Charlestown, MA – The New England Dressage Association (NEDA) is a strong supporter of the equestrian community, and recently the organization stepped forward to show its dedication to dressage riders everywhere. The NEDA Board of Directors voted to donate funds to the USDF to purchase the 3rd through 5th place plaques for the USDF Year-End Awards for the 2012 season.

The USDF had eliminated the 3rd through 5th place plaques for this year due to budget cuts, but thanks to NEDA’s strong belief in recognizing the hard work of the dressage community, it will cover the costs of the plaques. The USDF plans to reinstate the plaques in 2013.

“The NEDA Board decided as a whole that approving a donation to cover the costs involved with the USDF Year-End Award Plaques was something very important to our mission statement. Finishing 3rd through 5th in fields of hundreds is nothing to sneeze at and should absolutely be recognized in some way,” said NEDA President Katherine McHugh. “We’re happy to have helped the USDF to reinstate this recognition a year earlier than expected.”

The USDF Year-End Awards, sponsored by Adequan®, are awarded in the categories of vintage cup, adult amateur, junior/young rider, dressage sport horse breeding horse of the year, dressage horse of the year, materiale horse of the year, musical freestyle, musical freestyle challenge, breeder of the year, USEF 4-year-old, FEI 5-year-old and FEI 6-year-old. The USDF competition year is October 1 through September 30.

“NEDA has offered to support an early implementation of the USDF Year-End Awards by purchasing the third through fifth place award stall plaques for the 2012 competition season. In that context, and upon the request of the Awards Committee Chair, the USDF Executive Board recently met to discuss the HOY award prize reinstatement, and approved reinstatement of these awards for 2012 pending procurement of the NEDA sponsorship. The board was unanimously pleased with the possibility of bringing this member award benefit back a year earlier than originally approved at the Fall Meeting,” said Stephan Hienzsch, USDF Executive Director.

NEDA is currently celebrating its 40th birthday and has grown to over 1,800 members. “NEDA offers major competitions and numerous activities throughout the year and we have earned a wonderful reputation for attracting top quality trainers from all over the world to our educational events,” McHugh said. “NEDA has spent four decades supporting the dressage community and we are thrilled to stand behind all dressage riders by stepping forward to help with the USDF Year-End Awards. We are pleased that we are supporting the dressage community, whether in our backyard or across the country.”

NEDA is the largest single chapter Group Membership Organization in the country. It continues to promote educational opportunities and its 2011 Fall Symposium featured Kyra Kyrklund. NEDA’s 2012 Spring Symposium will feature Olympic teammates Carol Lavell and Michael Poulin with their 2012 Fall Symposium featuring Ashley Holzer and Stephen Clarke.

To learn more about NEDA, visit their website at www.neda.org. To learn more about the USDF Year-End Awards, go to http://www.usdf.org/awards/performance/year-end.asp.