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USA
Equestrian Names Ellie Wood Keith Baxter and Elizabeth Searle
For Pegasus Medal Of Honor
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Ellie
Wood Keith Baxter of Charlottesville, VA, and Elizabeth Searle
of San Juan Bautista, CA, have been named as 2003 recipients of
the USA Equestrian Pegasus Medal of Honor.
Exhibiting
natural talent from the beginning, Mrs. Baxter won her first blue
ribbon at the age of three. In 1936, she won the Maclay Trophy
for the A.S.P.C.A. Horsemanship finals at the National Horse Show
in New York City. Throughout her junior and amateur careers, Mrs.
Baxter competed with great success. In 2000, she was inducted
into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame.
Elizabeth
Searle has played a major role in the worlds of Dressage and Vaulting
in the United States. It was through her efforts that Vaulting
was first introduced to the United States, and in 1968 she co-founded
the American Vaulting Association (AVA). She has served as an
officer for the AVA, the United States Dressage Federation, the
United States Dressage Foundation, and the United States Pony
Club. Ms. Searle competed in a variety of disciplines, hunters,
jumpers, eventing, and breeding, as well as FEI-level dressage.
The
Pegasus Medal of Honor was created as an annual award to recognize
individuals who have exhibited outstanding service to horses and
the sport. Through their dedication, recipients of the Pegasus
Medal of Honor have attracted people to the sport and contributed
to horse sports by advancing its popularity. Ellie Wood Keith
Baxter’s and Elizabeth Searle’s superior service will
be acknowledged with commemorative USA Equestrian Pegasus Medals
of Honor to be formally presented during the USA Equestrian Annual
Meeting, January 14-18, 2003, in Los Angeles, California.
USA
Equestrian Inc., as the National Equestrian Federation of the
U.S., is the regulatory body for the Olympic and World Championship
sports of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, reining, show
jumping, and vaulting, as well as 19 other breeds and disciplines
of equestrian competition. As
the country's largest multi-breed organization, the Federation
has over 80,000 members and recognizes more than 2,800 competitions
nationwide each year. It governs all aspects of competition, including
educating and licensing all judges, stewards, and technical delegates
who officiate at these shows.
VISION STATEMENT
The vision of USA Equestrian is to provide leadership for equestrian
sport in the United States of America, promoting the pursuit of
excellence from the grass roots to the Olympic Games, based on
a foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of its
horses, and embracing this vision, to be the best national equestrian
federation in the world.
www.equestrian.org
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