08/12/2025
"I’ve never believed in complaining without offering solutions. Beyond my long-standing call to rewrite the rulebook in one consistent voice, there are small, practical steps USEF can take right now to begin repairing trust.
Our community is incredibly forgiving, sometimes too forgiving, but forgiveness only comes when trust is rebuilt. Let’s bridge the gap, foster a healthier culture, and start working together again.
Here we go.
1. Own and Publish Mistakes
Our leadership and governing bodies need to own and publish their mistakes—like they do to everyone else. Mistakes happen. It’s okay to not be perfect, but let us know so that we can all know the rules better and collaboratively work to improve our sport.
Out of the rulebook experience in the Gladstone? Send out an email and mea culpa with clear plans to avoid in the future. Questionable call in the Pony Medal Finals? Explain it and where it does and doesn’t apply in the future. Have a conflict of interest? Address it. This will both teach people the rules better and help them follow them.
It is disheartening to see “nothing happen” when we all see with our own eyes things going down and have to trust an organization that has worked hard to lose our trust.
2. Recognize Horses by Name in Championship Classes
Put the Horse’s Name on the scoreboard every time there is a rider’s name in all championship classes, including USEF Pony Finals, USEF Medal Finals, Gladstone Cup at USEF Junior Hunter Finals. The horses matter. Showing who they are is such a simple step.
3. No Licensed Shows in December
There should be no licensed horse shows in December. This is the single horse welfare change that would do the most good for the most horses. Let every human and every horse have a month to decompress and go back to basics. There is zero reason to have horse shows anywhere in the United States in December except human greed. Horses and humans need to come first.
This is the change I would most like to see on this list. If they want to show and not tell us about horse welfare, this is the simplest and best possible first step they can take to demonstrate their commitment to the gravity of the situation.
4. Enforce Conformation Standards in Junior Hunters
Require Junior Hunters to be judged on conformation for up to 50% of their classes, as the current rules intend. This not only honors the tradition of the division but also ensures horses are evaluated as complete athletes, not just for their performance in the ring. If the division is no longer functioning as written, rewrite the rulebook in a single, consistent voice to reflect its current purpose.
5. Publish Officials’ Resumes and Experience
Publish the resume and curriculum vitae of all licensed officials starting with major competitions. Let’s let the public know why to trust them and share what other championships they have officiated and their success in so many arenas.
To give credit where credit is due, big shoutout to the USHJA International Hunter Derby Program. They let us know with great bios who is judging and what they have done, and it’s great!
6. Link Rules to Supporting Research
Add in all links to all relevant places in the rulebook to peer-reviewed research studies so that people can read and learn more about why rules were put into place. Make it easy for people to understand how, why, and learn more about what they are interested in.
7. Post Competition Dates Years in Advance
Publish and promptly update the dates for all major spectator and exhibitor competitions at least three years out. Other major sports and events, from music festivals to professional tournaments, post their schedules well in advance so attendees can plan around them. Our sport should be no different. Providing long-range dates for championships allows riders, families, and fans to arrange travel, secure housing, and even plan a vacation without conflicting with key competitions.
8. Integrate USEF and USHJA Systems
Make the USHJA and the USEF online systems at least talk to each other, and make it easy to know what memberships you have, and make it easy for horse show office staff to help competitors. Everyone wants all of their memberships and horses to be up to date. If the system is so complicated that this is a routine problem, fix it. If the process is so complicated that membership errors are routine, it’s the system—not the members—that needs fixing.
🔗 Continue reading the full article by Piper Klemm at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/08/11/10-ways-usef-can-prove-theyre-serious-about-change/
