Kate Cummins is one of those brave people who took up riding as an adult. Overcoming normal adult fears, she was happily “stunned” to get to Training Level with the encouragement and coaching of Kim Schied.

As a student of Kim’s at Spring Creek Training Center in Hemet, Kate was also indoctrinated to volunteer as something one simply does. No ifs, ands or buts.

“If you ride, you volunteer,” Kate recalls Kim stating. And she’s glad she did. Especially since she stopped riding herself.

“I changed from riding to other activities, including lots of travel. But after a few years I realized I really missed it. I realized that volunteering would enable me stay involved with it and connected to it.”

As a competitor, Kate volunteered as much as possible. Now, amid working part time as a nurse and traveling with her husband, she earmarks time to help out throughout the year. She always tries to be there for the big competitions – like the Eventing Championships at Galway Downs Oct. 30-Nov. 3.

A Different Perspective

No longer juggling volunteering with competing during a show day, Kate describes a different quality of appreciation for the benefits of giving her time to the sport. Although she admits to being slightly intimidated by dressage scribing, she has stepped into the judging booth to record scores and comments many times.

“It really gives you a different perspective from when you are sitting on the horse,” she says. “You start to learn what the judges are looking for and what makes a good test.”

The more Kate scribes, the more she realizes that it’s the simple things that “trip you up.”

She heard that message repeatedly while being coached as a rider, but it takes on new meaning while seeing how it affects the judge’s input. “It’s being precise – doing transitions and circles where you are supposed to do them.”

Reflecting on how she viewed judges’ notes on her own dressage tests, Kate wishes she’d spent more time looking at the comments and comparing them to those on past tests. “I wish that I had looked past the scores to see if the work I was putting in was actually paying off. I think the comments reflect things like is my seat getting better, are my hands steadier…”

“I wish that I had done more scribing when I was competing,” she shares. “You really learn a lot from it.” For those new to this volunteer role, she recommends asking the judge’s preferences in advance – how they like the comments written, what to do if the scribe misses a comment, etc. The majority of judges Kate has scribed for are gracious, and happy to share their knowledge and to clarify their expectations.

Watching Galway Grow

As a competitor and volunteer, Kate’s enjoyed a front row seat for Galway Downs’ evolution. “It’s gone from being a nice facility to being an event center that can probably hold its own against any venue anywhere.”

Volunteer organization and incentives are super, Kate reports. And having good friends in Volunteer Coordinator team members Bernie Low and Jerri Lance created an easy entry to this key component of Galway Downs’ success.

Kate is excited but not surprised about Galway Downs as the likely venue for 2024 Los Angeles Olympic equestrian competition. “I think about four years ago, I saw they had put up Olympic rings out on cross-country, and I thought then, ‘They must be going for it.’”

She’s already let the volunteer committee know she’d like to help in 2028. “Hey, I’ll empty the trash if I need to!”

If Laura Jaeger can find time to volunteer, anybody should be able to.

Laura started volunteering at Galway Downs and other Southern California venues in 2010. She works full-time in Palm Springs and lives in Yucca Valley, where she keeps and regularly rides her two horses at a boarding facility. 

Yucca Valley is a two-hour commute from Galway Downs, yet Laura does it regularly and over several years. So much so that she was a clear choice to invite onto Galway’s volunteer coordinator committee.

“I was jump judging out on cross-country last February and (longtime committee member) Jerri Lance came over in a golf cart,” Laura recalls. “She told me they were expanding the committee and asked if I’d be interested in joining.”

Galway’s unique volunteer committee now numbers five people and is getting recognition nationally, like this recent article in Eventing Nation. Jerri Lance, Bernie Low, Nancy Chamberlain, Thamar Draper and Laura confer regularly throughout the year. The size of their team allows for flexibility in which committee members are on-duty full-time for each show.

That’s especially nice for Laura because she competes, too.

A Rider’s Perspective

She campaigns her 9-year-old Oldenburg homebred, Dondero, in dressage competitions. Laura is also bringing along her 7-year-old Off-the-Track-Thoroughbred, Sunny Slippers, in eventing. In fact, Sunny was onsite for last week’s International Horse Trials to get acclimated to the scene, while Laura volunteered through the week.

