781: US Dressage Finals, Lauren Chumley, Mila Perry, USDF, President, Kevin Reinig - The Dressage Radio Show - Horse Radio Network All Shows Feed

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Foreign.
You are listening to the HorseRadio Network, part of the Equine
Network family.
This is episode 781 of theDressage Radio show on the Horse
Radio Network, brought to youby Kentucky Performance Products.
The Dressage Radio show is theofficial podcast of the United States

(00:20):
Dressage Federation.

(00:44):
On today's show, we're talkingall things US Dressage Finals.
It's that exciting time of the year.
The U.S. dressage Finals arehere and have happened.
We dive into the finals withgreat lineup of guests.
First, we chat with KevinRenig, the USDF president, who shares
insights on this year's eventand continues the growth of dressage

(01:06):
nationwide.
Then we chat with LaurenChumlee joins the conversation to
talk about her incredibleshow, both for herself and her whole
team.
She shares her approach,highlights, and what makes the final
so special.
Finally, adult amateur MilaPerry tells us her inspiring story
of her first ever, ever finals experience.

(01:26):
Competing and winning,training in first level, and becoming
champion.
Whether you're headed to theshowgrounds or follow from home,
this episode captures theexcitement, dedication and community
that makes US Dressage finals unforgettable.
Tune in for motivation storiesand insight from riders at every
level.
This is Reece KopplerStanfield in Georgetown, Kentucky.

(01:49):
And I am Megan McIsaac fromOregon, Wisconsin.
And you're listening to theDressage 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.

(02:09):
We are on the cusp of our weekend.
Our last series, the lungingseries, I feel like I'm ahead of
the game, like, as an organizer.
That never happens.
So that's happening.
And then sadly, but soexcitingly, I sold my sail horse
to the best person.
That is.

(02:29):
That is one of those, like,bittersweet moments where you're
like, he was so cool and wewere so excited to see you develop
him.
But, yeah, I mean, that isthat, 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, butfun, too.
I love it.

(02:50):
I love selling horses.
I love developing horses.
I went to Silverwood one timeand 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 onthe riders.
I get to see them.
Like, one of my sales horse,actually, two of them went to finals.
Like, how amazing is that?

(03:10):
That I'm amazing horses.
Yeah, it's Amazing core.
What about you, Reese?
Love that.
Well, I've been like on aclinic 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 metlisteners from the show.
Hi girls from Colorado.

(03:31):
That was so much fun.
Like I enjoyed that.
I got to see Jessica Gastonwho's been on the show a ton.
One of my barn daughters andshe is growing her program out there
and she's got an amazing groupof people.
So I loved that.
Like that was so much fun.
It was actually really easy toget there too.
It was like it was a direct flight.
It was so nice.

(03:52):
Never.
Yes.
So that was great.
And then last weekend I was inAiken, South Carolina also I was
visiting Helen and friends andHelen bought my sister's horse.
So just, it's just fun seeingher develop him and see her barn
develop.
So I get, that's what's fun isI get to go and see kind of all my,

(04:13):
all my people.
So that's been really fun.
I have a weekend off.
I'm home.
We have, we actually have ahorse show here on Saturday and,
and then head to Akron next weekend.
So.
Just a busy Little Bee, notgonna lie.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I do have a little cold.
I think it's probably from traveling.
I really tried to airborne itup but yeah, definitely, definitely

(04:35):
the planes, trains andautomobiles 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 laughingwhen we talk about finals because
we, we both of us weren't ableto go because we both have just been
crazy busy and, and traveling.
So it's fun to hear kind ofhow everybody did and what happened

(04:59):
and all that kind of stuff.
So I'm really looking forwardto hearing everybody's take.
But overall I think everybodyreally 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 likeyou said.
I, I had two professionalriders that were there, so I was

(05:21):
getting kind of feedback fromthem 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 scheduledmyself 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 thatmade me think I had dinner made.
I have, like, dinner in the oven.
And it was.
It's just that feeling whenyou're like, I'm ahead of the game.

(05:43):
I'm headache.
Yeah, it's an amazing feeling.
I'm like, I'm organized.
I have the schedule, all ofthe things.
I'm like, we have the tables,we have the projector.
I mean, it's just so much goesinto it.
And I'm like, yes, I'm readyfor this weekend.
Love it.
Now, let me just say, do youthink because I try to lean into

(06:04):
people, like, if I hosted oneof these workshops, I would be contacting
you and, like, what do I needto know?
So I think that's important, right?
Like, talk to people thatorganize clinics.
Oh, huge.
Yeah, huge.
That's exactly what I did.
Cause I. I started organizingit, and USCF gives great guidelines
on how to organize it.
Kathy Roberts, you can callher, email her anytime.

(06:26):
The faculty is amazing.
I'm always.
Especially the week before.
Like last night, I was on thephone with Anne and we were hashing
out the schedule.
And then I also called Jane inNebraska, and she hosted this whole
series last year, and I gother take on it.
So I highly, highly recommendcontacting anyone.

(06:48):
That's great advice, Rhys.
Yeah.
And, you know, and again,thank you for running all these.
You know, we both have beenparticipants, 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 Iam and how amazing it was.
I know.
I love it.
Well, we have a great.

(07:10):
We have a great show for everybody.
We've been missing you guys.
It feels like we haven't beenon forever.
So we're excited to be hereand 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 themand Delia and her whole team.
And I'm so thankful for thembecause, again, their products are
phenomenal and make our horseslook amazing.

(07:32):
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(08:45):
Well, tonight I am so excitedto welcome Mila Perry.
She is on the show.
She won at the US Finals, thetraining level, and the first level
adult amateur, which isamazing on her horse, Jabberwocky
Eden.
Welcome to the show, Mila.
Thanks.
Happy to be here.
How did I do with her name?

