers.

I mean that's one thing.

I mean I knew a little bit more because you know, just being local and the amount of people that, and they, they have their 10 year pins and their 5 year pins.

I mean it is a massive effort when it comes to volunteers and everybody kind of knew their job in Lexington.

So I'm sure that was hard in a way because it was a new venue, new jobs and new things.

So there's a lot, lot of things that the organizing committee, it's a huge effort that we as competitors, you don't see.

And so that's pretty cool to hear about.

It is, it is.

And I don't care what, I don't care what show you're going to.

If you're going to a one ring show or you're going to, you know, your regional championships or you're going to the US Dressage finals.

If you haven't worked at a show on the management or administrative side of a show, the view from that is totally different than the view of a competitor.

I was like, you should huge.

I remember the first, I remember my first day working at a horse show and I was ring stewarding and we broke for lunch and I went into the show manager and this was a show manager that we had competed with out in California for many, many years.

And I was like, Glenda, everything that I thought I knew about a horse show, yeah, I realized I didn't know anything.

Yeah, yeah, it's true.

So there's a lot of, a lot of moving parts.

And then, you know, you add championship or finals to the title and then you have a whole, that Opens up like a section of the rulebook for you.

Oh.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, that's it?

That's a thing?

Yep.

Huh.

Yeah.

So, no, I mean, the competitors were all great, you know, very understanding.

You know, of course, we have a list of things that we're gonna.

That we want to, you know, do, you know, more signage and more direction and.

And things like that.

But the show experience was fantastic.

Awards all ran very smooth.

The.

The stabling was.

Was nice.

You know, we are looking forward to getting the competitor feedback and.

And we'll be combining that with our own notes and working to make it even better.

I love that.

So, I mean, USDF there.

Because there'll be a time right at convention that people can.

Where can people give feedback?

I think that's important because it is taken and really, people I know, it is absorbed and listened to.

Yeah.

Well, the competitor surveys will go out directly to the competitors.

You know, anybody else.

Anybody.

If people were in attendance at the show or.

Or anybody else that just wants to give feedback with questions or share experiences, they can always email them to the competition department at usdf, I believe.

I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I'm sure there's a space on the U.

We have a US Dressage finals section of the website, and I know there's a place there where contact information where they can, you know, email and.

And give feedback.

I got another.

I got another fun story for you guys, actually.

I love it.

It's Sunday morning.

We're checking out of the hotel.

We're getting.

We're.

I'm.

I'm loading judges and everything into the car.

So I'm riding on the elevator down to.

To.

To go get loaded up, and I run into these, and I'm wearing my US Finals jacket for the year and that they gave us for the year.

And.

And the ladies are like, oh, well, we were just at the US Final.

We came from Michigan to go to the US Finals.

And I was like, oh, great.

Yeah, I was.

I was there too.

And what'd you think?

And I was like.

And I asked him, I said, are you guys competitors?

And I said, no.

I said, we're not competitors, actually.

We're not even members.

We don't compete in the sash.

We just trail ride.

But we follow your guys, social media, and we love what you guys are doing.

We said, this is something that we have to see.

So they drove six hours from Michigan to come and just watch the show, and they watched freestyle night.

And so, of course, I asked them if they wanted to Become group members and.

Yeah.

And you're like, and now I'm gonna do this.

That's so cool.

Well, and it looked like there was a lot of people stayed and watched and that's what it just looked like from the socials is there people were able to stay around and see.

It was so cool.

Yeah, we, they, they have that.

They have the home away from homes there which are the.

There's just a trailer park there where you can rent those.

They're.

They're like three bedroom, two bath homes.

Oh.

So they're really nice.

The show manager.

Well, a lot of the show staff stayed in it and a lot of the competitors stayed and they were completely sold out.

They have an RV park there as well and we did have some people come in with RVs and stay there and they also have these cabins that you can rent and, and every bit of housing that was there on the facility was totally rented out.

