United States Eventing Association

Speaker Spotlight #3: Marilyn Payne, Cindy DePorter, Sonja Keating, Dr. Stephen Shumaker, Dan Starck, Tremaine Cooper, Dr. Wes Sutter and Scott Koskoski

Future and Young Event Horse Forums with Marilyn Payne

Marilyn Payne, FEI “O” Eventing Judge and USEF “S” Dressage Judge, is a distinguished trainer, competitor, judge and breeder of horses. She was President of the Ground Jury at the 2010 World Equestrian Games, and a Member of the Ground Jury at the 2008 Olympics. Marilyn is one of the founders and principal developers of the USEF/ USEA training programs for eventing officials. She formulated the dressage section of the program and has been teaching it since its inception, and is currently leading the effort to educate eventing judges about officiating at YEH competitions. Marilyn judges throughout the United States, Europe and Australia. She has been teaching for more than 30 years and has produced dozens of successful riders. She resides with her husband Dick at their Applewood Farm in Oldwick, NJ. Their children, Holly and Doug, are prominent eventing competitors and trainers.

Adult Riders’ Open Forum with Cindy DePorter

Cindy has been a member of the USEA since 1977 when she started eventing. She was in college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville at this time. She graduated from UT with a Masters Degree in Social Work and currently works for the State of North Carolina in health care. She got a recent promotion to Assistant Section Chief and supervises 27 staff who inspect nursing homes and home cares agencies. She is a Large R Event Judge and Large R and FEI Technical Delegate . For the USEA she is the National Adult Rider Coordinator and serves on the Competitions Committee and the Licensed Officials Committee. She assists in organizing the Heart of Carolina Three Day event and the co organizes the Adult Rider Sponsored Three Day Event at Waredaca Horse Trials.

Cindy competes her horse Drop the Buck and recently moved up to Preliminary, she lives on a small farm in NC with Buck, her two other retired event horses, two miniature spotted donkeys, her pet pig Grunt, one cat and three Jack Russell Terriers.

Safe Sport and Equine Welfare with Sonja Keating and Dr. Stephen Schumaker

Sonja S. Keating is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF). Before this appointment, Keating served as Associate General Counsel for the USEF. Prior to joining the Federation staff, Keating was associated with the Lexington office of the Cincinnati-based law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP, where she practiced in the litigation department. Keating worked closely with Julie Goodman, former General Counsel, in both private practice and at the USEF.

A native of Lexington, Keating attended Transylvania University for her undergraduate degree and then obtained her J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1996.

Keating is also a Member of the Junior League of Lexington where she served four terms on the Horse Show Board for the Junior League of Lexington Horse Show, one of the premier Saddlebred shows in the country. She is also a current board member of Good Shepherd Day School.

In her spare time, Keating is actively engaged in the activities of her three young daughters. She particularly enjoys watching their participation in equestrian sport from outside the ring.

Dr. Schumacher has been involved with the United States Equestrian Federations Equine Drugs and Medications Program for the last 17 years serving as a testing technician and testing veterinarian, and has been the Chief Administrator of the Equine Drugs and Medications program since December of 2006. Dr. Schumacher is a member of the FEI Veterinary Committee and was responsible for Equine Drug Testing at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Dr. Schumacher received his B.S degree from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Course Design and Builders’ Open Forum with Dan Starck and Tremaine Cooper

Dan has been a course builder since 1985, when he helped build the courses at Rolex Kentucky. Since then he has built courses all over the East and Midwest, including North Georgia, Foxhall, Virginia Horse Center, Poplar Place, Chattahoochee Hills, Maui Jim, Wayne, and the 2007-2010 USEA American Eventing Championships. Dan is co-chair of the USEA Designers and Builders Committee. He is the 2005 recipient of the USEA’s “Golden Posthole Digger” award and is the author of the Frangible Pin Handbook.

Tremaine grew up on a farm in Bethany CT and started riding when he was five years old. He is a graduate 'A' Pony Clubber and started eventing in 1984. Tremaine has ridden through the CCI3* level, and is currently competing at Intermediate. At an early age, Tremaine started helping out with the cross-country courses at the Pony Club rallies at his parents farm. At the end of high school and through college he started building seriously and ended up constructing courses throughout the US as well as in NZ and the UK. Tremaine has since then focussed more on design, earning his FEI 'I' license more than ten years ago. He now designs at some of the premier equestrian sites around the country, including Morven Park, Millbrook, The Fork, Aspen Farms, Poplar Place and many others. Tremaine is also one of the national USEF Course Advisors, is involved in the educational design seminars for both the USEF and the FEI, is co-chairman of the building/design committee, and sits on the board of governors. He currently lives in Bluemont VA with his family

“Vetting the Off-Track Thoroughbred” and “Therapies for Tendon and Ligament Injuries: Which Ones Make Sense?” with Dr. Wes Sutter

Wes Sutter was born in Lander, Wyoming. He received his bachelors of science in biochemistry from Colorado State University in 1997. He then completed his doctor of veterinary medicine from Colorado State University in 2000. Following veterinary school he completed a one-year rotating equine surgery and medicine internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. He then completed a surgical residency at The Ohio State University where he later served as an assistant professor in equine orthopedic surgery before entering private practice as a surgeon at Ocala Equine Hospital. After 5 years at Ocala Equine Hospital, he co-founded Lexington Equine Surgery and Sports Medicine in Lexington Kentucky. This is the first practice in Lexington to focus on orthorpeadic surgery and sports medicine. In addition to a dedicated surgical facility, they have recently installed a nuclear scintigraphy and standing MRI. While in practice, he has authored several peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and editorials. He routinely speaks at national and international venues on topics such as orthopaedics, lameness and regenerative medicine. His primary interests are in equine orthopedics, upper respiratory surgery and lameness.

Giving to Equine Medical Research with Scott Koskoski

After 13 years in progressive fundraising leadership within higher education, Scott Koskoski joined Morris Animal Foundation as Director of Major & Planned Giving in December 2012 and added Organizational Giving to his portfolio on an interim basis in Summer 2013.

Scott arrived at the Foundation following successful stints in university development leadership roles at the University of Denver, Temple University, University of Tennessee system, James Madison University, and Washington & Jefferson College. Along the way, he has led or assisted with divisional fundraising efforts that supported four unique capital campaigns in range from $93 million to $1 billion. A member of the leadership team at Morris Animal Foundation, Scott is responsible for all individual giving initiatives, directs the Foundation’s relationships with corporate and nonprofit partners, creates strategic alliances of benefit to the Foundation, and manages the engagement of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. His transition to Morris Animal Foundation allowed him to broaden his development expertise while supporting the Foundation’s critical mission of research benefiting animals, which have been a part of Scott’s life since childhood.

A western Pennsylvania native, Scott relocated to Denver from Pittsburgh. He is a graduate of both Mercyhurst University and Robert Morris University. He is best known, however, as husband to Melissa and father of four little monkeys, Ben (5), twins Tyler and Olivia (2), Jack (newborn) and their family collie-lab Peeta.

Thank you to our generous sponsors of the 2013 USEA Annual Meeting and Convenion: Rebecca Farm, Professional's Choice, Gallops Saddlery, Nutrena, Adequan, Stackhouse Saddles, Charles Owen, Wise Equestrian, Point Two Air Jackets, World Equestrian Brands, Broadstone Equine Insurance, Auburn Laboratories, Mountain Horse, Eventing Training Online, SmartPak Equine and Friends of Ferdinad, Inc.