United States Eventing Association

Did you know that there are many regulations regarding all of the obstacles on your cross-country courses? From jump height, spread, water depth, flags and more, rules such as the ones outlined below are set for your safety. Be sure to brush up on your knowledge of these rules as a competitor so you understand what is and what is not permitted the next time you gallop out of the start box!

Three rules previously reported by the USEA and discussed through online USEA webinars will take effect on June 1, 2021. Each rule was approved by the USEF Board of Directors during their May 10^th meeting. These rule changes focus on the reduction in risk in eventing.

The USEA has developed a rule change proposal schedule for the 2023 eventing season in an effort to keep the membership better informed about the process. As a reminder, all rules for eventing are under the jurisdiction of the US Equestrian Federation (USEF) and the U.S. Eventing Association (USEA) only has the ability to put forth rule changes proposals for consideration by the USEF.

When tabling the Appendix 3 Rule Change Proposal the USEA committed to establishing a task force to further review the proposal, make additional inquiries into related data, and analyze the extensive member input received.

Did you pre-order a copy of the 2021 USEF Rules For Eventing? They are now in the mail, so keep an eye out for your copy and contact [email protected] if it doesn't arrive in the next week.

Didn't pre-order, but still would like a hard copy? The 2021 USEF Rules For Eventing is available for purchase from ShopUSEA.com.

On March 1, 2021 the USEA Board of Governors submitted a rule change proposal to US Equestrian (USEF) modifying Appendix 3 of the USEF Rules for Eventing. That proposal was outlined at the 2019 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention, shared in May 2020 by the Chair of the USEA Cross-Country Safety Subcommittee Jon Holling, later discussed in Eventing USA and through various other communication platforms including a live webinar hosted by the USEA. This was one of four different safety related rule proposals submitted by the Board to the USEF and previously considered with the membership.

With the introduction of frangible devices for cross-country fences came the introduction of penalties associated with activating a fence's frangible device. In 2015, the FEI rule regarding frangible devices, which originally gave a rider 21 penalties for activating a frangible device, was changed to 11 penalties.

Following feedback from our membership to the rule change proposal for the USEF Rules For Eventing: Appendix 3 – Participation In Horse Trials, the United States Eventing Association (USEA) Board of Governors voted to modify the rule change proposal, but still to recommend the establishment of rider licenses and increase Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) to the regulating authority of the sport US Equestrian (USEF).

After the popularity of Rules Open Forum held virtually during the 2020 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention in December, the USEA Competitions, Calendar, and Rules Committee decided to host another Rules Webinar to share information about the extraordinary rule changes going into effect on April 1, 2021 and the rule change proposals being put forward to the USEF by March 1, 2021 for approval for the 2022 competition season.

Every year, the USEA has the opportunity to submit rule change proposals to go into effect during the current competition year as a part of the extraordinary rule change process. This year, the USEA has submitted four extraordinary rule changes for consideration by the USEF.