The Good Horseman^® Foundation is a non-profit 501-c-3 educational organization of experienced members of the dressage community including dressage professionals, instructors, veterinarians, trainers, competitors and judges.     IRS Non-Profit Certificate
 

(Sherry Smith Photo)

GHF OFFICERS--Our CEOs are (from left) Ann Genovese, director; Karen McGoldrick,  director-at-large; Robin Boggs, treasurer; Susan Harding Birkinshaw, membership chairman;  Tamara Meier (not pictured) is secretary. The Good Horseman^® Foundation is devoted to the promotion, protection and preservation of the art and sport of dressage to its highest levels. It's activities are limited to the organization of USEF/USDF recognized competitions, and the creation of educational opportunities such as seminars, clinics, forums, and scholarships and is a Group Member Organization of the United States Dressage Federation www.usdf.org. Our national-level competitions are licensed by The United States Equestrian Federation www.usef.org .  

WEBSITE PHOTO SELECTION PROCESS:  The pictures we use on our web page are from our official show photographers, Alicia Frese and Brad Thatcher.  The main thing we look for in the photos we use is beauty, correctness and achievement though we know that not all the photos we use can show perfection.  We use other photos that are newsworthy and photos that promote our education programs that are taken by GHF staff or members.

OUR COMPETITIONS AND MASSEY FERGUSON TRACTORS
       The Good Horseman Foundation produces between four and five USDF/USEF-licensed dressage competitions and occasionally a schooling show each year. These shows feature the Sports Tech Electronic Scoreboard sponsored in late 2011 and all of 2012 by Massey Ferguson Tractors,  AGCO International, Duluth, GA.  History: In September 2007, Collecting Gaits Farm (Jeff and Shereen Fuqua, Alpharetta, GA) sponsored our first competition using the EquiVu Electronic Scoreboard, developed by Ed Sauer, and later taken over Sports Tech Productions and Phil Thompson.  Don Pye travels from Pennsylvania and continues to operate the scoreboard and computer keyboards for scribes at all of GHF's USEF-licensed competitions. Collecting Gaits Farm sponsored the scoreboard each year since 2007--without their help we would not have this hugely educational feature at our shows.   Now this sponsorship has been taken over by Massey Ferguson.

FOR TRAINERS AND INSTRUCTORS
        We have brought to the dressage community such events as an on-going program for training dressage instructors/trainers and getting them Certified through USDF, clinics and seminars by well-known experts such as the late Jaap Pot, FEI Olympic judge who helped establish the standard of dressage judging in this country;   the late Dr. Reiner Klimke, six-time Olympic gold medalist, author and trainer;    Harry Boldt, former German Olympic Team trainer and author;   Liselotte Fore, Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel,  Cindy Sydnor and Debbie Bowman, examiners of the USDF Pre-Certification Program for Instructors; clinics with FEI judge Martin Richenhagen; and a series of Trainers Conferences with George Williams.
      For 2010 we were especially pleased to host German Olympic Dressage Gold Medalist Hubertus Schmidt, sponsored by AGCO Corporation and Martin Richenhagen.   Nearly 200 dressage people from the Southeast attended the Symposium at After the Fox Farm, Madison, GA, as sponsors, auditors, riders and staff to present one of the best programs GHF has ever produced.

FOR JUDGES
         We have concluded three complete USDF "L" Judges Education Programs and testings, and hold the USDF Continuing Education Program for "L" Graduates every year.  Information about the current program is listed on our website's Calendar page. We are starting our fourth USDF "L" Program this year, with Part 1 scheduled for the fall of 2011 (see the Calendar page for current details).

FOR RIDERS
         Competitions recognized by USEF and USDF are held at The Georgia International Horse Park, site of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Equestrian Games, in Conyers, GA. Our current dates and prize lists (entry forms) can be found on the Calendar page. Scores of those who compete in Good Horseman/Massey Ferguson USEF/USDF competitions are tallied at the end of the year for GHF Year-End High-Score Awards (See Awards Page for details).   Click here if you wish to be a volunteer, Volunteers.

2011 Vendor and Contributions Form

2012 GHF Fillable Membership Form

MEMBERSHIP            
            Our membership chairman is
            Susan Harding Birkinshaw
            2881 Peachtree Road NE, #1505, Atlanta, GA 30305-5104
            404-233-8266
            Her e-mail address:   SusanHardingHomes
            Please call her if you have any membership questions.

            If you wish to join, there is a membership application above. Our members are automatically Group Members of USDF and are eligible to compete for USDF awards. However, you must apply directly to USDF to become a Participating Member if you wish to qualify to ride in the USDF Region 3 Championships.
            Our members automatically are placed on our e-mailing list which includes prize lists for five USEF/USDF competitions, plus information for clinics and other USDF programs. Our complete schedule of events can be found on the Calendar page of this website.

WEB PAGE
            Our website was designed by Katie Patton.  Since the year 2000, participants in our shows are able to get not only the results of our shows on the web, but their confirmation of their entries, get their riding/performance times as well as their stall numbers. Click on the Times button on our front page for this information.  The page is edited almost daily. 
            Comments and suggestions are encouraged.  Please e-mail us.   We can't do everything, but we try.