(09:05):
Perfect.
Perfect.
I love it.
Well, when we were chattingbefore the show, you were telling
us all about your mare, whoyou call Snax.
So I love her already becauseI love snacks.
I mean, let's be real.
And so tell us about yourselfand your mer.
Snacks.
Sure, sure.
So I've been riding my whole life.
I sort of started when I was akid in 4H and moved up from there.

(09:30):
I live in New Jersey.
I train with Lauren Cholmondeley.
I've been with her for, oh, Ithink it's been like five years at
this point.
I moved from Ohio for work andstarted training with Lauren, and
Lauren helped me with my lastmare and then, and then this new
one.
So, super, super excited aboutthis new one and excited to sort
of tell you about our finals experience.
Yeah.

(09:50):
So tell us.
Okay.
Before we got on, you told usabout her name, Jabberwocky Eden.
But tell, tell everybodybecause her name's super cool.
So I, I like to have themednames with things.
So Jabberwocky is the dragonfrom Alice in Wonderland, the poem
about the dragon that's slain.
And the poem is full of allsorts of made up words and they talk

(10:11):
about how they slay the dragon.
And so the sword they used toslay the dragon makes a sound in
the poem and it says that thesword went snicker snack.
And so we were trying to finda 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.

(10:31):
I love that.
And now this was your firstregionals, 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'venever been to Wacken, Ohio either.

(10:51):
I was super excited and it wasa 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 soshe's, she's just a baby.
I've had her just over a yearand 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 inthe, in the three year old material

(11:12):
at Devon last year when I hadher for like six weeks.
And then, so we're, we're kindof used to doing fun, crazy things.
So I showed her all season allover 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 theplace in New Jersey, but this is
the first time we've sort ofwent anywhere.
So we went to regionals inVirginia, which was a lot of fun.

(11:33):
And then finals was reallyinteresting because you hear sort
of all the, I don't want tocall them horror stories, but all
the interesting weatherstories from Kentucky normally, right?
Like, oh my God, it rained, itsnowed, it was terrible.
This was all inside.
So it was super nice becausethe weather was typical Ohio, terrible
weather when we got there.
Like the horses go inside andthen, and then you stay warm.

(11:56):
So it was, it was so much funbecause 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 putmediums 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 gooddecision to wait until we moved to
an indoor venue.
And Mila, I'm literally in Kentucky.

(12:17):
I live about 10 minutes fromthe horse park.
And I'm not gonna lie,normally finals would be this either
I think it was this week orthe next week and we're getting,
gonna get snow.
So I was like, I, I was infavor of not being in the weather
too because it is not pleasanthere sometimes, but.
So I love it.
So what, tell us about thevenue and what was it like there?
The venue is super cool, soit's giant.

(12:38):
And I know everyone's like,oh, everything's big.
But like the barns are labeledA through Z and you can find horses
in every barn.
So there was a lot of, a lotof horses and people there and a
lot of people I knew.
And I don't even think I couldsee everyone because everyone sort
of had different, nooks and crannies.
So the barn is giant.
And then I think there waslike five different rings going.

(12:59):
And each ring has its own warmup, and each ring has a super great
footing.
So it's just.
It's big and it has everythingthat you need.
But it was a little spooky forsome of the horses.
You know, the.
The indoors kind ofreverberate the sound a little bit.
So some of the areas werelike, oh, my God, this is giant.
And there's pumpkins andthere's bushes and there's all these
things, and there's giantscreens everywhere.

(13:20):
So it's.
It's sort of a lot for thehorses to take in, especially horses
that probably are more used toshowing in, you know, like, not as
fancy places.
You know, you're used tooutdoors and things like that.
And like, basically they'vebeen inside for a week and haven't
gotten to see the sun.
So it's definitely a littlebit of an adjustment for them.
And what was your favoritepart about the horse show?

(13:41):
I think that my favorite part about.
The horse show was just beingable to, like, be away from sort
of the.
The hustle and bustle.
Like, you know, you got to seeso 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 tobe able to go look at the different
rings and see what people aredoing and watch different people's

(14:03):
freestyles and sort of seehorses 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 inNew Jersey.
And I do operations for ourassisted channels for.

(14:24):
For customers.
So we help make sure that wedo 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 fitriding in?
Like, I always find that sucha cool story.
I think I'm just a crazy person.
And if you know my Laura, mytrainer, Lauren Cholmondeley, you
know, that probably fitspretty well.
Also.
Yeah.
Also, yeah.

(14:44):
Crazy schedule.
Yes, yes.
So it helps because herschedule's crazy.
So she helps to sort of makesure 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 ridehorses and that's it.
Mondays I go get to the barnat like, like 5am to feed and help

(15:04):
turn out and do things and Igo to work and come back and do the
same.
So Lauren's always great aboutmaking 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 inthe dark together basically.
Yes.
That is awesome.
And obviously you like tocompete, but do you do anything to

(15:27):
help you with your mindset andyour 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 andtrained and resold things trying
to get something just a littlebit nicer and a little bit nicer.
My, my ultimate goal is to goto the Grand Prix.
So this is the most that I'vereally ever horse showed in my life,

(15:49):
especially like in one season.
So I'd say that the biggestthing this year was I was trying
to go for the end award USDFscores that you need.
But when you have a baby horseand you do baby classes, you need
like eight scores.
I know it's a lot each thingyou're doing.
So we horse showed like a lot.
And, and so I think that thatreally helped sort of my nerves.

(16:11):
Like I was used to sort ofgoing into the ring the same every
single time.
And we had a really good likeroutine for regionals and finals
to set us up for success.
And I think that helpedmentally a lot too.
Like we came in the first dayinto school, the second day we did
a warmup class and that reallyhelped like put her at ease.
And the moment I can sort offeel like I have my normal regular

(16:32):
horse, like I'm not nervous.
So at finals she was a littlebit 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 wearout too much.
And then in the warmup classwe were in, they, they call it the
left right arena, which issort of like the big center arena,
main, main area where you havetwo arenas sort of across from each
other.

