United States Eventing Association

The first record of a steeplechase race was in Ireland in 1752. The race, which was between Cornelius O’Callaghan and Edmund Blake, started at St. John’s Church and ended at St. Mary’s Church (around 4.5 miles total) in County Cork, Ireland. After that race, steeplechase was born.

The warm-up is where riders spend the most time in the tack during an event. With a mixture of nervous horses, riders, parents, and coaches, the warm-up area can be chaotic. Whether it’s a horse’s first recognized horse trial or at a USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) competition, the Clasings’ have found a tried-and-true warm-up routine for young horses.

This week on the USEA Podcast, Marilyn Payne and Maxime Livio come on the show to discuss the Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP) and Young Event Horse (YEH) Program Symposia that took place last month at the Grand Oaks Resort in Weirsdale, Florida.

The 2019 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) are now six months away and USEA members across the country have begun planning their journey to the AEC which will take place at iconic Kentucky Horse Park. The USEA and AEC co-organizers Equestrian Events, Inc. (EEI) and Mary Fike have put together a provisional schedule for this year’s AEC which will take place August 27 – September 1, 2019.

This week on the USEA Podcast, USEA Classic Series Task Force member Mary Fike comes on the show to talk about the USEA Classic Series and the work the Task Force has done over the last year. Marcia Kulak returns to the show to talk about fitness programs for long format events.

The final day of the 2019 USEA Educational Symposium gave judges and auditors the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the USEA Future Event Horse (FEH) program. Demo horses were brought in for a full day of every aspect of the FEH Championships from yearlings to 4-year-olds.

It was all about the Young Event Horse (YEH) program on the third day of the USEA Educational Symposium at The Grand Oaks Resort. Class was in session in the morning as Symposium attendees – a mixture of YEH judges and YEH enthusiasts – were taught by Marilyn Payne, Christian Schacht, and Maxime Livio.

Typically at the end of a lunge session, when the horse has settled, is an ideal time to introduce the surcingle or saddle in the middle of the round pen. The pressure of the girth and something tied around his body is what causes a horse to react.

Horses aren’t born broke and ready to ride – as much as we wish they were! There are two critical steps in the process of getting your future event horse ready for his career: backing and breaking.

Practice makes perfect, and an easy way to practice eventing is at a USEA New Event Horse (NEH) competition! Designed as an introduction to the sport of eventing, the USEA New Event Horse Series classes have two phases: the dressage phase and the jumping test.