United States Eventing Association

“Horses are so humbling,” says Valerie Vizcarrondo Pride with a wry laugh.

We are speaking a few days after the Land Rover Kentucky Three Day Event. She is on her way to go cross-country schooling with her beautiful black horse Favian, before tackling the CCI4*-L at Jersey Fresh.

Her week wasn’t supposed to pan out like this. She and Favian should have been resting on their laurels after completing their first CCI5* at Kentucky. However, they fell on the cross-country, and ticking that five-star box will have to wait for another day. Luckily, they are unharmed, Favian has already “cruised around some easy stuff” on an earlier cross-country schooling outing, and Vizcarrondo Pride is determined to start righting the ship at Jersey Fresh.

The USEA Eventing Licensed Officials Committee (ELOC) invites you to attend their year-end committee open forum. This meeting will be led by ELOC Chair Cindy DePorter and Assistant Chair Tim Murray.

As a rider, coach, and designer, I think trusting your gut instinct is a key element to success! Do not be afraid to ask questions. Talk to your trainer, to the officials, and those around you. If you are unsure of the best approach for a line, or a particular obstacle continues to stand out in your mind, talk it through with someone until you become clear on your plan.

If your farm has the space to set up a cross-country schooling course, it can be to your advantage to have cross-country jumps available for schooling purposes. Safety should be the number one priority when designing and building cross-country jumps, and an expert should be consulted whenever possible.

Learn the dressage wrong test? Here is the established protocol. What happens if you start your dressage test and it is the wrong test? Current USEF eventing dressage test ‘A’s track left and test ‘B’s track right, so the judge knows within the first movement that you probably learned the wrong test.

The USEA Eventing Licensed Officials Committee will be writing a series of articles relating to current rules from the USEF Rules For Eventing and how they are interpreted and implemented. The committee feels that transparency is important, and want to keep everyone current on the rules and how officials are expected/required to implement them.

As the eventing community hunkers down to weather out the pandemic, everyone has been looking for ways to keep busy. FEI Level II and USEF “R” Eventing Judge Amanda Miller was feeling discouraged after three of her next judging gigs had been canceled due to the coronavirus.

Cross-country course designer Morgan Rowsell led a session on Friday evening at the 2019 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention about best practices for maintaining a cross-country schooling course.

We all have that "aha" moment when we see THAT HORSE. You know the one; the horse that shows off three lovely gaits in the dressage ring and demonstrates scope and a big ground-covering gallop as it smoothly and eagerly jumps its show jumping and cross-country courses. THAT HORSE takes our breath away; reminding us why we love horses and the sport of three-day eventing.

The USEA Training Program for Eventing Officials (TPEO) educates the next generation of officials and encourages members of the community to give back to the sport by becoming licensed officials, including judges, technical delegates, and course designers. Quality officials are vital to the safe running of competitions and ensure that all safety rules and precautions are followed to the letter. You can be a part of the next generation of officials!