The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Ms. Taylor Hamman has been selected to serve as the first Teen Ambassador to the board. She will serve in this position until December 31, 2020. Here is what Taylor had to say when she applied for the position:
My name is Taylor Hammann and I am writing in regard to the teen ambassador position. A little bit about myself: I am 16 years old and a sophomore in high school. I have been riding and training under Wendy Jeffries for 7.5 years now and competing in Western Dressage for 5 years. I love Western Dressage so much because I feel that it is a great foundation for any rider or horse. This is why I feel it is so important to get our youth active! Whether they want to pursue a riding future in western Dressage or not, this discipline will teach them the values of being a soft, communicative rider, developing a responsive, supple horse, and most importantly creating a long-lasting partnership with their horse. The sooner our youth learn these values, the better we will be as we pursue our futures in riding.
I was excited to hear about this position being available as I feel the number of youth showing is not as big as it should be. Two big things I would like to see is 1.)more awards promoting youth involvement (we are trying to grow our collection of ribbons and prizes at this age) and 2.)the promotion of rail classes for youth. This takes the pressure off of younger children to learn a pattern and they can be exposed to a show environment early on. I would be honored to work with the board to be a voice for the youth of the WDAFL.