The host hotel where, where I stayed and where the, a lot of the officials, the judges and things stayed was, was very nice as well.

And a lot of people that I talked to got Airbnbs there.

So cool.

Yes, they're in that area because there's horse shows there all the time now.

Yeah, yeah.

And they, and they had great.

They would get an Airbnb that was big enough to support their whole barn and it was more cost effective for them.

And so that was really nice.

And we tried to plan a lot of different events and of course that's on our list of things that needed to be probably more organized.

But, but everybody had a good time and we actually did a costume judging contest and I got to be one of the judges.

And afterwards I sat down with my, you know, we judged on a panel.

Of course we needed.

Yes, we need a lot more panel judging.

And so we did.

Yeah.

I was like, how was the panel judging?

Just great.

I, I had a really good time.

You know, I learned a lot.

Our scores were very consistent.

We had no real big discrepancies, which was.

Was good.

We did kind of rewrite the test afterwards.

So, you know, we judge everything on a scale of 1 to 10.

So we have scary on a scale of 1 to 10.

We have silly on a scale 1 to 10, we have.

And I'm a little bit unclear.

So we had unique in there, but I think we're going to change that to degree of difficulty.

I love that.

And then we have creativity.

And then, and then, and then for next year, the creativity is going to be the double coefficient.

Yes.

Well, I Just wonder if any of these will go to the test writing committee.

Just as we did already.

They did already.

We all got together at breakfast the next morning and.

And we formed our own little.

It was like a pop up committee.

I love it.

Yeah.

You're ready to go.

So what are the dates?

We had some waffles and we, you know, came up with a test.

I. I love it.

So what.

What are the.

What are the dates for finals next year?

Oh, sorry.

That was a.

That was a curveball.

Yeah, it is a curveball.

Let's see here.

Yeah.

Like.

Sorry.

Get on the calendar.

I got the calendar up here.

Give me one second.

It's.

It's gonna be over.

I'm.

I'm.

These are.

These are gonna be the unofficial dates.

These are the unofficial dates.

Yeah, I think it's gonna be the same.

So basically it'll be on the same weekend, but it's gonna be October 29th through November 1st is what I'm.

Okay.

So Halloween again.

Sounds like Halloween is gonna be freestyle night, maybe.

Yeah, Halloween is gonna.

Yes.

Whoa.

That's a curveball.

It's super fun.

I mean, it just looked like everybody leaned in.

Everybody had a great time, like you said.

I'm sure every show.

Every show for sure, changes and develops over time.

I love that.

And Kevin, I'm gonna throw you another curveball just because we need to announce convention.

Convention's here in Lexington.

So we're excited to be welcoming everybody to Lexington for that.

We are in a hotel, so we won't be outside, but anything that's coming up at convention.

This again, this was a curveball.

I didn't tell Kevin.

Weird.

I was going to ask him this question, but I thought we should probably talk about why we have you on here.

For sure.

You know, the convention is really just business as as usual.

And we do have some, you know, fun, educational things.

Yep.

But one topic that is going to come up in the board of governors is the convention itself.

And what.

And what does that look like?

And we are really taking a hard look.

We've.

We've.

This year on the executive board, we've taken a hard look at our strategic plan, and we've kind of revamped that a little bit.

And part of that is to take a look at the convention and what does that look like going forward?

Sure.

You know, so for this year and next year, it will be in Kentucky.

And part of the reason for that is it will reset the rotation after Covid.

So the recept.

The rotation kind of got interrupted after Covid.

So having it in a couple of years in Kentucky will reset that.

It also gives us a real chance to take a hard look at the convention and, you know, what does that look like going forward?

So.

Absolutely, we want to have everybody's input on.

On that because, you know, the question I.

For me, I like to go to convention.

I've.

I went to convention, started going to convention when I was on the board of cds.

And the best part of convention, the meetings are great and all the business we take care of, that's, you know, of course, it's super fun.

