St. Andrews students form close bonds with their class mates, roommates, fellow students and with the school itself. Many people made time to attend the competition to support the school and the equestrian team for a day and in many cases for the entire week. They took vacation time from their jobs, organized child care with family members and traveled large distances to come and be a part of something greater than themselves. They were all volunteers, many were not even asked for their help and they all came back to give back to St. Andrews and IHSA. Leah Davison (living in California) was typical of the alumni that took time out of their daily lives to be in Raleigh. “I took off a week from work,” she recalls, “and got to St. Andrews a couple days before Nationals, to help get them ready to go up there. While I was in Laurinburg, I helped organize the prizes in the farm house, I made the sheet for the barns on where all the college's horses would go, getting the horses ready by riding them, getting equipment and all the prizes and other things packed, and getting the horses ready to be shipped. I then rode down to Raleigh to help out even more! While I was there, Heather and I created the duck pond and the draw table, making sure all the colleges bringing horses had everything they needed. I helped at the barn with chores and making sure that all the horses were taken care of, including being a warm up rider. Pretty much did anything that St. Andrews needed me to do, including being a seamstress for the western team! I was always running from the arena to the barn to watch one of our riders. I would also make sure that our horses were going when they were needed and were properly warmed up. I donated my first western show shirt for the silent auction that sold, along with a custom show shirt that sold!”
Kira Gainey living in Baltimore, MD with two small children and her husband Brad, also organized her life to be a part of the competition. “I had a wonderful time at Nationals and one of the highlights was feeling like I was right back at St. Andrews. Working with Pebbles, Jackie, Sarah Rhymer, Carla, Laura Norment, and especially Peggy made me feel like I was home again :) I was impressed, as always, by all the personal and "Southern-hospitality" touches (like the magnolia theme and the VIP tent for officials) that were made present throughout such a large event. I had really hoped I would have been able to attend for the full week, but I could only arrange childcare for the long weekend. I enjoyed assisting in course setting, picking up lunches with Andrew Michael, stocking the VIP tent, setting up the draw, keeping the "ducks in line" and helping with the Sunday breakdown/cleanup. I also loved seeing all the wonderful riders and the many fantastic horses, who helped make Nationals a success. I was so grateful to be included in such a momentous event for St. Andrews and am so very proud of my Alma Mater for all its accomplishments and continued growth. “
Leah’s and Kira’s contributions are just two examples of the self-less contributions that came from the greater St. Andrews community.
Social Media Intern, Kimberly Graves, took on the challenge of documenting the planning and organization of the IHSA National Championships that we hosted in Raleigh, NC last May.
Part 6 concluded horse show management. Next week Part 8 - The St. Andrews Students
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Horse Show Management Continued - Part 6
Equestrian staff member and hunter seat coach Rob Jacobs helped to organize the shipping of the horses to Raleigh. He recalls, “I was the Assistant Transportation Coordinator. I had to get in touch with the horse providers and find out how many horses the colleges were bringing, what levels they wanted to use their horses at and any additional information they had on their horses. I then needed to get a schedule of when they were planning on arriving so that I could get that information to the Transportation Coordinator once the event started who was Jennifer Sansbury.” Like everyone else Rob wore many hats during the week of Nationals, he continued, “Once the event started my job was to assist the head coach, Ashley Duda, with preparing the horses and riders.”
Another key person needed for McElveen’s team was a hospitality manager to take care of the officials, judges, and stewards. St. Andrews Equine Studies Chair Pebbles Turbeville took on the challenge of picking up meals for special events, arranging transportation for the judges from the airport and their hotels and was responsible for the VIP tent. She was also in charge of the daily Starbucks runs for the horse show judges. “This job took a special person that was great with people and had great time management skills, and Pebbles was the perfect person for the job” said McElveen. “She even took care of my dog while we were in Raleigh.”
Special Events Coordinators were also needed for the multiple catered meals that are part of a National Championships. McElveen turned to equestrian Events Manager Heather Wile Lee, and an old friend Teresa MacFawn, Mom of St. Andrews’ Alumnae Angela MacFawn.
