The Dressage Committee

At the 2009 AGM ten members were elected to the committee and the duties were defined as follows:

·  Sue Horne                                    Chairman and Technical matters, SANEF, Website

§  Sally McGrath                             Vice Chair, Para Dressage, Judges, Shows

§  Pam Crompton                            Shows, Team Selection

§  Nadine Parker                              Newsletter, Shows, Development, Juniors and Children

§  Leigh Webster                            Marketing and Sponsorship

§  Belinda Smithard                         Seminars, Shows, Grounds

This year unfortunately there were a couple of personality clashes within the committee resulting in some problems through the year.

One incident was never resolved even when the Executive Committee was involved. In addition personal conflicts were brought to

the attention of the committee who generally expressed the feeling that it was not the committee’s concern and had nothing to do with

the sport in general.

Shows

Six affiliated shows were run during the course of the year by the committee. These included the SANEF competition and the

KZN Dressage Championships as well as a number of smaller affiliated shows. These proved to again, be a major drain on

committee resources.

Each committee member gave full support and help with the running of these shows within their various areas.

A very successful SANEF competition was organised during the month of May and we were pleased to have Laura Kotze and Flo

Vernon as the visiting judges.

KZN Championships was held in July. Extensive sponsorship was arranged by Leigh Webster which included gifts and some money to

go towards running the show.

The committee made a great effort to make this a special show on the calendar and trophies, Unfortunately there was an unusual amount

of abuse directed at the committee and show organisers both by officials and competitors which resulted in a number of resignations

from the committee including myself..

Seminars

Mariette Whittages was well attended by KZN Judges. The cost of the seminar was paid for out of the dressage committee funds

Additional general seminars were run by Belinda Smithard on Heart problems in horses and lameness’s. These were very well attended.

A Judges seminar was also held at The Jockey Academy with several National judges speaking and all levels covered. Liz Day was

one of them

Judges

The passing away of Liz Day was a great loss to the KZN Dressage Community. In addition we lost a number of other

National judges which has left our ranks rather thin at the National level. We welcome back Reva Wing to the Provincial A Panel

and we have put forward our recommendation to SANEF that Reva is re-instated onto the National Panel.

Team Selections

Team Selections were conducted and team trials held where necessary. It is felt that a decision should be made as to whether any

team should be sent to represent KZN even when the best riders are not willing to travel. Pam Crompton again held team selection

trials at her home.

A very successful SANEF competition was organised during the month of May and we were pleased to have Laura Kotze and Flo

Vernon as the visiting judges.

KZN Championships was held in July. Extensive sponsorship was arranged by Leigh Webster which included gifts and some money

to go towards running the show.

The committee made a great effort to make this a special show on the calendar and trophies, Unfortunately there was an unusual amount

of abuse directed at the committee and show organisers both by officials and competitors which resulted in a number of resignations

from the committee including myself..

SA Dressage Championships 2010

Our children’s team won their provincial team championships. Congratulations to our team members

The Adult team came second to GHS  by 0.8%. The new 2009 Adult team test was used which proved to ride very well. Catherine

Berning on her horse Livius won the Young rider championship and Calet de Vos won the first Young horse championship to be held

at the SA Champs on Mossandi Nikkei owned by Vicky Mostert.

The Junior rider team will be competing in Cape Town during December.

Children and Junior Development

The Talent identification Programme was shelved due to lack of funds. A new young rider series was introduced by SANEF named

The Stal Van De Craen. This was run over 3 legs during the course of the year. The sponsor insisted that FEI tests were used. 

The prize money was extremely generous several KZN Riders competed very successfully.

Victor Ludorum Awards.

The victor Ludorum calculation was changed several times this year causing complete confusion and a delay in producing the results.

We recommend that a directive on exactly how this should be produced in the future keeping in mind that the method used does not

reward the competitors who go to the most shows but the competitors who achieve the highest scores on a consistent basis. It is felt

that it should also be taken into consideration that those competitors who are willing to travel great distances to represent their

province should also be rewarded.

Communication

The KZN  dressage website has a new web master. The updating of  this website is done free of charge and is very time consuming.

Results are posted as quickly as possible together with newsflashes, show schedules, notices of clinics etc.

The KZN Dressage Facebook page has 294 members.

Newsflashes via bulk emails were consistently sent out through the year as well as bulk sms’s about important notices.

Newsletters are informative including items such as feed back on seminars, important events as well as welcoming new competitors

and combinations. Answers to Frequently asked questions have been addressed by judges and instructors. The newsletter is currently

full of information and news.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to thank the entire dressage committee who worked tirelessly through the year and were very supportive

through thick and thin. In addition a heartfelt thanks from the committee to all those very hard workers at the shows. The judges,

the scribes, the auditors, the announcer, the show secretaries, the bit checkers, Durban Shongweni club where all our shows are held.

Thank you to all who make the dressage sport in KZN Happen. I would particularly like to thank the companies and individuals who

have sponsored classes and events during the year. We really appreciate your interest and support.

The 2011 committee is  very optimistic that the KZN Dressage committee will be able to do a lot more for the development of the

sport in 2011 as the burden of running shows has been lifted.