(16:52):
And that was the one that wasreally like noisy and sound reverberation.
So we went into that ring andshe was definitely nervous and I
was like, oh boy, I don' howthis is going to go.
And I was a little nervousduring that test, but she kind of
figured it out halfway throughand took a breath and was like, okay,
like, like this is normal.
And as soon as she was good, Iwas good for the rest of the competition.
So the nerves kind ofdissipated as we went through, through

(17:13):
the week a little bit.
I love that.
Well, what is your plan nowfor, for Ms. Snacks?
Ms. Snacks is going to be inboot camp for the next two months
because Lauren's going toleave us for the winter.
We stay in New Jersey.
We stay in New Jersey at thefarm, the the two of us.
And so we'll, we'll schoolover the winter.
So we're going to work onsome, some second level things just

(17:33):
getting started for the nextcouple months and then we'll, we'll
go through the winter.
Next year we'll look at doingthe 5 year olds we signed up to do
the 4 year olds this year.
I think we were just out ofthe placings to go to Chicago.
I think we were like 20th andI think they take 15.
So if we can make it, wouldlove to try to do the five year olds
but if she's not ready, that's okay.
And we'll keep doing firstlevel and move up to second level

(17:55):
next year.
Fantastic.
Well, Mila, this has been sofun to hear about you and snacks.
We want to keep in touch withyou on your journey for sure.
But congratulations on awonderful finals.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks so much for having me.

(18:19):
Well, Megan, you and I bothhave the cat, two cats that we love
and there is a chewy box thatcomes to this farm at least twice
a week.
And my cat cats are.
I called my vet and I waslike, oh my gosh, they're not kittens
anymore.
Like, what do I do food wise?
And thank you to Chewy becauseI have new kitty food coming for

(18:39):
our grown up kitties.
So thanks for their support as well.
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(19:02):
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(19:23):
for for seasonal must havesfor the brands you trust for fast
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Well, our next guest reallydoesn't need an introduction, but

(19:46):
we're so thrilled to have her.
Lauren Chumley from NewJersey, 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 haveyou back because, number one, you
are literally from Ohio and.
Oh, you gotta tell us thestory, what you did at WEC Ohio when

(20:06):
you were a kiddo.
So back in the Cretaceousperiod of the late 90s, early 2000s,
WEC Ohio was not WEC Ohio.
It was Robert Serena andRobert Serena had some dressage shows
in the 2000s, but before thatthey had quarter horse shows.
And they also rented thefacility out for miniature horse

(20:27):
shows.
And I showed minis and I drovethem in harness.
And I remember showing thereand it was so much fun.
I must have been, I was noteven out of high school.
I was in, like, junior high.
I must have been like 15 or 14or something.
We need.
I don't know if I have one.

(20:47):
I don't even think cameraswere invented, but I'd have to, I'll
have to look.
I know there's something on mycomputer because it's that old, but,
like, I love it.
We're gonna have, we're gonnatake this baby out.
Oh, I love.
Yeah much.
It was so fun.
What was it like to go back?
I mean, you are from thatarea, right?
Like, kind of.

(21:08):
Is your family still there?
No, not anymore.
But I lived in, like, northernCincinnati suburb.
Actually, Westchester is whereI lived.
And I rode, like, my wholeOhio riding career took place basically
in Lebanon, which is reallyclose to Wilmington.
That's what I thought.
And then I kind of cheated.
And I got a little preview ofWEC this year.

(21:30):
I went out there in July forPony Cup.
Not to do the Pony cup classesbecause unfortunately, I don't have
any ponies that I'm, like,competing at a high level right now.
I, I, I'm, like, bringing somealong, but they're not there yet.
But I went out there for theyoung horse qualifier.
Ah, okay.
Because we lost a bunch ofqualifiers out here in Region 1.
And I was, and this is maybean understatement, freaking out because

(21:54):
I was trying to wait as longas possible to start my developing
grand prix horses because Ihad, I had Two of them that I did
the developing Grand Prix on.
And I wanted to wait becausethey're all green.
They're nine.
Right.
So that's all very green.
Very green.
And I was waiting as long aspossible to the qualifiers, and I
wanted to do three showsbecause you get two.
Two scores and a drop score.
Right, right.

(22:15):
And then we lost a couple ofshows out here.
They lost their.
Their level three status.
One farm, like, just lost alltheir 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, freakingout, that's an understatement.
Poor Michael.
But anyway, he was like, well,I don't remember whose idea it was.

(22:35):
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'llmake you stop freaking out in my
arena, I'll drive to Ohio.
If you get out, I will do it.
Basically, that wasessentially 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.

(22:56):
So I did Lilou's firstdeveloping Grand Prix at.
In July.
Oh, my God.
So it was really cool to goback there because it's the same,
but it's not the same, youknow, because obviously, the structure
is old, and, I mean, 30 years old.
Right.
But they've put a ton of moneyinto, like, modernizing it and renovating

(23:16):
it.
And they made that wholevendor area, which is beautiful,
and they revamped all of the rings.
It's almost unrecognizablefrom 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 rememberall 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

(23:38):
of the stall fronts andobviously 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 thinkingit'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

(24:00):
by this, like, labyrinth,which I definitely got lost the first
three days trying to get toring One.
And I definitely ended up inthe stabling.
And then Michael would befollowing me.
He'd be like, turn right, turn right.
And I'd ride past the entranceand he's like.
I said turn right.
And I was like, oh, like youknow, woman driver.
Here I go.
So I finally figured out whereeverything was by like Wednesday

(24:22):
because we got out there onMonday 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 thestallion test on Monday.
I came home.
Yeah, I test rode at thestallion test like randomly.
That was exciting.
And then Tuesday we leftTuesday morning.
So Wednesday we schooled andThursday we showed.