Heather shares some of her memories of the event. “As special events coordinator I was in charge of setting up the areas for all of the dinners held. If I remember correctly we had two special dinners for all of the people showing and horse show personnel. Teresa and I worked closely to make sure the tables were set up, center pieces were arranged, along with meeting the caterers and making sure they had all they needed. Teresa was a great help with the center pieces and in taking care of all of the plants we borrowed from the nursery. She had a knack for decoration and was very crafty. After they were all done we also tore everything down, put table clothes away and made sure the area was cleaned up well. One of the hardest parts of this was having to move people off of the tables and making them re-locate to the chairs for viewing. I remember at one point they were doing the IHSA testing and had taken over part of the dining area and didn't end the testing until 15 minutes before the caterer was supposed to arrive. It was great fun trying to set up 20 tables and center pieces in 15 minutes! Thank goodness for interns who helped move all the tables and get everything set up.
Along with all that I also worked with the interns and Billy to make sure all the little things in the arena were taken care of, roping off seating around the judges and through the VIP area, hanging curtains, setting the courses, arranging flowers, trees, bushes, fencing, etc. Also arranging the rocking chairs where so many people have pictures of team mates sleeping outside with all of the plants and other lawn furniture that was out there. We also helped a couple of late arriving vendors set up their tents.
In addition I was in charge of the parade of teams and horses. That in itself was a task, trying to line up every school by zone, region and then go alphabetically. In the beginning it was hard to get everyone organized but as they started to catch on to what was happening everything started to fall into place quite smoothly and everyone walked into the ring as they needed to. Before hand we had to also hand out coolers to all the teams that brought horses. A team of interns and I had to organize them all by size, 78"-81", and distribute them to the right teams. We ended up with way more 78" left over, seeing as we couldn't very well give any of those to teams that had brought three or four 17 hand warmblood hunters. Those one's went to the reiners!”
Social Media Intern, Kimberly Graves, took on the challenge of documenting the planning and organization of the IHSA National Championships that we hosted in Raleigh, NC last May.
Part 5 started the horse show management discussion. Next week Part 7- Alumni & Friends of St. Andrews
Another key person needed for McElveen’s team was a hospitality manager to take care of the officials, judges, and stewards. St. Andrews Equine Studies Chair Pebbles Turbeville took on the challenge of picking up meals for special events, arranging transportation for the judges from the airport and their hotels and was responsible for the VIP tent. She was also in charge of the daily Starbucks runs for the horse show judges. “This job took a special person that was great with people and had great time management skills, and Pebbles was the perfect person for the job” said McElveen. “She even took care of my dog while we were in Raleigh.”
Special Events Coordinators were also needed for the multiple catered meals that are part of a National Championships. McElveen turned to equestrian Events Manager Heather Wile Lee, and an old friend Teresa MacFawn, Mom of St. Andrews’ Alumnae Angela MacFawn.
Heather shares some of her memories of the event. “As special events coordinator I was in charge of setting up the areas for all of the dinners held. If I remember correctly we had two special dinners for all of the people showing and horse show personnel. Teresa and I worked closely to make sure the tables were set up, center pieces were arranged, along with meeting the caterers and making sure they had all they needed. Teresa was a great help with the center pieces and in taking care of all of the plants we borrowed from the nursery. She had a knack for decoration and was very crafty. After they were all done we also tore everything down, put table clothes away and made sure the area was cleaned up well. One of the hardest parts of this was having to move people off of the tables and making them re-locate to the chairs for viewing. I remember at one point they were doing the IHSA testing and had taken over part of the dining area and didn't end the testing until 15 minutes before the caterer was supposed to arrive. It was great fun trying to set up 20 tables and center pieces in 15 minutes! Thank goodness for interns who helped move all the tables and get everything set up.
Along with all that I also worked with the interns and Billy to make sure all the little things in the arena were taken care of, roping off seating around the judges and through the VIP area, hanging curtains, setting the courses, arranging flowers, trees, bushes, fencing, etc. Also arranging the rocking chairs where so many people have pictures of team mates sleeping outside with all of the plants and other lawn furniture that was out there. We also helped a couple of late arriving vendors set up their tents.
