Bill Moroney has served as CEO of the U.S. Equestrian Federation for 10 years, and under his administration hunter and jumper shows have changed dramatically.
Bill MoroneyThe hunter/jumper calendar is dominated by series shows, weeks or more often months long, owned by private equity companies interested only in profit.
There are FEI rated horse shows weekly, sometimes as many as four in one weekend.
Customer service and coverage of international competitions and promotion of human and equine stars are sadly lacking.
Trainers and exhibitors clearly love the changes to the competition calendar, as horse shows without an FEI rating don't fill.
Series of shows such as HITS, Traverse City, Tryon, the Winter Equestrian Festival, the World Equestrian Center and Thermal means less expense for exhibitors and less stress on horses with having to van to shows week after week.
But these series have almost entirely wiped out smaller, local one day and weekend shows, which in turn have eliminated most local trainers as they have no place for their students to show.
THE COMPETITION calendar is so crowded with numerous FEI competitions every weekend, granted spread out throughout the country, that there aren't enough exhibitors to fill all the shows.
Recent HITS shows in Saugerties, N.Y., had very light entries in many divisions, for instance. ponies and juniors.
These series have also adversely affected such top shows as Devon, Upperville, Lake Placid and the Hampton Classic.
With FEI rated shows at HITS two weeks before and two weeks after Devon, the FEI rated Sapphire Grand Prix there had only 23 entries.
These shows have also had to raise huge amounts of money to simply exist.
Phillip Richter, President of Lake Placid shows, said it had cost almost $ 5 million to renovate the grounds, and Devon has just started the Legacy Initiative, a five-year, $5 million effort to preserve, restore, and modernize Devon’s historic grounds and facilities.
With Moroney having announced his retirement in June, the USEF is now searching for a new CEO, but will this mean a continuation of the status quo or a new look at what is best for the show industry.
HITS is reportedly losing money.
What would happen to the hunter/jumper industry if one or more of these private equity funded show series folded.
There would be a huge vacuum,, with no one day or weekend shows to fill the gap.
Customer service is sadly lacking.
There's a daily drumbeat of complaints from exhibitors who have called the Federation and can't get through to any one.
While many of the international Nations Cups are covered, other U.S. wins in top classes are not.
To get more interest in the sport and more people watching the sport, there needs to be better coverage.
The most recent example of that was Karl Cook's win in the Cashel Palace Hotel Stakes at Dublin, which got no coverage.
The U.S. had a fantastic win in the 100th anniversary of the Nations Cup for the Aga Khan Trophy in Dublin, and while the USEF did have a press release about that, but it had only only one quote in it.
No mention of Paris Sellon going double clean in her first senior Nations Cup, or the fact that she's the daughter of the TV director of Cheers and Friends, a tidbit that might have gotten the attention of one or two national publications.
Also, many USEF press releases don't go out to everybody.
There are many great human interest stories of both the riders and horses involved in the hunter/jumper sport, and coverage of that would increase interest tin the sport.
The USEF iis asking for input on it's next CEO, so share your thoughts if you feel a change is needed, particularly if you are one of the local trainers or riders who have lost out because of no one day and weekend shows.