(24:42):
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 showabout her.
So to update us, what's she up to?
Because she is theintermediary to Grand Prix.
Sorry, intermediary two.
National champion.
And that's huge.
My friend.
Woo hoo.

(25:02):
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 thelast three or four horse shows, I
missed the twos.
I never missed the twos onthat horse like ever.
Okay.
And then I started missing thetwos at Devon.

(25:24):
And then I missed the twostwice at Devon, I think.
And then I missed the twos inthe warm up class for regionals.
I think I got the twos in theregional championship.
I was like, thank God.
But I missed the ones.
And then, and then it's goneback 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 yourhead about it.

(25:44):
So then you come with thetwos, which is something I can do
in my sleep.
And so yes, she like I couldget eights on my twos, right?
And I mean I come across thetwos, I'm like, oh my gosh.
Twos.
So then you get all ridingridiculous 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 werereally good.

(26:04):
Like the Half passes were decent.
The piano visage was.
I, you know, I watched thevideo and.
Okay, let's be real.
We're dressage riders, sowe're like ocd.
Like, I watched the video myfriends took.
I watched the video from FlipMy Horse that with Kathy Connelly
commentating, and then Iwatched the video.
I had the video guy take avideo too.
So I, like, watched them all.
So you had different angles, right?

(26:26):
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, theywere all fine.
It was all.
It was just.
I wanted to just seeeverything, right?
And like over analyze, youknow, 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

(26:46):
a little green, and then thefirst piaffe is a little green, and
then she kind of locked intothe passage after that.
Then the second piaffe was alot better.
But, like, when I tell youit'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 Iwrote it.
Like, it's nowhere near good enough.
Like, it's not.
And.

(27:07):
But.
But what I had in the warmup.
Oh, my God.
The pia massage I got in thewarm up.
I know I'm not gonna get it inthe ring, but like, like, I haven't
ridden, like a world classhorse before, but that's as close
to world class I've ever feltin my life.
And it was fantastic.
And I was like, that's what'sto come.
You know, just hang on.

(27:27):
Stay the course.
You know, Stay the course.
Because you've had this horse.
I mean, that's one of the coolthings about this horse.
You've had her since she was ababy, right?
Yeah, Yeah.
I bought her as a little babyand I imported her from Arizona.
She came from the great stateof Arizona.
Shout out to all our friendsin Arizona.
Yeah, shout out.
You breed really nice Dutchwarmbloods because I have a bunch

(27:48):
of them from Arizona now, so Ilove it.
Yeah, way to go, Arizona.
Sorry, I said way to go, Arizona.
I know.
Who knew?
And her breeder's like, justthe 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 quarterhorses, right?
But they Breed like ranchhorses, not like pleasure horses,

(28:11):
like performance quarter horses.
Really cool what they do.
And then she has one Dutchwarmblood mare and it's a negro.
It's a negro mare and she getsone 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'mlike, once I find a mare I like,
it's gotta catch em all, youknow, like everything that comes
out of it.
I'm like, it's mine, mine, mine.

(28:32):
And after the first couple itdoesn't even become a question.
They just text me and they'relike, she's in fold of so and so
she's due.
Then I'll let you know if it'sa culture or a Philly.
And I'm like, don't care,don't care.
I actually have her halfbrother that I just started.
I took him to Devon, I did the currying.
So he's a three year old, samenegro mother, but he's by Lord Leatherdale.

(28:53):
He's a stallion right now.
Oh yeah.
Oh cool.
He's a really, really good boy.
If he stays a good boy hecould keep all his parts.
Yep.
But this is you, you, if youhave all your parts you are on purpose.
Permanent, permanent probation.
Yes.
So like, because I like wehave stallions, I have I think six
stallions right now.
But like if I own you, youneed to be really good.

(29:15):
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 DGbar at the curring.
He went to the Iron Springcurring before Devin and he was a
really good boy at Devon.
He didn't try to kill me, sothat was cool.
Not that he ever does, butDevin tends to bring out the homicide
in a three year old.
I mean but yeah, yeah.

(29:36):
But I rode him in the threeyear 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 LordLeatherdale so he's, he's got a lot
more bone and he's bigger.
Like I think he's going to endup 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.

(29:57):
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 blanketand a cob bridle.
I love it.

(30:18):
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 toanybody for any amount of money because
people I won't like.
It doesn't happen all thetime, but I do.

(30:39):
I have had a few pretty likesignificant offers on her in the
last two years.
It started the year she wonthe pre St. George final at seven.
I got a good offer on her andI laughed and said no.
And I went and told Michaeland he's like, did you even think
about that?
That's a lot of money.
And then my classic line thathe hates what I say.
I said, money's not real, Michael.

(31:00):
And I walk away and he's like,oh my God.
Oh my gosh, yes it is.
The last offer I had was likereal money.
Like we're talking lifechanging money.
And you know, again I went upto Michael and I was like, money's
not real.
And he's like, did you eventhink about it?
Did you even think about it?
Not that he wants me to sellthe horse, but like it's real money,

(31:21):
you know, like he's like, youthink 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 seton being poor and fighting the good
fight and trying to make it better.
I said, if I have money, Idon't even know who I am.
And I walk away.
And he's like, what is wrongwith you?

(31:42):
Well, like what is wrong with you?
I mean that's, that's, that'sthe rider.
That's the rider dilemma, right?
Like it's always the rider dilemma.
And like you said, it's noteven a dilemma.
It's literally like I likeliterally will maybe will probably
be living under a bridgesomeday with that horse.
Oh, so stop it.
Aw, she'll be your cover.
You're like, you have to beour cover now.
Yeah, but how do you replace it?
You can't.

(32:02):
What do I want to buy anotherone 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 otherthree girls.
It was me and a young writerfrom Region 1, Abby Fodor, who's
also an inventor.
So she's brave.
And Kuhn.
Yes.
And also brave.