In addition I was in charge of the parade of teams and horses. That in itself was a task, trying to line up every school by zone, region and then go alphabetically. In the beginning it was hard to get everyone organized but as they started to catch on to what was happening everything started to fall into place quite smoothly and everyone walked into the ring as they needed to. Before hand we had to also hand out coolers to all the teams that brought horses. A team of interns and I had to organize them all by size, 78"-81", and distribute them to the right teams. We ended up with way more 78" left over, seeing as we couldn't very well give any of those to teams that had brought three or four 17 hand warmblood hunters. Those one's went to the reiners!”
Social Media Intern, Kimberly Graves, took on the challenge of documenting the planning and organization of the IHSA National Championships that we hosted in Raleigh, NC last May.
Part 5 started the horse show management discussion. Next week Part 7- Alumni & Friends of St. Andrews
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Horse Show Management - Part 5
Every year the Board of Directors for IHSA volunteer to work the National Championships. The Board for 2012 was 56 strong. 5 That is 56 hotel rooms to organize, plus the logistics for that number of people and that was just IHSA officials! Many of these board members and coaches have been long time supporters of IHSA. Starting with founder Bob Cacchione who has served for 45 years, as of 2012 there were 60 members with 15 or more years of service and more than 30 members with 20+ years of service. IHSA is an association with strong roots that continues to grow.
“The hardest part of the entire thing was being the travel agent,” said McElveen. “Over 500 hotel rooms were reserved and with that came hotel room changes too. It was a job all by itself, making sure that everyone had a room on the day they were to arrive and that the hotel knew when they were leaving.” McElveen was tested when two weeks prior to the event she started receiving phone calls from people wanting to change their rooms or simply volunteering their time to assist with the event. With five hotels booked with IHSA staff and volunteers, McElveen scrambled to find an additional forty rooms to accommodate other volunteers travelling to the event from all over the county.
Selecting who would play the very important roles of Judges, Stewards and Managers began early in the planning process. In the January board meeting of 2011, the Western and Hunter seat committees both sat down and voted on the judges for Nationals. The Hunter Seat Stewards for Nationals must be IHSA Board members and for Western they choose Board members and outside stewards to serve. McElveen also had to select a Horse Show Manager. She let it be known to the horse show world that she was looking for a manager for IHSA Nationals in 2012. Bill Yeager a horse show manager from Warrenton, Virginia was one of several who expressed interest. He had experience in managing IHSA Nationals once before in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and seemed to be a good fit for the Raleigh event. “Billy was great!” commented McElveen. “One of the nicest things about working with Billy is I could call him on Monday and say we have to go to Raleigh this week, we need to meet, and he would say just let me know when and I will be there; and sure enough he was. He is also a good problem solver!” she said. “One of the biggest challenges we faced was getting the live video feed to work. This was something that had never been done at Nationals before. Twenty-four hours before the Opening Ceremonies we had difficulties with the live feed. Billy and I called around and found the top internet professionals in Raleigh to resolve a technical issue. With an hour until the start of the first class the live video feed was up and running.”
In the summer of 2010 McElveen started talking to hotels in the Raleigh area and spending about three days a week there meeting with them to discuss group rates and how big of an impact Nationals was going to make on the city. At the same time she met with restaurants in the area to discuss the catering needs of the event. She even persuaded hotels to offer free breakfast early in the morning for everyone even if they usually did not offer a complimentary breakfast.
McElveen needed a few key people to run the event outside of her existing staff, all of who would be heavily involved in some capacity, whether it be shipping horses, caring for the horses at home, caring for the 40+ horses in Raleigh which included St. Andrews horses and donor horses,6 working in hospitality, coaching, setting fences, decorating etc. The list of activities the equestrian staff was involved with was rather long! The first was important role to fill was a volunteer coordinator. It needed to be a very special person that could get everyone doing what he or she needed to be doing. This job title would be given to Laura Underhill Norment the Head Coach of the East Carolina University IHSA team and former St. Andrews Coach. Second an overall Barn Manager was imperative to the success of the show; someone who no matter what happened would smile and get the job done. The barn manager would be in charge of making sure everything in the barns was running smoothly, coordinating the arrival and departure of horses and arranging care for horses that were loaned but arrived with no care taker. McElveen had known Jennifer Sansbury for a few years through IHSA and asked her if she would be willing to be the Barn manager for Nationals. Jennifer accepted. Next individuals were needed for the famous draw table – the duck pond. McElveen knew she could call on current and former hunter seat instructors Heather Wile, Kira Gainey, Sarah Rhymer, and current dressage coach and faculty member Jackie Dwelle to be in charge of setting up, decorating and running the draw table.
