United States Eventing Association

The 2019 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds took place at the Kentucky Horse Park and was marked as the biggest event in North American history. With over 900 starters across 23 divisions, the week was filled with tough competition at every level.

The USEA is very sad to announce that Ann Rickard Haller died suddenly today with what appears to be complications related to an ongoing medical condition. Ann was working as the press officer and cross-country controller at Great Meadow International this weekend and passed away at a local hospital.

Tik Maynard’s unique equestrian resume has enabled him to successfully develop horses and riders through a teaching philosophy that instills confidence and sets pairs up for success regardless of end goals. A revered natural horsemanship and eventing trainer, Maynard’s career with horses has evolved from experiences for the betterment of horse and rider relationships.

Jennifer Wilkins Chapin, known to all as Jeffie, died from injuries sustained in an equestrian accident on Sunday, August 11, 2019, in Woodstock, Vermont. Jeffie was born in Baltimore, Maryland on April 27, 1987, to Sarah and Stephen Wilkins.

Born in the Netherlands and imported to the U.S., Starr Witness’s career didn’t begin on the cross-country course – it began in the hunter ring. When her owner Emil Spadone decided she wasn’t cut out for the hunters, he sent her to Doug Payne to try her hand at eventing.

Shallary Guymon’s smile was as big and bright as the Wasatch mountains that surrounded her in Ogden, Utah at Golden Spike Horse Trials. “We won!” Guymon said as she took a picture on Sunday afternoon. The pair, Shallary Guymon and Coco Chanel, won the Preliminary/Training (P/T) division at the Golden Spike Horse Trials on June 15-16, 2019.

Christine Turner first laid eyes on Tsetserleg, or “Thomas” as he is known in the barn, at a Trakehner inspection being held at Dr. Timothy Holekamp’s New Spring Farm. Thomas wasn’t being inspected that day, but he caught Turner’s eye. The now 12-year-old Trakehner gelding was bred by Holekamp and is sired by eventing stallion Windfall.

Mai Baum, the 13-year-old German Sport Horse gelding by the Holsteiner stallion Loredano and out of Ramira, bred by Gunter Gerling in Germany and known in the barn as Lexus, will be making his U.S. Team debut at the 2019 Pan American Games next month in Lima, Peru.

Mr. Medicott, sired by the famed show jumping stallion Cruising, was bred by Dr. Donal Geany and born in Ireland in 1999 with the name Crag Cave Slieveluachra. Produced as a young horse by Francis Connors, the traditional Irish Sport Horse was acquired by Hermann Horst from Nigel Taylor in England at the age of six for German rider Frank Ostholt and set on the path that would lead him to compete at the highest level of the sport with three different riders.

“He is the sweetest.” That is the response all the girls that work for Lynn Symansky gave when asked about her Pan American Games mount, RF Cool Play. Coolio, as he is known in the barn, is an 11-year-old German Sport Horse gelding by Condor’s Champion and out of Roxana (by the Trakehner stallion Radscha).