(32:23):
Yeah, also brave.
And I was like.
I was like, do you guys wannago fast or slow?
And they're like, go as fastas you can.
I love it.
I didn't go as fast as Icould, but I went a little bit.
And the TDs were all upset.
You know, they're like, slow down.
But, like, I come rippingaround the back corner, and then,
like, you go out the gate, Iliterally drop the reins and on the

(32:43):
buckle.
Like, the horse is.
The horse is fantastic.
Like, it's got.
It's got the brain.
It has more brains than it hasphysical talent.
And it's just been.
It's just phenomenally easy to train.
Like, it's such a great braidon that horse.
Yeah.
I could ride it.
I always.
I knew when she was 5, I waslike, I can ride this horse in any
arena in the world.
Like, oh, I have a lot ofstuff for you.

(33:05):
So, Lauren, what's next?
Oh, well, I was just.
I was down at Hilltop todayfor my weekly lesson, and I rode
her.
I haven't ridden her since theshow, 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 wasjust, like, phenomenal.
It was, like, so much betterthan even anything I got in the ring

(33:27):
at the show.
But, like, you know, Michael's like.
Cause I've been, like, kind ofchomping at the bit to do the Grand
Prix.
Like, I do, and I generally.
I.
You know, I have a tendency togo in the ring early.
Okay.
Admit that to God and everyone.
Like, I'm like, I can getthrough the test.
Like, I can rodeo through.
I'm really good at that.
Right.
But that's, like, not goodenough at some point.
Right?

(33:47):
We all know that.
It took me a really long timeto learn that, and I'm starting to
learn that.
Okay, but slow.
Okay, I'm slow.
But, like, you know, allsummer, 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, andDevin 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.

(34:09):
I just didn't Quite have whatI 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 quiteride it.
Like, I needed to ride it.
Like, I wouldn't call it ahorse 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.

(34:29):
Like, she's nine.
I'm an idiot.
We're trying to figure it out.
Like, she wasn't bad, butlike, I.
The first day I like, blew alead in the right pirouette.
The second day I blew a leadin the left.
It's cdi.
There's no mercy.
Not only is it cdi, not onlyis it cdi, it's Devin, and I think
Devin's a really hard cdi.
And like, the judging.
I'm not going to say thejudging was unfair because it was

(34:51):
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 andit'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 justnot great.
So I. I got kind of liketerrible scores, but, like, not good
enough.
Like, I was just disappointedhow I wrote it because I have no,

(35:12):
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, Ijust 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 thattrained yet.
So I tried to go in the ringand be like, pretty princess, look

(35:34):
at my harm.
And then just nothinghappened, you know, so then.
But then.
Then the second day, then I'mmad about the first day.
So then I go in the second dayand I ride the hell out of the test.
And like, that happened atLamplight too.
Like, the i2 is stinky.
Like, embarrassing.
And then the Grand Prix, thedeveloping Grand Prix was really
good.
And I was like, okay.
So then I went Devin.

(35:55):
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 likereal 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, Iwas 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

(36:19):
on Thursday and there is nowarmup plus.
And I'm like, well, I have tobomb 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, butlike just mad at like this like pretty
princess thing I'm trying todo 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 thewarm up class, so I was like kind

(36:40):
of freaked out a little bit.
Like I just had to go in thering 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 wantto, you know, I watched the test
once and I watched the horseand I watched it again.
You watched the rider, Right.
So I was watching myself rideand I was like, okay, there's like
stuff to work on, but there's not.
Like, you don't see the panicthat I have.

(37:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, it wasn't like I waslike, 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, butlike, everyone's like, oh my God,

(37:27):
are you so happy?
That was such a great test.
And I'm like, happy, yes, butmore 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 insideand 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

(37:49):
developing Grand Prix andGrand Prix.
She's like horse number nineor something.
Right?
So it's not like, it's notlike 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 qualityone that I've had.
And she's such a good girl.
And, you know, I just, I, youknow, I told Michael every day, I
said, you know, I'm not tryingto go here and win.

(38:10):
Not that I don't want to win.
I do, of course, but, like, Idon't think that's a reasonable expectation
just yet.
But what I want to do is goand ride a good test, and if I ride
a good test, the scores takecare of themselves.
Yep.
With that horse.
Because I feel like.
I feel like the judges likethat horse, they can't really score
you much higher than a six,five, you know.
Right.
So.
And that's fine for a while.

(38:31):
Right.
But like.
But then, yeah, I. I feel likemost of the judges that have come
across really like this horse,they really want to score it, but
I keep giving reasons to notscore it.
Like cross cantering everypirouette or missing a 2 or blowing
the ones or halting like asapet, you know, like.
Well, it's.
I just think, you know, you'rehighlighting what it is to truly

(38:53):
develop a horse, and I thinkthat's so important.
It's, it's.
It's a long.
Not.
It's a long, long game.
And, you know, the jump fromsmall tour to.
To medium tour, big tour, it'sa big jump.
It's a big jump.
And then you gotta go, youknow, 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.

(39:16):
You can't fall back on alittle 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 atfinals and regionals was, like, miles
better than the test I wrotein August at Lamplight, which was
good.
That was a good test, too.
So I'm like, okay, this is like.

(39:38):
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 typeof horse that she is.

(39:59):
Like, once you, once shereally understands what you want
her to do with her body andhow she needs to be, she'll do it.
Like, I think in a year it'sgoing to be literally push button.
I think it's going to be theeasiest Grand Prix horse ever.
As soon as she gets thisstrength and she really, really understands
the questions, which she'sreally starting to understand now.

(40:20):
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 thatpiaff for more than three steps?
Like, it's, it's, it's justbeen 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 ofdisappointed that I haven't been

(40:42):
able to support her properlyevery single time out there.
But it's a lot of learning forme too, because, like, you know,
like, yeah, I've done a lot ofGrand Prix, but not high level.
Right.
You know, and it's a differentball game.
It's a different ball game.
I mean, Devin was my firsttime doing a Medium Tour CDI ever.

