United States Eventing Association

The United States Eventing Association (USEA) would like to request nominations for the Eventing Riders Association of North America (ERAofNA) awards to be presented at the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention in Savannah, Georgia December 7-11, 2023.

For Roisin O’Rahilly, horses have been a lifelong passion that she has had to press pause on for periods of her life. But like the true horse person that she is, O’Rahilly always found her way back to the saddle. While she has a lifelong list of accomplishments related to horses, her most recent one is being named the third-ever USEA Century Ride Award, sponsored by Spokane Sport Horse Farm, recipient. This award celebrates horse and rider pairs who complete an event with a combined age of 100 or more. After placing first in their Beginner Novice division aboard, Rachel Jurgen’s, 26-year-old former five-star Thoroughbred, Ziggy, at the Five Points Horse Trials in Raeford, North Carolina in September, O’Rahilly, age 79, checked another goal in the saddle off of her list - and she doesn’t aim to slow down any time soon.

This is an opportunity for the sport to recognize those horses and riders who excelled in Eventing throughout the year. It is also an opportunity to recognize and honor the very important people who have served the sport tirelessly both in a non-riding capacity and riding capacity during their golden years.

The USEA Appreciation Awards were created as an opportunity for the eventing community to recognize and honor people who have served the sport tirelessly both in a non-riding capacity and riding capacity. While tabulating horse and rider awards is a simple matter of calculating points earned in a competition, it is a very different proposition when it comes to the non-rider awards; these awards require nominations from our members.

The recipients of the 2022 Ocala Horse Properties Rebecca Farm Flight Grant were chosen today in a drawing at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian. Rob and Chris Desino from Ocala Horse Properties and Sarah and Rebecca Broussard from The Event at Rebecca Farm made the selections by randomly choosing miniature airplanes with the applicants’ names on them.

The year 2020 was filled with challenges and obstacles in the sport of eventing. It also allowed for individual reflection, assessment, and evaluation. From this progressive thinking came the evolution of the Going Forward USEA Members Grant. This educational opportunity provided the possibility to transform members’ lives, careers, and horsemanship, along with enriching the sport of eventing.

From his first outing at the Novice level in 2020 to his last outing of the 2021 season at the Hagyard Midsouth Three-Day Event at the CCI2*-L level, Ocala Horse Properties’ 7-year-old Irish Sport Horse Gelding Shanroe Cooley (Dallas x Shanroe Sapphire) amassed 15 wins, never placed out of the top three, and continues to boast a spotless cross-country jumping record. With Liz Halliday-Sharp in the tack, the young gelding’s consistency was rewarded by being named the 2021 USEA Preliminary Horse of the Year and the USEA 6-Year-Old Preliminary Horse of the Year.

The Turner family’s 16-year-old Anglo European mare On Cue (Cabri d’Elle x On High) has had no shortage of headlines written about her recently. Her 2021 season with 2021 World Equestrian Brands USEA Rider of the Year Boyd Martin can be summed up in one word: impressive. Out of the mare’s six official outings in 2021, On Cue brought home five top-five finishes with four of those being international placings.

When James and Helen Alliston saw the chestnut Canadian Warmblood yearling Nemesis (Novalis 46 x Maesy) online, they decided to take a bit of a gamble and purchase the young horse sight unseen from his breeder Danielle Burgess in Kamloops, British Columbia. They never imagined that their calculated risk would pay off when several years later Nemesis would be named the 2021 USEA 7-Year-Old Intermediate Leaderboard Champion.

Young rider Alexandra Baugh has had a stand-out year by anyone’s account. The 20-year-old athlete is not only competing horses at the two, three, and four-star levels, but she also earned herself the title of 2021 RevitaVet USEA Young Rider of the Year. Baugh is based out of Lexington, Kentucky with her four top mounts and was the runner-up of the same title the year prior, but her successes with this year’s team proved unbeatable. Her string includes Altorac Farm's 15-year-old Holsteiner gelding Mr Candyman (Canto x Mantara), her own 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding I Spye (Harlequin du Carel x Lambardos Corner), Altorac Farm's 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding MHS Fernhill Finale (Verdi x MHS Ryans Daughter), and Altorac Farm's 9-year-old Selle Francais gelding Dogano de L’Oiseliere (Ogano Sitte x Joly Star).