will be rolled over into a coupon that can be applied to a permanent registration with USDF.  All horses that are already registered with USDF will not have to pay the $20.

 USDF Musical Freestyle Challenge Award.  This award will start on October 1, 2002.  To be eligible for the award, the horse must meet the requirements for both Horse of the Year, and the Cosequin Musical Freestyle award.  The award will be given to the horse having the highest combines score of these two awards, with the HOY award score counting 60%.  Those of us in the Awards Council are very excited about this one.

 New Introductory Level Tests.  These will be available starting about July of this year, and will go into effect in December.  They will look more like the AHSA tests, and will include a halt, salute at the start and end of the test.  The coefficients are placed so that the correct training of the horse is emphasized.

 New AHSA tests.  Although these tests were not finalized by the time convention took place, we were given some insights as to what changes were contemplated, and the philosophy behind the changes.

 Open Horse of the Year Awards. The minimum median score was raised.  Starting October 1, 2002, Training through 4^th level Open riders will have to earn a median of at least 60% to qualify for awards, and FEI level riders will have to achieve a minimum median of 58%.

 GMO Website Award. Starting on October 1, 2002, the GMO council will begin to award a GMO website award.  TDC would be in the medium-sized group.  To compete, a GMO will submit the address of the website and the websites will be judged by a panel of experts.

 Advanced Level Quadrille Tests. The Quadrille Council has written tests for a new level, which will be called Advanced.  They are also be working on a judge's training video.

 Regional Championships. The Regional Championships Committee are now recom-mending to AHSA that all Junior/YR championship classes be held only on weekends, and that consecutive (adjacent) level championship classes cannot be held on the same day, excluding freestyles.  They are also hoping to produce a Regional Championship Omnibus that will serve as a prize list for all Regional Championships.

 Sport Horse Awards. Several new awards were created for the Sport Horse division.  These include a Breeder Award for the USDF Breeders Championships Finals, and a USDF Breeder of the Year.

As you can see, it was a busy and fruitful meeting.  In May of this year, USDF will move to Lexington, Kentucky.  They will be adjacent to the AHSA offices once the building is done.  We are looking forward to having USDF more in the mainstream of equestrian sports.

On a sad note, I heard the news

(Continued on page 6)

Report by Beth Glass

I had the honor of representing the Tucson Dressage Club at the 2001 USDF Convention in Orlando, Florida.  Although it was a smaller convention than usual due to the September disaster, it was a wonderful experience.

Speakers at the University sessions ranged from Conrad Schumacher speaking on training your dressage horse up the levels, and the German rider training system, to vets talking about lamenesses in dressage horses, to everything in between, including taxes for GMOs.

There were too many council and committee meeting to attend them all, but I managed to get to quite a few, including Quadrille, Freestyle, Group Member Organizations, Competition Management and, of course, Awards.  Friday and Saturday were taken up by the Board of Governor's meeting where all the decisions are made. 

Some of the more important changes that were made are:

 Horse ID Number.  Effective October 1, 2002, all horses that compete dressage from Training level up, with the exception of Lead Line, Quadrille and Pas De Deux, will be required to have an ID number for their horse.  This number will cost $20, which