(41:02):
That's awesome.
Yeah.
This is so fun.
Well, Lauren, you are so awesome.
We love you so much and it'sbeen 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 yourtime tonight.

(41:24):
How can our listeners find youonline 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 whatkind of people we are.
It's Ricky List by design.
And then I'm super active on Facebook.
I post my sail horses there.

(41:44):
I post lots of stupid things there.
Funny things, you know, justlike, it's just very real life.
Like, it's not all butterfliesand rainbows.
Sometimes I like, fall off andI post that, like, you know.
Yeah.
And I'm on Instagram a little bit.
Facebook's probably thefastest because I'm a millennial
and Instagram's like a littlebit Gen Z, but I'm trying to be on

(42:06):
Instagram a little bit.
More because you know that's agood, a good place to be too.
But I'm the for fastest service.
Please see Facebook.
Love it.
Well, Lauren, thank you somuch and we're gonna keep, keep in
touch with you for sure.
Awesome.
Thank you guys so much.

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(43:19):
Well, tonight I am so happy tohave on which I cannot believe we
have not had him on the USDFPresident Kevin Renick, how are you
tonight?
I'm great.
Reese and Megan, thank you forhaving me on the podcast.
I know.
Well, you and I have beentalking about the podcast literally
and meetings and stuff foryears and you've been an awesome
supporter of us, but we'rehappy to have you since you became

(43:41):
president.
First of all, tell us a littlebit about yourself.
I'm from California.
I was born and raised in California.
My wife and I live in RanchoMarietta, which is near Sacramento.
And we have a dressagetraining business.
There's.
I have another business whichis horseshoe photography.
So I'm on the road a lot doinghorseshoe photography.
Our background is in breedingtraining and sales.

(44:04):
It's kind of how we got ourstart working.
We both met working on abreeding farm.
Actually, my photographybusiness partner also worked on the
breeding farm with us, so.
Oh my gosh, I love that.
I know.
I always feel like those farmsshould, you know how it's like below
deck, you know, we, I feellike we, we should do that for farms,
but I don't, I don't know.

(44:25):
I don't know if we should.
I, I don't know if.
I mean the.
Well, this is a topic for awhole nother podcast.
Exactly.
Yeah.
The disappearance.
I mean, big breeding farms aredisappearing and you know, create.
It creates really good horsepeople, you.
Know, it really does.
I mean, when you're, whenyou're getting drug on the ground

(44:46):
by a foal at the end of arope, you learn a lot.
You learn a lot.
You Learn a lot just at anykind of big like that.
And I think we've all kind ofworked there.
So it's so cool that you'vehad that experience and you come
from the breeding aspect, thehorse show aspect.
I mean, that's what's sogreat, 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?

(45:06):
Well, I started out, Iactually got approached to be to
get on the board of theCalifornia Dressage Society, which
is our main GMO out in theregion 7.
And I was like, oh, I neverthought I had much to contribute.
I'm surprised you guys asked.
And so, yeah, so I got on theboard of USD of CDS and I served

(45:29):
my time there.
I served on that board fornine years.
And those years I served as president.
Oh, wow.
California Dressage Society.
Well, at the time, I'm not100% sure what the counts are now
today, but it's the thirdlargest, second or third largest
dressage organization in theUnited States.
Huge next next to usdf and active.

(45:52):
It's huge and active.
Thank you.
Yes.
And so my time, I tie.
I termed out, my time was upand everybody still thought I was
doing a good job.
And I was like, this is aperfect time to go.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're like, I'm going now.
See you.
Yeah, yeah.
Better to go, I still like youthan when they're chasing you.
There you go.

(46:12):
If you want nonprofitanything, 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 yearsand this is my first year as president.
Wow, thank you.
What is your favorite thingabout being president?

(46:33):
My favorite thing about being president?
US Dressage final in the USDressage 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 tobe the president of the organization.
And I guess my favorite thingabout being president is that the
membership has enoughconfidence in me that they elected

(46:56):
me to be president.
Yes.
I'm there to serve the membersin 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 itgo in Ohio?
Because Megan and I bothweren't able to go, so, I mean, we're
hearing great reports.
How did it go?
It was fantastic.

(47:17):
It was fantastic.
Let me Just.
If I may, let me just back upa little bit.
The Kentucky Horse park hasserved us amazingly as the host site
for our US Dressage Finals.
As you know, the weather inNovember can, in Kentucky can be
unpredictable.
Gonna snow, and it's gonnasnow next week, just so you know.

(47:40):
I know no one's jealous to be here.
It's gonna snow, so.
And.
And my wife and I and our barnhave traveled to the US Dressage
Finals a couple of times, andwe 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.

(48:00):
Erica, She's.
She said it should be thereevery year.
She loves it.
There's.
But the dates came availableat the World Equestrian center, and
one of the number onefeedbacks that we got is people are
concerned about the weatherand what is the weather going to
be when you get there now?
So when the dates cameavailable at WEC in Ohio, we gave

(48:22):
it a really hard look to seewhat that looked like, with the goal
of creating an equal showexperience for all competitors.
Because in Kentucky, you havethe experience of those who are competing
in the All Tech arena, theheated covered arena, and the experience
for everybody else that wascompeting outside.
Totally different experiencesafter doing.

