United States Eventing Association

We've got some top-notch speakers coming to this year's USEA Annual Meeting and Convention, held at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas from December 3-7. To whet your appetite, we are previewing some of those speakers over the next several weeks.

The Myths & Facts of Online Privacy: Working and Playing It Safe on the Web with Scott Weber and Robert Winter

Scott Weber is the Managing Partner of StartBox Online Scoring, LLC that was founded in 2008 with his wife, Jennifer, and father-in-law, Ron. StartBox is now used by more than 250 competitions per year in the US, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand. StartBox was started as tool to assist the scoring team at Stuart Horse Trials and evolved into a complete competition management platform. Scott’s day job is a Software Architect at an IT Consulting and Product Development business where he leads the development of solutions in the Cloud. When not busy working, Scott enjoys spending time with his wife and 4 year old daughter, and working on his house.

Robert Winter has been working at the United States Eventing Association as the lead Web Developer and IT Project Manager since 2005, and then as the Director of Information Technology since 2008. He has been responsible for directing the technology efforts in transitioning the USEA’s core business services to the web over the last nine years. This transition includes the development of USEA Online Services website platform for delivering services such as Member, Horse, Competition and Education Management, Xentry and Eventing USA Online. Robert prides himself on staying up-to-date on development, security and system trends in preparation for implementing the next generation of technology at USEA. Prior to the USEA, Robert worked as an intranet developer and designer for Bell Atlantic Network Integration Services and lead developer and designer for web startup, National Tax Services, Inc.

How Horses Jump with Dr. Daniel Marks

Dr. Daniel Marks accepts his award from Chrystine Tauber and Mason Phelps (Emily Riden/Phelps Media Group)

For 24 years, Dr. Daniel Marks served as the Team veterinarian for the USET and U.S. Olympic Teams in Jumping and Dressage and was an integral part of their medal winning successes. Highly respected around the world, Dr. Marks was a consultant to over a dozen foreign jumping and dressage teams, and was the Team veterinarian for the Canadian team at the Olympics and World Championships, as well as for teams from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Japan, Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas.

Prior to becoming a veterinarian, Dr. Marks was a professional horseman, competitive rider, and trainer. He began as a hot walker, groom, and exercise rider at the New York racetracks. He was one of the few U.S. riders to be accepted into the Spanish Riding School of Vienna at the time, and then turned his talents to competing jumpers and hunters at major national horse shows. After graduating from veterinary school, he tried his hand at riding timber races including the Maryland Hunt Cup. He still rides regularly.

Graduating Summa Cum Laude, and first in his class, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Marks became a founding partner of the Delaware Equine Center which grew into one of the largest private equine clinics in the world. He has had many principal equine veterinary contributions, and credits the majority of those developed with his decades-long partner and friend, Dr. Matthew MacKay-Smith.

He coined the term "Pre-Purchase" Exam and established many of the presently accepted guidelines, eliminating 'pass-fail' and encouraging the practice of taking radiographs as part of the exam, which at the time was controversial but has now become the worldwide standard. Dr. Marks was the first to devise Laryngoplasty surgery for Laryngeal Hemiplegia, which continues to this day as the surgery of choice, and was the first to devise interspinous back injections for diagnosis and treatment of dorsal spinous impingement ("kissing spines"). He was also the first to recognize and describe Proximal Suspensory Desmitis (High Suspensory Disease). Dr. Marks has had over 40 articles featured in professional publications, and continues his consulting equine practice.