To USEF Competition Contacts, Managers, Members of Competition Management:

The Competition Date Approval Task Force (often called the Mileage Task Force), submitted a report to the USEF mid-year meeting in July. The report concluded that simply addressing mileage would not deal with all of the issues requiring consideration. The Task Force recommended that a comprehensive review of Competition issues be undertaken. The July USEF Board of Directors approved moving forward with the Recommendation for comprehensive competition review process and directed that the Task Force report to the January 2005 USEF annual meeting. The Task Force recognizes that this undertaking requires both competition management input and Breed/Discipline specific input to be successful.

Accordingly, we would like to invite you to attend upcoming meetings as follows:

• High Prairie Farm Fall Preview, Parker, CO on Saturday, September 11th at 10:00AM
• Colorado Fall Charity Horse Show, Denver, CO on Saturday, September 11th at 4:30PM
• USEF Office, Gladstone, NJ on September 23rd at 5:00PM
• Manchester, New Hampshire on September 25th at 11:30AM (This is tentative depending on the number of RSVPS)
• Los Angeles International Jumping Festival, Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, September 26th at 10:00AM
• King Shavings/USGPL Finals, Culpeper, VA on Saturday, October 2nd at 6:30PM
• North Carolina State Fair Hunter-Jumper, Raleigh, NC on October 9th at 4:00PM
• Pennsylvania National, Harrisburg, PA on October 21st at 2:00PM
• Sacramento, CA on October 27th at 2:00 PM

In order to better prepare for these meetings please notify Katriona Adams of your plans to attend. She can be contacted directly at (859) 225-6959 or by email at kadams@.... She will also be able to provide you with details of the exact locations. Please feel free to pass this invitation along to any facility owners/managers where USEF competitions are held.

Competition Issues for Discussion:

1. Establishment of definable and measurable Competition Standards for each Level of Competition including consideration of items such as Footing, Stalls, Exhibitor support facilities, Safety, etc.
2. Development of a Breed/Discipline specific mileage matrix that can be applied individually by State and Competition calendar quarters. Review of the Waiver system currently in existence and recommendations relating to changes to/or elimination of Waivers.
3. Creation of a Premium Level of Competitions to include among other things:
   • showcasing the Sport of Equestrian and capitalizing on promotional opportunities
   • reducing the total financial dependence on the Exhibitors/Members, And
   • generating funding for grass root development of our sport
4. Replacement of the current "Recognized" competition procedures with a "Licensed competition procedure including provisions for:
   • License duration with consideration of performance and capital investment required,
   • Specific minimum uniform Licensed "Competition Standards" applied to different levels of competition
   • Renewal and non renewal process with consideration of both performance in connection with License standards and "best for the sport" promotion and development
5. Development of Software, customized as required for Breed/Discipline. The software would be utilized in reporting entry and result information to USEF. The software will provide for a standardized electronic format specific as required for each Breed/Discipline with provision of universal point achievement recognition system
6. Creation of a USEF Competition Achievement Recognition program specific to each Level of competition and utilizing the electronically reported data for manipulation as specified for each Breed and Discipline to provide for appropriate recognition. Also, to re-name the Competition Levels (currently AA, A, B, &C) to a new, more appealing set of titles in connection with Achievement Recognition.

Task Force Members: John Long, Robert Higgins, Bill Moroney, Robert Ridland and Howard Pike

Best regards,

John Long
CEO
USEF