(NEW) Click to order a printed version of the 2009 USEF Rules for Eventing

The USEA offers the convenience of having the latest version of the USEF Rules for Eventing online for our members! Click on the image to the right to view a .pdf version of the rulebook. This file is large, so please be patient when opening the document, especially if you are using a dial-up connection.

(You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6.0 or higher installed on your system to view and print the following documents. If you do not have this program, go to www.adobe.com to download the latest version and install it.)

 2009 Policies and Guidelines for USEA Recognized Competitions and Members of the Association (146K PDF)

2009 USEF Rules for Eventing, Rulebook (1.1MB PDF)

How Do You Qualify for an FEI Competition? (282K PDF)

The following extraordinary rule changes were approved by the USEF Board of Directors. The below rules are not in the adobe formatted rule book.

EXTRAORDINARY RULE CHANGES FOR 2008

The rule changes below were approved by the USEF Executive Committee on February 19, 2008, effective immediately.

EV113 Dress
.4 SPURS. Spurs may be worn at any time. Spurs are required in the dressage test at the Intermediate and Advanced levels. Spurs capable of wounding a horse are forbidden. Spurs must be of smooth metal. If there is a shank it must not be longer than 3.5 cm (1 3/8 inches) and must point only towards the rear. Rowels are not permitted except as in 5 (c) (below). If the shank is curved, the spurs must be worn only with the shank directed downwards. Metal or plastic spurs with round hard plastic or metal knobs are allowed ("Impuls" spur). "Dummy spurs" with no shank and swan neck spurs are allowed.

EV174 Cross Country Course Advisors
A course advisor shall be appointed by the Federation for certain horse Trials and Three-Day Events as designated by the Federation Eventing Committee. The Course Advisor will approve the design of the proposed course, including: the distanced covered, the terrain and the condition and quality of the track; and the number of obstacles, their construction and variety and marking or flagging, the number of combinations , and the appropriateness of the level to the competition. The course advisors will provide the course designer (CD) and the technical delegate (TD) with a report which indicates any changes, either recommend or essential, to be made to each fence on the course. After inspection of the Cross Country course and prior to the event, the TD will complete the Cross Country Course Advisor Report for return to the Federation with the TD report. All essential changes must be made or the fence shall be removed from the course for the competition. For Show Jumping courses, the TD shall include a copy of the Show Jumping Courses, as posted at the competition, with the TD report. All essential Show Jumping changes must be made.

APPENDIX 3

2. SECTIONS.

2.3 SENIOR RIDER (S) - Open to competitors from the beginning of the calendar year of their 19th birthday. [The remaining sentences have been removed. The definition of a rider division is under 2.5]

"Technical Elimination" is a term now adopted for use at recognized horse trials effective immediately. Abbreviated as "TE" for the score sheets, technical elimination is to define an error strictly related to the actions of the rider; such as, but not limited to: entering the arena with prohibited saddlery; prohibited dress, missing a jump, mandatory flag or finish line, etc.

As with any final decision, is it at the discretion of the Ground Jury, in consultation with the Technical Delegate, if the term "TE" should be applied - it is very important for the event personnel responsible for noting infractions to be very specific in their explanation of said infraction. This information will enable the officials to properly assess and inform the scorers what to apply to a rider's score and, ultimately their performance record.

Note: This new definition does not replace the definition and term elimination (E) used to determine the disobedience of a horse during competition.     

Heretofore, when dangerous riding (DR) had been assessed, it was unclear where to apply the 25 penalties. (Should it go in the jump column or as time penalties?  Obviously neither was quite accurate).

A column has been added to the score sheet titled "DR," to be used specifically for the 25 penalty points that may be assessed for Dangerous Riding as noted under Article EV11 of the Rules for Eventing. This column is located before the final points/placing column. Regardless of where a "DR" may be sited, this column is to indicate the 25 penalties and the penalties added to the final point classification.