The 2012 USA Saddle Seat Team Coaches are Cindy Mugnier, Sandra Currier, Kristen Cater, and Brent Jacobs.
Cindy Mugnier owns and operates a training stable at Fox Meadow Farm in Massachusetts; she also is a USEF judge and current committee member of USEF Morgan, Saddle Seat Equitation and Saddle Seat Equitation World Cup Committees. Mugnier has served on previous World Cup selection committees and has trained many state, regional, national, and world championship riders. Mugnier is the recipient of the 2007 AMHA Cecil Brown Sportsmanship Award, Massachusetts Morgan Horse Association Woman of the Year, UPHA Chapter 14 Horseperson of the Year, and UPHA Chapter 14 Hall of Fame.
Sandra Currier has been involved with Morgans and Arabians, but for the past 20 years has been exclusively working with Saddlebreds and Hackneys at her Bluebonnet Farm in Texas. Currier has paired many riders and horses to go on to be world champions and reserve world champions. In recent years, Currier has judged the Saddle and Bridle Pleasure Medallion Finals and the Saddle and Bridle Western Pleasure Finals along with the Morgan Medal at the Morgan Grand Nationals.
Kristen Cater worked alongside Lisa Jensen Richardson at Cricket Hill Farm when she was 17. Cater assisted Richardson train world champion equitation riders such as Kyle Gagnon and Kaitlin McGowan, and was named Equitation Instructor of the Year three years in a row. After training Morgans, Cater switched to the Saddlebred industry where she opened up Cater Stables along with her husband David. This husband and wife team from New Hampshire has matched several riders and horses that went on to win world championships including Maggie and Clara McCool and Caroline Rose. Cater holds judges’ cards for Saddle Seat Equitation, Saddlebred, Hackney Harness Pony and Roadster divisions. She has been the UPHA Chapter 14 Chairman for four years and most recently was asked to be on the UPHA National Equitation Committee.
Brent Jacobs owns and operates Werk Way Stables in Kentucky where he has instructed several top equitation riders including Brooke Jacobs, Mary Nuy, Martha Bosken and Tori Heck. Jacobs also is a USEF Saddle Seat Equitation and multi-carded judge, and USEF Committee member. He has judged the major equitation finals, the World’s Championship in Louisville, and South Africa’s National Championship. He has helped organize the 2004 and 2008 World Cup competitions as well as organized and coached seven International Saddle Seat invitational teams.
The Saddle Seat World Cup competition is a bi-annual competition that originated in the early 1980s with an informal exchange of saddle seat athletes in the United States and South Africa. Teams from as many as five nations compete for the coveted World Cup titles in three-Gaited and five-Gaited. The event features amateur athletes 14 years of age and older who compete on horses that are unfamiliar to them and are supplied by the host competition. In 2012, USEF will field a team of 10 athletes and two coaches to represent the U.S. in South Africa.
The coaches will learn the names of the members who have qualified for the team after the 2012 U.S. Saddle Seat Equitation Team Selection Trials held on March 31, 2012, at William Woods University in Fulton, MO.
Applications are still being accepted for consideration to participate in the 2012 U.S. Saddle Seat Equitation Team Selection Trials. Online applications and materials may be submitted through the My USEF Account for members at: https://www.usef.org/_AUAIFrames/Login/default.aspx?timeout=yes then “Other Options”, “Saddle Seat World Cup Applications”. Selection information, hard copy applications and other details may also be located at the “How to Participate” tab on the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) website through the following link: http://saddleseatworldcup.usef.org. Applications are due to USEF by December 15, 2011.
The 2012 World Cup Team efforts are supported by USA Equestrian Trust, United Professional Horseman’s Association (UPHA), and Shelby Horse Supply. To learn more about contributing to and supporting the 2012 Team efforts, download this brochure: http://www.usef.org/documents/disciplines/SSE/SS_Team_Sponsorship.pdf, or contact Lori Nelson, USEF Assistant Executive Director, National Affiliates, at lnelson@usef.org.