Beezie Madden was presented with her third Equestrian of the Year title  at the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s annual meeting in Lexington, Ky.

January 12, 2014 — I’ve never been to the Oscars, just watched them on TV, but I definitely got a hint of what it must be like during this weekend’s ramped-up Pegasus awards ceremonies at the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s annual meeting.

Although I’ve attended for decades, this year’s edition was on a whole new scale of awesome, with a towering set, winners coming onstage from the back in well-orchestrated fashion, appropriate musical crescendoes at key moments and even a teleprompter for the emcees.

USEF President Chrystine Tauber presented Beezie Madden with her third Equestrian of the Year title at the annual meeting, where she also picked up the International Horse of the Year trophy for her mount, Simon

@copy; 2014 by Nancy Jaffer

The convention center adjoining the Hyatt Regency Hotel made for a perfect setting as the equestrian stars were honored. USEF President Chrystine Tauber did a good job with “the envelope, please” suspense to tell us what we suspected–that Beezie Madden had won her third Equestrian of the Year trophy.

The 2013 World Cup Show Jumping Finals winner interests me. She’s a great rider, that we all know, but I’ve studied her for the last couple of years at these meetings, and am always impressed by her diligence. There are a good number of athletes assigned to USEF committee work, but they mostly are absent for the annual meeting.

Beezie is serious about her work on the board of directors. She not only attends, she stays for the whole thing, and pays attention, even at the moments I’m tempted to doze.

It’s nice to see someone with her status taking her duties so seriously. Despite her Olympic medals, being number four on the world ranking list and many accolades, Beezie remains modest and is all about doing her job, whether she’s sitting in the saddle or around a conference table.

The next night, she was rewarded again during the Horse of the Year dinner when her Cup mount, Abigail Wexner’s Simon, was named International Horse of the Year.

Her speech hit the mark, noting as she did that it’s all about the horses (easy to forget after eight hours of meetings every day) and she did not stint in her praise for Simon.

“What makes Simon so special is his athletic ability and his desire to shine on a big stage. I actually think he would have liked to be here tonight,” she told her audience with smile.