United States Eventing Association

The VIP Volunteers: Stuart Landrum and Laurie Garner Keep Dressage Running Smoothly at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event

Stuart Landrum and Laurie Garner have been helping direct riders to the dressage ring at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event for nearly 30 years, maintaining a calm and collected atmosphere for each pair in the final warmup ring before they head down the chute to the Rolex Stadium.

It all began at Masterson Station Park in Lexington, Kentucky, in the early ‘90s, when they couple met while taking riding lessons and began volunteering at events held at the facility.

Garner recalls a particularly rainy day at an event. She and Landrum had started volunteering after Norma Northern, Kentucky’s longtime Chief Dressage Steward, had suggested it. Landrum was cheerfully collecting pinneys at the end of cross-country.

“[Northern] happened to be looking for volunteers for Rolex Kentucky and invited us to join her team,” said Garner. “I guess she figured that if Stuart was willing to stand out in the rain he would be perfect to join the team!”

The couple started volunteering at Kentucky in 1996. About 10 years ago they started working the final warmup ring. Landrum communicates with riders and coaches when they have eight minutes before they need to be going down the chute, while Garner helps check on things going on between the two final warmup rings.

“[The riders] know I’m doing one thing, and that’s to do my best to get them into the ring on time,” said Landrum. “I‘ve got a ‘nodding’ relationship with many of the seasoned riders, and a ‘handshake’ relationship with many of the coaches, et. Cetera. I really enjoy that.”

Garner says their job has actually gotten easier of the years. “When we first started volunteering, we started working the Saturday before the event setting up the competition ring and the warm-up rings. No matter the weather, we were there to get things started—rain, snow, ice, mud, sun—you name it! Our dressage crew has been pretty much the same core group from 1996 so it has been wonderful to work with our group every year. The day before the competition starts we make sure all of the final touches are complete and any changes that need to be made are done. It is wonderful to see it all come together. For the dressage days, I’ve done everything from monitoring the final warm up rings, helping with crowd control, and being a go-between for anything that needs to be done.”

With Northern stepping back from her role, she asked the couple to be co-chiefs last year.

Landrum, who’s a sales engineer for a company that sells software for surveillance security cameras, and Garner, a physician’s assistant in healthcare, only volunteer at Kentucky these days and enjoy the camaraderie and the feeling of being a part of a world-class event up close.

“I enjoy being able to do a good job and make things easy and simple for the competitors,” said Landrum. “They have enough to worry about without having to worry about the clock or the time. We always do things in the least-intrusive way possible. We don’t shout, ‘Two minutes to go,’ or anything. Like with David O’Connor, I’ll watch him, and he’ll watch the rider and look at me, and every now and then he’ll look at me, and I’ll hold up however many fingers. We’ve been doing that for 10 years or more. Others I know I’ll just talk directly to the riders. We don’t shout or scream. We want it to be a calm environment so they can do what they need to do to be at their best when they go down the shoot.

“It’s certainly a unique event and it’s a world-class event,” he added. “It’s good to be a part of that and have a tiny role in its success and to the riders being able to take a little bit of worry off of them. The team that puts it on is special. Many of the volunteers have been doing this a long time.”

For Garner, she keeps coming back mostly for Northern and her team. “Of course, there are the beautiful horses and the ability to watch world-class riders up close warming up and during the competition, and we get to meet great coaches and support staff,” she said. “[Northern] really was great to work with and made the event fun. Last year she handed over the responsibility to Stuart and I, and I know we have big shoes to fill. I hope we can do it as well as she did all those years. We are counting on her to stick around, but now she gets to put her feet up. Besides Norma, we have had the same core group all of these years. We all work well together, and it's like a second family. We are lucky to have everyone.”

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About the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport, the unsung heroes, and the people who make it possible to keep eventing alive. In efforts to recognize the dedication, commitment, and hard work that volunteers put into eventing, the USEA formed the Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP) in 2015. In 2017, an online management portal was designed for volunteers, organizers, and volunteer coordinators at EventingVolunteers.com, which is also available as an app for iOS and Android.

Volunteer incentives include national and area recognition, year-end awards, a top ten USEA Volunteer leaderboard, and a Volunteer of the Year award which is given to the volunteer who accumulates the most volunteer hours on EventingVolunteers.com at recognized events throughout the USEA competition year. Click here to learn more about the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program.