The First Meeting of USDF

December 1, 2022

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First Meeting — At the inaugural USDF “annual meeting,” November 1973: Mary Dodd, Sally O’Connor, Barbara Beck, unidentified, Mary Yates, Tom Poulin, Hardin Crawford III, Arlene Rigdon, Carole Grant Oldford, Chuck Grant, Migi Serrell

Excerpt printed from the December 1973 issue of Dressage & CT

The United States Dressage Federation, for which the foundation was laid last February held its first annual meeting on November 10-11 in Lincoln, Nebraska, the location of the first get together of the representatives of the American dressage community.

1973 Lincoln conventioneers A.B. Cudahy, Carl Nicholson, Mary Jean Rogers, Joe Sysel, Sally O’Connor, and Col. Clarence Edmonds

While the February meeting was called primarily to establish whether or not it was desirable to bring all the local and regional organizations, as well as individuals who do not belong to any of these, under one national organization, the November meeting was, in fact, the founding and working meeting of the Federation.

Karl Mikolka, Elyse Roberts, Jack Fritz, and Mykola Pawlenko at the 1973 inaugural USDF meeting in Lincoln

Over fifty participants, representing 22 orgnizations and individuals who joined the Federation directly, came to Lincoln to adopt the bylaws that were prepared by the temporary legislative committee established in February. Election of the Federations’s officers also took place and the working committees, which will carry out the actual work of the Federation, were set up.