Ottawa, Ontario-Marjorie Dennis of Caledon, ON, was named the recipient of Jump Canada’s Official of the Year Award for 2007 during the Equine Canada National Awards Banquet in Ottawa, ON, on February 9.
An Equine Canada Senior status national hunter, hack, jumper and equitation judge for 30 years, Dennis was promoted to Federation Equestre International (FEI) International Jumper judge status in 1993, and is currently one of Canada’s most respected judges.
In addition to her judging duties, Dennis has been contributing to the sport in Canada by conducting numerous Equine Canada continuing educational program for national officials. A popular clinician, Dennis regularly conducts education clinics for judges in Canada each year for Jump Canada.
Dennis has also held numerous volunteer positions within the horse industry. She has been a past director of Equine Canada when it was formerly known as the Canadian Equestrian Federation and the Ontario Equestrian Federation; chairman and manager of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair; a chairman of the Jumping Committee for the 1992 North American Young Riders’ Championship (NAYRC); the program coordinator for the Canadian Equestrian Team (CET) in 1985 and the co- chair of the CET Gala “Go for the Gold” in 1984. She was also the co-founder of the Trillium Circuit in Ontario, the president and past-president of the Ontario Hunter/Jumper Association from 2000-2005.
As a judge, her busy schedule has included such prominent international competitions as the 2005 CSI-W Upperville Horse Show in Upperville, VA, and this year she will be judging the CSIO and CSI-W competitions at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL.
Dennis has also been the president of the Ground Jury for FEI competitions such as the 1998 Washington International Horse Show, the 2001, 2006 and 2007 NAYRC in Wadsworth, IL, and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Horse Show from 2001-2007.
“Marj epitomizes every quality we look for in a judge: integrity; complete knowledge of the rules; absolute fairness; and calm under pressure,” said Elizabeth Bordeaux, Chair of Jump Canada. “We are proud to present her with our Official of the Year Award.”
In its inaugural year, the 2004 Official of the Year Award was presented to Tom Michiel of Calgary, AB, who is past chair of the Jump Canada Officials Committee and also represented Canada as an FEI Jumper Judge. In 2005, Jump Canada paid tribute to world-renowned FEI ‘O’ Jumper judge, Francois Ferland of St-Jean-Chrysostome, QC. Sought after FEI ‘I’ and Equine Canada Senior status national hunter and jumper course designer Michel Vaillancourt of St. Felix de Valois, QC, was the recipient in 2006.
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