(48:45):
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 bigconcern, though, it was moving it
to Ohio is can we create aspecial feeling like you have when

(49:07):
you go down centerline atreally 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 itis gorgeous when the weather is nice.
We've had beautiful weatherthis week, but it's gonna snow next
week.
So we, of course, toured theWorld Equestrian Games or World Equestrian

(49:27):
Center.
We had that here.
We, you know, it's around now.
No worries.
Yeah, we toured the WorldEquestrian 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 gameplan that we felt was going to be
a really good experience forall the competitors and an equal

(49:48):
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 mainring and I mean it wasn't even finished
yet.
The court was, the judgesbooths were up, but banners were

(50:11):
still hanging over the wallsand everything.
But I saw all the decorationsand I could get a glimpse of what
it was going to be.
And a huge sigh of relief cameover for me and the members of the
organizing committee that thiswas going to be a special show.
And it was really a jointeffort between the organizing committee,

(50:32):
the USDF staff and the WorldEquestrian center staff.
The World Equestrian centerstaff was amazing.
They did amazing job keepingthe police clean.
I mean they would, they wereliterally following us around, cleaning
up after us.
You know, the horses would,down the corridors, they're, they're
sweeping, sweeping the floorsand it was immaculately clean.

(50:56):
Wow.
Their staff was amazing,helping us set everything up.
Our normal band of volunteerswere 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 bitmore because you know, just being
local and the amount of peoplethat, and they, they have their 10

(51:16):
year pins and their 5 year pins.
I mean it is a massive effortwhen it comes to volunteers and everybody
kind of knew their job in Lexington.
So I'm sure that was hard in away because it was a new venue, new
jobs and new things.
So there's a lot, lot ofthings that the organizing committee,
it's a huge effort that we ascompetitors, you don't see.

(51:38):
And so that's pretty cool tohear about.
It is, it is.
And I don't care what, I don'tcare what show you're going to.
If you're going to a one ringshow or you're going to, you know,
your regional championships oryou're going to the US Dressage finals.
If you haven't worked at ashow on the management or administrative
side of a show, the view fromthat is totally different than the
view of a competitor.

(51:58):
I was like, you should huge.
I remember the first, Iremember my first day working at
a horse show and I was ringstewarding and we broke for lunch
and I went into the showmanager and this was a show manager
that we had competed with outin California for many, many years.
And I was like, Glenda,everything that I thought I knew
about a horse show, yeah, Irealized I didn't know anything.

(52:18):
Yeah, yeah, it's true.
So there's a lot of, a lot ofmoving parts.
And then, you know, you addchampionship 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, thecompetitors were all great, you know,
very understanding.

(52:39):
You know, of course, we have alist 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 lookingforward to getting the competitor
feedback and.
And we'll be combining thatwith our own notes and working to

(53:03):
make it even better.
I love that.
So, I mean, USDF there.
Because there'll be a timeright at convention that people can.
Where can people give feedback?
I think that's importantbecause it is taken and really, people
I know, it is absorbed andlistened to.
Yeah.
Well, the competitor surveyswill go out directly to the competitors.
You know, anybody else.

(53:24):
Anybody.
If people were in attendanceat the show or.
Or anybody else that justwants to give feedback with questions
or share experiences, they canalways email them to the competition
department at usdf, I believe.
I'm not a hundred percentsure, but I'm sure there's a space
on the U.
We have a US Dressage finalssection of the website, and I know

(53:46):
there's a place there wherecontact information where they can,
you know, email and.
And give feedback.
I got another.
I got another fun story foryou 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 andeverything into the car.
So I'm riding on the elevatordown to.
To.
To go get loaded up, and I runinto these, and I'm wearing my US

(54:09):
Finals jacket for the year andthat 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 tothe 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, areyou guys competitors?
And I said, no.
I said, we're not competitors, actually.
We're not even members.

(54:31):
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 somethingthat we have to see.
So they drove six hours fromMichigan to come and just watch the
show, and they watchedfreestyle night.
And so, of course, I askedthem if they wanted to Become group
members and.
Yeah.

(54:52):
And you're like, and now I'mgonna do this.
That's so cool.
Well, and it looked like therewas a lot of people stayed and watched
and that's what it just lookedlike 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 fromhomes there which are the.
There's just a trailer parkthere where you can rent those.

(55:13):
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 staffstayed in it and a lot of the competitors
stayed and they werecompletely sold out.
They have an RV park there aswell and we did have some people
come in with RVs and staythere and they also have these cabins

(55:33):
that you can rent and, andevery bit of housing that was there
on the facility was totallyrented out.
The host hotel where, where Istayed and where the, a lot of the
officials, the judges andthings stayed was, was very nice
as well.
And a lot of people that Italked to got Airbnbs there.
So cool.
Yes, they're in that areabecause there's horse shows there

(55:55):
all the time now.
Yeah, yeah.
And they, and they had great.
They would get an Airbnb thatwas big enough to support their whole
barn and it was more costeffective for them.
And so that was really nice.
And we tried to plan a lot ofdifferent events and of course that's
on our list of things thatneeded to be probably more organized.
But, but everybody had a goodtime and we actually did a costume

(56:17):
judging contest and I got tobe one of the judges.
And afterwards I sat down withmy, 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 bigdiscrepancies, which was.
Was good.
We did kind of rewrite thetest afterwards.

(56:39):
So, you know, we judgeeverything on a scale of 1 to 10.
So we have scary on a scale of1 to 10.
We have silly on a scale 1 to10, we have.
And I'm a little bit unclear.
So we had unique in there, butI think we're going to change that
to degree of difficulty.
I love that.
And then we have creativity.

(57:00):
And then, and then, and thenfor next year, the creativity is
going to be the double coefficient.
Yes.
Well, I Just wonder if any ofthese will go to the test writing
committee.
Just as we did already.
They did already.
We all got together atbreakfast 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.

(57:21):
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 finalsnext 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 theunofficial dates.

(57:42):
These are the unofficial dates.
Yeah, I think it's gonna bethe same.
So basically it'll be on thesame weekend, but it's gonna be October
29th through November 1st iswhat I'm.
Okay.
So Halloween again.
Sounds like Halloween is gonnabe freestyle night, maybe.
Yeah, Halloween is gonna.
Yes.
Whoa.
That's a curveball.
It's super fun.

