Your horse will be jumping for joy if you take a learning vacation and attend this year’s USDF meeting. The United States Dressage Federation has taken advantage of a unique and once in a lifetime opportunity. That is because this year’s annual meeting, November 28, through December 2 is back to back with the AAEP (American Association of Equine Practioners) Convention in Orlando, Florida.

Attendees of the USDF Convention this year will have the chance to participate in a series of invaluable seminars hosted by the nation’s leading veterinarians, who are welcoming the opportunity to educate dressage riders and competitors on important aspects of horse health. This opportunity is not likely to happen again anytime in the near future, and so rather than having a mounted Symposium this year, USDF decided to take advantage of access to the top veterinarians in the country who must attend their annual convention to team up and bring important educational information to it’s members.

Get Off Your Horse’s Back and Learn How to Care for It!

We all get plenty of opportunities throughout the year to attend clinics and to train and compete, but an area where many are lacking in the overall picture in horse ownership is a true understanding and comprension of the general aspects of horse health. Veterinarians see this on a daily basis as they attend costly visits to their clients, visits which are often preventable, and visits they would gladly avoid. “Dressage riders need to just let their horse be a horse.”. So give your horse a vacation, and take a trip to Orlando this fall, and perhaps you can save on your vet bills in 2008, and better yet, have a happier horse to live with.

USDF University Horse Health Education Sessions

AAEP has partnered with USDF to bring you a fabulous line-up of educational sessions. Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be a weekend filled with fourteen horse health education sessions presented by FEI-Level veterinarians. Where else could you get more information on this complicated and important subject from such knowledgeable and distinguished speakers?

• Impact of Arena Footing on Soundness
• New Concepts in Equine Lameness: Thinking Outside the Box
• New Technologies in Diagnosis and Treatment of Lameness in the Dressage Horse
• Conformation and its Influence on Lameness in the Horse
• Alternative Therapies
• Complete Rehabilitation and Preventive Care for the Equine Athlete
• Through the Looking Glass: New Diagnostic Tools to Evaluate Digestive Tract Health and Disease
• Functional Feeding: Maximizing Health and Performance
• Preserving the Foundation: An In-Depth Look at Hoof Care
• Management of Contagious Diseases: Vaccination and Biosecurity Protocols
• Conditioning the Dressage Horse
• Understanding the USEF/FEI Medication Rules: How not to get your horse to test positive!
• Sport Horse Potpourri: What Your Performance Horse Wants You To Know
• Sunday Morning Feature Presentation Performance Partners Through Pilates: Develop Your Horse Through Better Riding University Sessions Book Signing On Sunday, at the conclusion of the USDF University Program Education Sessions, a book signing will take place with Hilary Clayton, BRCVS, PhD, MRCVS and Betsy Steiner, successful Grand Prix competitor and author; U.S. World Equestrian Games team member and founder of Equilates.

GMO Education Sessions

• Understanding Yourself and Others: The Keys to Communication & Cooperation
• The Nuts & Bolts of Your Meetings and Programs – Why is it so hard to get people to participate?!?
• GMO Roundtable Discussions
• GMO Tax Compliance will be presented by Barbara Tuohino Funk on Friday afternoon.

Other Sessions

• The USDF Apprentice Dressage Technical Delegate Clinic
• The USDF Competition Managers/Secretaries Clinic A two session ticketed event on Friday (Fox Village Dressage Software Workshop)
• The USEF Dressage Technical Delegate Clinic An all day event on Saturday and includes lunch. Contact USEF for information (859) 225-6970.
• USEF Dressage Technical Delegate Measurement Certification Held on Saturday evening and all day Sunday. Contact USEF for information (859) 225-6970.

USDF.org AAEP.org