Laura bred Dondero to be an event horse, but along the way he let her know “he prefers to be a dressage horse.” Even so, the pair were USEA Area VI Beginner Novice champions in 2021 and reserve in 2022. “When I tried to move him up to Novice, I could tell he just wasn’t taking to eventing.” They now compete in dressage competitions at 2^nd Level.

At home, Laura works with dressage trainer and “L” judge Cindy Lapp, who owns the Yucca Valley Equestrian Center. She’s even convinced Cindy to dabble in eventing with her Hungarian Warmblood. Laura talked Cindy into volunteering, too, and they were on the scene together last week.

With her OTTB, Laura works with Galway Downs-based professional Katy Robinson, who also serves as sponsor and vendor coordinator for the eventing competitions.

Laura first volunteered at the encouragement of her early eventing coach Kim Schied. Kim is a fixture in Area VI eventing for both the riders she started — including Tamie Smith and Heather Morris — and for promoting volunteering with everyone she coaches.

In the past, Laura competed more than she does now, yet she always found time to volunteer — often during down time when she was competing.

“It’s about giving back to the sport, and I enjoy it,” Laura says.

Plus, it helps her riding. “It carries over into my riding, especially watching the upper levels, seeing how they approach the jumps. Even though I’m not going to go home and do what they do, it helps.”

Perks of the Post

She loves the excitement of jump judging on cross-country and scribing for show jumping because you can see every jump. Scribing for dressage judges is another of Laura’s favorite volunteer roles, even though you typically can’t watch the test because the scribe is looking at the score sheet while writing the judges’ notes on it. Even without seeing the action, hearing the judge’s comments provides ample take-aways for her own riding.

Transitioning from a “regular” volunteer to a volunteer committee member has been eye opening. “Now I really see all that they do,” Laura says. The Saturday before the International Horse Trials, for example, the committee was on the phone preparing. “We realized that our stop watches were dying on us, so we ordered more of those.”

The weather always presents a challenge for filling volunteer roles because it can result in the schedule changing.

At last year’s big spring event, for example, largely unforecasted torrential rains mandated on-the-fly schedule changes through the weekend. Exhibitors aren’t the only ones impacted — volunteers might not be available for the new times, and that requires some scrambling to fill the spots last minute. (Laura notes that the volunteer committee members’ contact info is posted on the volunteer link for each competition, making it easy to reach somebody if schedule changes are expected.)

Rain hit again this year, but the crew was ready. The FEI divisions were moved up to take place Thursday and Friday, with volunteers being as flexible as the exhibitors. The committee got creative about handling jump judging during Saturday’s heavy rains – volunteers were able to park their cars near the jumps they were watching. Miraculously, it all worked out!

In Laura’s time, the volunteer committee has yet to meet a challenge it couldn’t conquer.  “Like last year, it just works out,” she shares. “We’ll drive through the barns and let people know when we need help and it always works out.”

Laura loves the people volunteering puts her in the foxhole with. Along with her regular volunteer friends, Laura loved working the bit check station a few years ago with 5* competitor Andrea Baxter and having Wendy Wergeles, an FEI Technical Delegate, offer to fill in for any role as her schedule allowed.

The More The Merrier

Laura notes a nice upswing in available volunteers at Galway. “I think more people are willing to do it. I haven’t volunteered at other venues in a while, but I have to say that Galway Downs is really stepping it up with all the swag and other things you can use your volunteer credits for. I think some venues can only ask for help.”

As a competitor herself, Laura takes advantage of credits toward show entry fees and stabling, or schooling fees. She plans to retire from her position with the Palm Springs Water Utility at the end of the year and looks forward to using more of her volunteer vouchers when she has more time to show.

The snazzy Galway Downs jackets, shirts and hats are appealing for the many volunteers who don’t compete.

To those who are contemplating volunteering, Laura encourages all to give it a try. That’s especially true for riders, she stresses. “Once you see what is involved from the volunteer’s perspective, you realize that events could not happen without them.”