(58:02):
I mean, it just looked likeeverybody leaned in.
Everybody had a great time,like you said.
I'm sure every show.
Every show for sure, changesand develops over time.
I love that.
And Kevin, I'm gonna throw youanother curveball just because we
need to announce convention.
Convention's here in Lexington.
So we're excited to bewelcoming everybody to Lexington
for that.

(58:23):
We are in a hotel, so we won'tbe 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 thisquestion, but I thought we should
probably talk about why wehave you on here.
For sure.
You know, the convention isreally just business as as usual.
And we do have some, you know,fun, educational things.
Yep.

(58:43):
But one topic that is going tocome up in the board of governors
is the convention itself.
And what.
And what does that look like?
And we are really taking ahard look.
We've.
We've.
This year on the executiveboard, we've taken a hard look at
our strategic plan, and we'vekind of revamped that a little bit.
And part of that is to take alook at the convention and what does

(59:05):
that look like going forward?
Sure.
You know, so for this year andnext year, it will be in Kentucky.
And part of the reason forthat is it will reset the rotation
after Covid.
So the recept.
The rotation kind of gotinterrupted after Covid.
So having it in a couple ofyears in Kentucky will reset that.

(59:26):
It also gives us a real chanceto take a hard look at the convention
and, you know, what does thatlook like going forward?
So.
Absolutely, we want to haveeverybody's input on.
On that because, you know, thequestion I.
For me, I like to go to convention.
I've.
I went to convention, startedgoing to convention when I was on
the board of cds.

(59:49):
And the best part ofconvention, the meetings are great
and all the business we takecare of, that's, you know, of course,
it's super fun.
But the best part is, youknow, 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 wemight have to have a bourbon.
There's a bourbon.
Just some good stuff downtown.

(01:00:10):
For sure.
Yeah.
And talk about the sport andwhat's working and what's not.
And, you know, so that.
I think that personally, forme, I think that's.
That's a pretty major topic ofdiscussion, you know, and, and so
what does that, what does thatlook like moving forward?
You know, that makes sense.
Yeah, no, for sure.
And we're happy to haveeverybody here, but it does save
the organization a lot ofmoney to have it in Lexington.

(01:00:31):
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, gettingtogether with everybody and, and,

(01:00:52):
and sharing your passion forthe 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 thatgets accomplished at convention.
And then.
Absolutely.
You know, and then we have theawards banquet, which is Saturday
night.
Yep.
And we hope you're going tocome to our book club.
Kevin, will you come to ourbook club meeting?
Come to the book club.
You have to come to book club.

(01:01:12):
That's Megan and I.
That's our thing.
You got to come and meet thepodcast and everybody at the book
club.
So we are looking forward to that.
Well, all right.
Well, I'm going to try to cometo the book club.
Okay.
Okay, everybody, you heard it here.
She's going to come in andinto the book club.
Please give us One caveat.
Believe it or not, I am prettybusy with meetings when I'm at the
convention.
Oh, yeah, you bet.
I don't get to participate asmuch as the.

(01:01:34):
The extracurricular stuff as Iused 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 herein Lexington and hear more about
finals.
But thank you for all you dofor the organization and you've got
great new blood in and it'sfun to have you.
And thanks for the support ofour podcast.
And how can our listeners findyou online if they have any questions?

(01:01:58):
How.
How can they do that?
You're always welcome to sendme an email atpresident or presidentsdf.org
I mean, I have a Facebook page.
I never really post on it.
Not.
Not really my area ofexpertise, but.
But you can definitely find meon there.
And yeah, we look forward toseeing you on convention.
They do get me to write a fewcolumns every now and again for the

(01:02:20):
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'mtalking to you and it seems.
Love it.
Well, Kevin, thank you so muchfor your time tonight and all you
do, and we look forward toseeing you a couple weeks.
You're welcome.
Thank you guys so much.

(01:02:41):
Well, Megan, we have greatbook club news, right?
That's great.
We've got lots of stuff going on.
We sure do.
We have Begin and Begin Againby Denny Emerson.
He's.
It's a great book.
I started it and I'm reallylooking forward to talking to him.
Is it January 7?
We will be having a webinar.

(01:03:02):
That is right.
We have a webinar coming,which will be so fun.
After Christmas, I think we'llall 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 MentalDynamics of Dressage with them.
Beth.
Beth Bommart.
And we get to talk to her atthe USDF convention, right?

(01:03:22):
Yes.
So come see us at convention.
Megan and I will be there atthe USDF convention in Lexington.
We're really excited.
Again, I do live here.
This is my town.
So if you want anyrecommendations 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 forChristmas so it should be a lot of
fun.
So we have these two greatbooks going on and I love the bonus

(01:03:45):
books.
So excited.
And this book is phenomenal byBeth Baumert, so we hope you enjoy.
If you haven't subscribed yet,do that now.
Just Search Dressage Radioshow on your favorite podcast player.
You can join the fun andsupportive community of the Horse
Radio Network Auditors over on Patreon.

(01:04:06):
You get behind the scenesinsights, special offers and the
opportunity to participate inHorse Radio Network podcast.
Go to patreon.comhorseradionetwork the Dressage Radio
Show Facebook page isobviously the Dressage Radio show.
My website ismaplecrestfarmky.com and my email.
Is reechorseradionetwork.comand my website is lindenhoff.com

(01:04:32):
and my email islindenhoffllcgmail.com we'd like
to thank our friends and showsponsors, Kentucky Performance Products
and Chewy.
If you would like to supportour show in the Horse Radio Network,
you can do that through theauditor program found@horseradionetwork.com

(01:04:54):
keep on kicking on until thenext show.
Talk to you soon.
Sa Sam.

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781: US Dressage Finals, Lauren Chumley, Mila Perry, USDF, President, Kevin Reinig - The Dressage Radio Show

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}781: US Dressage Finals, Lauren Chumley, Mila Perry, USDF, President, Kevin Reinig - The Dressage Radio Show