Sarah Jane Martin (2025)
Sarah Jane Martin has an extensive history with USDF, from her time as Regional Director to Executive Director, and her many years of service as both a Participating and Group Member delegate to the USDF Board of Governors. In addition to her service to USDF, Sarah Jane is also a USEF Technical Delegate and FEI Dressage Steward, and has been a longtime advocate and supporter of dressage in her region as a founding member of the Southwest Dressage Championships, a huge asset to Region 9 in the promotion of dressage.
Induction Speech
In our estimation, this USDF Lifetime Achievement Award honors a member who literally saved the USDF during a time of organizational crisis, which qualifies as an extraordinary national-level contribution.
Some of you here today may not know that, in the year 2000, the USDF was in dire straits. At that time, and still headquartered in its original home of Lincoln, Nebraska, the organization was trying to manage its growing pains and a time of great technological change. With the turnover of two executive directors, and the annual convention scheduled a little more than two months away, USDF had no one to run it. Facing such turbulent times, competition scores had yet to be entered into the computer system so that the year-end awards could be determined.
Amidst the chaos came a voice of clarity — and action.
In her signature Texas drawl, Sarah Jane Martin, then USDF Region 9 director, said, “What are you gonna do? Who's gonna run the place?'”
Some of her fellow Executive Board members recommended launching a talent search. That wasn't going to fix things quickly enough for Sarah Jane. She said: “Who's gonna run it this week?” Sarah Jane realized that someone had to step in — now. Realistically, it should not have been her. She was a widow with her hands full running her family's cattle ranch with her two children. Not exactly a person who was footloose and fancy-free.
But she said to the board, “I don't have a husband. I'm free. I'll go up there for a couple of weeks and run it 'til you can get somebody.”
On October 8, 2000 (Sarah Jane remembers the date well, because it is her wedding anniversary), she moved to Lincoln to become USDF's acting executive director.
Unfazed by the challenge, nor intimidated by the fact that she was coming in without the usual corporate-leader skill set, Sarah Jane got to work. And she cracked the whip.
Job 1: get those damn dressage-show scores in the USDF computer system and calculate the awards.
“I had everybody in the office inputting scores,” Sarah Jane said. “I learned how to input scores, and I input scores.”
On her watch, the USDF managed to pull off that year's convention and awards banquet. During that time, employees who'd become accustomed to something of a laissez-faire management style chafed a bit as Sarah Jane tightened the purse strings and insisted on some cost-cutting measures, in an effort to keep the USDF going straight and tracking right.
Sarah Jane wasn't surprised at the amount of work the job required. She's never been afraid of hard work, whether it was working at her family's marina growing up, running the cattle ranch, or pursuing the many varied careers she's had in her life, from teaching high-school chemistry and working as a computer-systems analyst, to owning a tack shop and doing people's income taxes. What did surprise her about the USDF position was that she liked it!
During Sarah Jane's tenure, she steered the organization through a year that would prove to be one of the most consequential in USDF's history. In 2001, the USDF decided to relocate its offices from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Lexington, Kentucky. It was a decision Sarah Jane herself didn't agree with; given all the recent turmoil, she didn't think it was the right time for even more upheaval, and she ended up leaving her position in the winter of 2002.
Still, her skills and knowledge were too important to let go completely. As Sarah Jane remembered it, less than 24 hours after her departure, “I was brought back on to hire somebody to do the computer system.” Perhaps it was a win-win all around: Sarah Jane got to return home to Texas while continuing to do work for the organization that she cares so much about.
Sarah Jane has never stopped working on behalf of our sport and the equine community. She's a fixture at USDF conventions, and a longtime Board of Governors delegate. For many years, she has chaired the Southwest Dressage Championships, a regional dressage competition; she bred Welsh ponies for years and held licenses to judge several breeds and Western dressage; and she's served as a dressage technical delegate and FEI steward.
The USDF owes Sarah Jane Martin a debt of gratitude for helping to chart its course through a very choppy period in its history. It is my pleasure to present Sarah Jane Martin with the USDF Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Kevin Reinig, USDF President