The Awards coordinator position went to the mother daughter duo of Holly and Audrey Hayden, Audrey also being an alumnus of St. Andrews. “It had stayed in the back of my brain all those years that Holly had told me once before about how she had been in charge of the awards banquets for the Kansas Hunter Jumper Association, and I knew she would be perfect for the job” recalled McElveen. The awards coordinator would be a huge part of the event tracking all the returning trophies and organizing the awards for every class, usually through tenth or twelfth place. An equally important job is the silent auction coordinator due to the fact that the gathering of silent auction items begins one year ahead of the competition. Megan Taylor from Sewanee: The University of the south agreed to keep the coordinator position after she had successfully held the title for several previous years.
The Nationals horse show could not go on if it weren’t for the horses. “It’s a Championship. It doesn’t matter how pretty we have it decorated, or that there is a live feed, or even how nice we are, there is nothing we can do without the horses,” said McElveen. Horse Coordinators were needed to bring in quality horses for the competition. Eddie Federwisch, the Equestrian Program director at Virginia Intermont College and long time friend of McElveen’s was an obvious choice for the hunter seat horses. Federwisch has been a long time member and coach of IHSA teams and was the perfect choice to find the best hunter seat horses for the competition with his many contacts at schools within an eight hour drive of Raleigh. Carla Wennberg, St. Andrews IHSA Western Coach and AQHA Board Member, agreed to serve as the Horse Coordinator for the horsemanship and reining horses.
Social Media Intern, Kimberly Graves, took on the challenge of documenting the planning and organization of the IHSA National Championships that we hosted in Raleigh, NC last May.
Part three explained how the Southern Hospitality Theme was chose. Next week Part Six - Horse Show Mgt. cont.
“The hardest part of the entire thing was being the travel agent,” said McElveen. “Over 500 hotel rooms were reserved and with that came hotel room changes too. It was a job all by itself, making sure that everyone had a room on the day they were to arrive and that the hotel knew when they were leaving.” McElveen was tested when two weeks prior to the event she started receiving phone calls from people wanting to change their rooms or simply volunteering their time to assist with the event. With five hotels booked with IHSA staff and volunteers, McElveen scrambled to find an additional forty rooms to accommodate other volunteers travelling to the event from all over the county.
Selecting who would play the very important roles of Judges, Stewards and Managers began early in the planning process. In the January board meeting of 2011, the Western and Hunter seat committees both sat down and voted on the judges for Nationals. The Hunter Seat Stewards for Nationals must be IHSA Board members and for Western they choose Board members and outside stewards to serve. McElveen also had to select a Horse Show Manager. She let it be known to the horse show world that she was looking for a manager for IHSA Nationals in 2012. Bill Yeager a horse show manager from Warrenton, Virginia was one of several who expressed interest. He had experience in managing IHSA Nationals once before in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and seemed to be a good fit for the Raleigh event. “Billy was great!” commented McElveen. “One of the nicest things about working with Billy is I could call him on Monday and say we have to go to Raleigh this week, we need to meet, and he would say just let me know when and I will be there; and sure enough he was. He is also a good problem solver!” she said. “One of the biggest challenges we faced was getting the live video feed to work. This was something that had never been done at Nationals before. Twenty-four hours before the Opening Ceremonies we had difficulties with the live feed. Billy and I called around and found the top internet professionals in Raleigh to resolve a technical issue. With an hour until the start of the first class the live video feed was up and running.”
In the summer of 2010 McElveen started talking to hotels in the Raleigh area and spending about three days a week there meeting with them to discuss group rates and how big of an impact Nationals was going to make on the city. At the same time she met with restaurants in the area to discuss the catering needs of the event. She even persuaded hotels to offer free breakfast early in the morning for everyone even if they usually did not offer a complimentary breakfast.