But the best part is, you know, going to dinner with everybody in the evening.

And that's when the real stuff.

Yes.

That is when the real work happens.

There may be some martinis and drinks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, we're in Kentucky, so we might have to have a bourbon.

There's a bourbon.

Just some good stuff downtown.

For sure.

Yeah.

And talk about the sport and what's working and what's not.

And, you know, so that.

I think that personally, for me, I think that's.

That's a pretty major topic of discussion, you know, and, and so what does that, what does that look like moving forward?

You know, that makes sense.

Yeah, no, for sure.

And we're happy to have everybody here, but it does save the organization a lot of money to have it in Lexington.

It does, yeah, it does.

So, yeah, but that.

That will be early December, right?

That's the first week in December.

Correct.

Awesome.

And information's on the website.

It is, yeah.

Registration is open.

Hotel rooms are.

Are open.

Please, please do come.

It.

It's.

It's a lot of fun.

It is a lot of fun.

You know, I mean, getting together with everybody and, and, and sharing your passion for the sport, you know, that's.

That's really what it's all about.

That's.

That's what we're.

That's the main thing that gets accomplished at convention.

And then.

Absolutely.

You know, and then we have the awards banquet, which is Saturday night.

Yep.

And we hope you're going to come to our book club.

Kevin, will you come to our book club meeting?

Come to the book club.

You have to come to book club.

That's Megan and I.

That's our thing.

You got to come and meet the podcast and everybody at the book club.

So we are looking forward to that.

Well, all right.

Well, I'm going to try to come to the book club.

Okay.

Okay, everybody, you heard it here.

She's going to come in and into the book club.

Please give us One caveat.

Believe it or not, I am pretty busy with meetings when I'm at the convention.

Oh, yeah, you bet.

I don't get to participate as much as the.

The extracurricular stuff as I used to be.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Well, that's our one part, huh, Megan?

That's.

That's right.

We're wrangling you.

We're excited to see you here in Lexington and hear more about finals.

But thank you for all you do for the organization and you've got great new blood in and it's fun to have you.

And thanks for the support of our podcast.

And how can our listeners find you online if they have any questions?

How.

How can they do that?

You're always welcome to send me an email atpresident or presidentsdf.org I mean, I have a Facebook page.

I never really post on it.

Not.

Not really my area of expertise, but.

But you can definitely find me on there.

And yeah, we look forward to seeing you on convention.

They do get me to write a few columns every now and again for the USDF convention connection.

Excuse me.

Yes, yes.

Love it as well.

So I'm not the best writer, but I just try to either.

That's why we have a podcast.

I just write it down like I'm talking to you and it seems.

Love it.

Well, Kevin, thank you so much for your time tonight and all you do, and we look forward to seeing you a couple weeks.

You're welcome.

Thank you guys so much.

Well, Megan, we have great book club news, right?

That's great.

We've got lots of stuff going on.

We sure do.

We have Begin and Begin Again by Denny Emerson.

He's.

It's a great book.

I started it and I'm really looking forward to talking to him.

Is it January 7?

We will be having a webinar.

That is right.

We have a webinar coming, which will be so fun.

After Christmas, I think we'll all die down and then we'll really like our webinar for sure.

And then we have a bonus book, too.

How Two Minds Meet the Mental Dynamics of Dressage with them.

Beth.

Beth Bommart.

And we get to talk to her at the USDF convention, right?

Yes.

So come see us at convention.

Megan and I will be there at the USDF convention in Lexington.

We're really excited.

Again, I do live here.

This is my town.

So if you want any recommendations for food if you're in town, that kind of stuff, there's lots of fun stuff downtown and it'll be decorated.

It'll be really nice for Christmas so it should be a lot of fun.

So we have these two great books going on and I love the bonus books.

So excited.

And this book is phenomenal by Beth Baumert, so we hope you enjoy.

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Talk to you soon.

Sa Sam.