The Equestrian Business Women’s Summit, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the United States Equestrian Federation, was the perfect reason to hop a plane for Palm Beach. The bonus was leaving the freezing weather of Western Pennsylvania behind!
Equestrian Business Women
As soon as I heard about the formation of Equestrian Business Women, I purchased a ticket for their inaugural summit. The brainchild of Jennifer Wood of Jump Media it’s an ideas who’s time has come. I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Arriving at the Palm Beach Convention Center, I joined a long line of women checking in, and receiving their Noel Asmar Equestrian swag bags chocked full of goodies for horse lovers from all over the world. Their involvement in the equine industry was as diverse as their geography. You don’t have to be a professional equestrian athlete, or trainer to belong here. Attorneys, techies, biologists. fashion designers, tack crafters, investment professionals and media moguls, just to name a few were queued up to connect, learn and share their love of the horse. Instant camaraderie!
Keynote Speakers
Keynote speaker, Tracy Noonan of Wicked Good Cupcakes, Inc. inspired us with her story of going from baking cupcakes in her kitchen to her now $22,000,000 business. Wicked Good Cupcakes is now the largest shipper of cupcakes in the U.S. and has added a host of other products. Wicked Good Cupcakes is in the process of beginning their franchise cupcake truck model as well as negotiating international licensing deals. She faced the “sharks” on Shark Tank, survived and thrived thanks to “Mr. Wonderful”, Kevin O’Leary Her success didn’t come without a lot of pain and hardship. Although she had to give up her beloved pony in the financial struggle of her fledgling business, she’s now a happy horse owner again.
Béatrice told her story of courage, perseverance, and focus as she recovered from a catastrophic injury, and how her horse played an exceptional role in her recovery. Beatrice is the most critically injured survivor of the Brussels Airport terrorist bombing on March 22, 2016. She was 17 years old at the time. Now double-amputee, Bea was back on her horse for the first time five months after the bombing. She competed in her first national show at France’s Haras de Jardy one year after the accident.
While in San Diego, she met and began training with Shayna Simon at Arroyo Del Mar, with the goal of representing the United States at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. Bea will be competing in her first CPEDI*** January 17-20, 2019 during the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, FL.
Between the talks of these two ladies, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!
The summit also included panels on jobs, life/work balance, social media, and building a successful equestrian business.Therefore, I encourage you all to visit the website and join this remarkable group!
The United States Equestrian Federation Annual Meeting
At the general session of USEF’s annual meeting, president Murray Kessler reviewed the highlights of 2018, and presented a summary of work to be done in the new year. USEF will continue to promote equestrian sports with the very successful Experience the Joy campaign.
The Safe Sport training program was an important point of discussion, because Safe Sport training is now a requirement for all adult participants.
We’ve been held up by the [U.S. Olympic Committee] as one of the leaders in SafeSport,” said Kessler. “I’m not going to bend one inch on it. If an hour and a half of your time can save one child from being raped it’s worth your time.”
“While the USEF strongly supports the SafeSport initiative, we are working with the Center to ensure processes are fair,” he continued. “We don’t want McCarthy hearings here. We want to make sure everyone is being treated fairly.”
The Pegasus Awards
Laura Graves won the USEF Pegasus Award as the USEF Equestrian of the Year. At the Horse Of The Year awards dinner, her partner Verdades earned overall International Horse Of The Year honors. Congratulations Laura & Verdades!
Desert Flight
I ran into Stephen Williams who was screening the movie “Desert Flight”– a love letter to the sport of show jumping. I saw this wonderful film at the EQUUS Film Festival in New York last month, where it won 2 awards. The first was for Sport Documentary. It also received the award for “Best In Festival.” Desert Flight will be streaming exclusively on Demand on the USEF Network beginning Tuesday January 15th!
Free fan memberships are available for all using code “DesertFlight”
“Desert Flight” // Trailer from Tell Studios on Vimeo.
Playing Hooky
I just couldn’t help myself…I had to make the pilgrimage to Worth Avenue, where luxury shopping abounds. Thank heaven it was evening when all the stores are closed or I’d be broke. No worries, the window shopping fabulous too!
Crime Scene Investigation
It just so happened, that the Chesterfield Hotel was just around the corner (almost) and warranted investigation.
Their elegant Leopard Lounge is the setting of a scintillating scene from Ivy Snow Mysteries latest work in progress. The third in the series, “Peril in Paradise” is set to debut this summer. Scene of the crime? That’s left to be seen!
Palm Beach… Perfect For Equestrians!
