Sue Curry Shaffer – “S” Dressage & Sporthorse Judge
❤️Sue Curry Forever In Our Hearts❤️
December 30, 1953- April 25, 2021
Sue Curry Shaffer was a USEF “S” Dressage Judge and an FEI Level 3 Para Equestrian Judge. She co-owned Fairwind Farm with her husband Dyke Shaffer in the beautiful wine country of Santa Rosa, CA. Sue and her students had been successful for many years in all levels of dressage from Training Level to Grand Prix. Sue had been instrumental in helping many of her riders achieve their goals -with multiple students earning their Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals. She competed at the FEI levels for over 20 years, and had had multiple horses in the top ten nationally.
Sue was a sought after clinician and respected judge. She had been an assistant director for the USEF Para Equestrian forum at the Dressage Affaire in Del Mar; commentator for Dressage in the Wine Country as well as for the Dressage Affaire with Axel Steiner. She was a successful breeder of premium Oldenburgs.
Most importantly she was known for her empathetic and positive touch in bringing out the best in riders and their partners.
Sue passed unexpectedly, in her sleep, in April 2021. She was 67 years old. Fairwind Farm will continue on as Sue would want. Her Legacy Lives on.
See a video of her Celebration of Life:
Sue's Online Competition Contributions
VirtualHorseSport.com
Sue was a big believer in opportunity. She recognized that the sport of competitive dressage was rapidly becoming inaccessible to many riders, due to cost. Thus when computer engineer and dressage rider Debbie Kurth, came knocking, she was excited. She had many key ideas of how to build such a system, around the utility patent “The Virtual Sports Competition“. After which, she judged many shows and sponsored many clinics with the system.
“Without the help of Sue and other top level judges, many of the features in the VirtualHorseSport.com software, would have never occurred to me. She was brilliant in her observations. “
~ Debbie Kurth
In her honor, VirtualHorseSport.com, setup the Sue Curry Online Memorial. An annual event set to continue her legacy and contribution. The goal was to help support adult amateur riders, who can not otherwise afford to compete. The result was “The Sue Curry Competition Scholarship“. It is in her name, that this show donates a portion of the proceeds to the fund.