McElveen needed a few key people to run the event outside of her existing staff, all of who would be heavily involved in some capacity, whether it be shipping horses, caring for the horses at home, caring for the 40+ horses in Raleigh which included St. Andrews horses and donor horses,6 working in hospitality, coaching, setting fences, decorating etc. The list of activities the equestrian staff was involved with was rather long! The first was important role to fill was a volunteer coordinator. It needed to be a very special person that could get everyone doing what he or she needed to be doing. This job title would be given to Laura Underhill Norment the Head Coach of the East Carolina University IHSA team and former St. Andrews Coach. Second an overall Barn Manager was imperative to the success of the show; someone who no matter what happened would smile and get the job done. The barn manager would be in charge of making sure everything in the barns was running smoothly, coordinating the arrival and departure of horses and arranging care for horses that were loaned but arrived with no care taker. McElveen had known Jennifer Sansbury for a few years through IHSA and asked her if she would be willing to be the Barn manager for Nationals. Jennifer accepted. Next individuals were needed for the famous draw table – the duck pond. McElveen knew she could call on current and former hunter seat instructors Heather Wile, Kira Gainey, Sarah Rhymer, and current dressage coach and faculty member Jackie Dwelle to be in charge of setting up, decorating and running the draw table.
The Awards coordinator position went to the mother daughter duo of Holly and Audrey Hayden, Audrey also being an alumnus of St. Andrews. “It had stayed in the back of my brain all those years that Holly had told me once before about how she had been in charge of the awards banquets for the Kansas Hunter Jumper Association, and I knew she would be perfect for the job” recalled McElveen. The awards coordinator would be a huge part of the event tracking all the returning trophies and organizing the awards for every class, usually through tenth or twelfth place. An equally important job is the silent auction coordinator due to the fact that the gathering of silent auction items begins one year ahead of the competition. Megan Taylor from Sewanee: The University of the south agreed to keep the coordinator position after she had successfully held the title for several previous years.
The Nationals horse show could not go on if it weren’t for the horses. “It’s a Championship. It doesn’t matter how pretty we have it decorated, or that there is a live feed, or even how nice we are, there is nothing we can do without the horses,” said McElveen. Horse Coordinators were needed to bring in quality horses for the competition. Eddie Federwisch, the Equestrian Program director at Virginia Intermont College and long time friend of McElveen’s was an obvious choice for the hunter seat horses. Federwisch has been a long time member and coach of IHSA teams and was the perfect choice to find the best hunter seat horses for the competition with his many contacts at schools within an eight hour drive of Raleigh. Carla Wennberg, St. Andrews IHSA Western Coach and AQHA Board Member, agreed to serve as the Horse Coordinator for the horsemanship and reining horses.
Social Media Intern, Kimberly Graves, took on the challenge of documenting the planning and organization of the IHSA National Championships that we hosted in Raleigh, NC last May.
Part three explained how the Southern Hospitality Theme was chose. Next week Part Six - Horse Show Mgt. cont.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Southern Hospitality - Part 4
“The hardest part this far out in the planning was trying to decide on a theme,” commented McElveen. The first step she took was asking all of the staff members at St. Andrews in the fall of 2010 if they had any ideas. Then taking a step back she started looking at North Carolina and everything that it stood for. “I thought we just have to be ourselves which will include a ton of southern hospitality so why not use magnolias as our logo?” said McElveen. “We need something unique but something we can pull off,. southern hospitality just fits!” Robert Jacobs Alum of St. Andrews noted that exemplifying the southern hospitality on the show grounds was the best part of Nationals. “When I think of Southern Hospitality I think of a welcoming and open environment that's inclusive as opposed to exclusive,” said Jacobs. 4 McElveen made sure that this was consistent throughout the show grounds from the cover of the official show program to the white rocking chairs and magnolia blooms in the VIP tent.
Social Media Intern, Kimberly Graves, took on the challenge of documenting the planning and organization of the IHSA National Championships that we hosted in Raleigh, NC last May.
Part Three presented how supportive the St. Andrews communicty of the 2012 IHSA National compeition. Next week, part five Horse Show Management.
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