Interscholastic Eventing League Guidelines

Introduction

The mission of the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) is to bring together eventers with a common interest and provide a supportive community through which students can continue to pursue their riding interests.

The program is made up of riders who share a common bond, whether it be the same barns, the same school, same pony club, same instructor, or other connection. This group will establish an IEL Club and list each member on a roster for the club. Each team that competes at an IEL Team Challenge is made up of three to four members from the Club.

This program will help provide a pathway for those riders who may seek to be part of the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program after high school.

The primary goal of the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League is to increase membership, education, and engagement in riders on a national level who are rising 5^th through outgoing 12^th grade. The secondary goal is to build organizational awareness and engagement with the coaches and clubs who are instructing our members.

IEL Club

Riders are encouraged to create an IEL Club with their friends, barn-mates, other students of the same instructor, etc. Registration of a USEA IEL Club is done using the Interscholastic Eventing League Application Form. Riders are only allowed to join one IEL Club at a time. The Club membership fee is $75. Each Club registration or renewal is due to the USEA prior to February 15th. If submissions are received subsequent to that date, they will be accepted on a case-by-case basis.

Each Club shall appoint one representative, who is over 18 years of age, to be the point of contact for the USEA. The representative may be a coach, parent, owner, or team captain. The USEA requires that every Club representative be SafeSport certified and a member of the USEA.

For IEL Clubs that are associated with a certified USEA ECP coach, the $75 Club fee will be waived. The ECP coach is only allowed to be associated with one IEL Club.

Each Club must submit their application and initial rosters of riders by February 15 of each year. Updates to the roster are allowed throughout the year, but they must be submitted at least 10 days prior to attending an IEL Team Challenge that the Club intends to participate in. Please send your initial Club rosters to USEA Senior Director of Membership, Jennifer Hardwick, at [email protected].

IEL Membership

Riders representing an Interscholastic Eventing League Club must be members of the USEA. There is no additional USEA membership fee for the riders to be part of the IEL. IEL members may be part of the USEA Young Rider Program, but they are not required to do so. Annually, the rider will need to confirm that they are associated with an IEL Club before the start of their competition season in order to be included on an IEL team roster.

Riders are allowed to be a member of only one IEL Club at a time. Riders should confirm that their name is on the Club’s roster that is submitted annually by the Club representative. Riders may also modify their IEL Club selection by contacting the USEA Senior Director of Membership, Jennifer Hardwick. IEL members must be in the grades 5^th through 12^th. Incoming 5^th graders and outgoing 12^th graders may participate for the entire competition year. There is no restriction on the type of school an IEL member attends. They can attend public, private, online, or homeschool.

IEL Team Challenges

Interscholastic Eventing League Team Challenges are additions to recognized horse trials in the United States. Teams of three or four members competing in events identified as IEL Team Challenges should self-identify to the competition organizer. Riders will compete in the regular horse trial competition as individuals. Teams consist riders of any level. The three best scores for the team are counted for the team result. Clubs with less than three riders attending may be scrambled by the organizing committee. Clubs with more than four riders may choose to send multiple teams to the same competition, or riders can be scrambled with other Clubs. Please visit the USEA website for a current calendar of team challenges.

For additional information on hosting an IEL Team Challenge, please contact the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League staff liaison, Kaleigh Collett, at [email protected].

Entries

When listing an IEL Team Challenge in the Omnibus, IEL Calendar or elsewhere, organizers should indicate:

The levels to be offered for the IEL Team Challenge
The preferred method for submitting team list(s) (online, paper, etc.).

When entering an IEL Team Challenge the riders/clubs are encouraged to:

Include the Club name and team name on the entry form and the stabling form.
Send a complete team list via email to the entry secretary or designee for the event by the closing date.
Make note of the team’s name on any electronic and/or paper communication.
Team challenge participants are encouraged to stable together and promote team atmosphere and camaraderie. Banners, spirit wear, etc. are encouraged.

Scoring

Though there are no official requirements for scoring individual IEL Team Challenges, the USEA encourages all hosting venues to use the following guidelines. Teams can be made up of three or four riders. Teams can be made up of riders of varying levels. To account for differences in level difficulty, each rider’s score is multiplied by a coefficient appropriate for their level, and then the individual scores are added together to determine the team score. A rider finishing on a letter will be awarded 1000 points as their final score. Only the best three individual scores will count towards the team score, the fourth score will be “drop” score.

The coefficient system recommend is as follows:

Starter: 1.0
Beginner Novice: .99
Novice: 0.95
Training: 0.90
Modified: 0.85
Preliminary: 0.80
Intermediate: 0.75
Advanced: .65
CCI1*: 0.85
CCI2*-S: 0.80
CCI2*-L: 0.75
CCI3*-S: 0.70

Coefficients for additional levels not listed here will be assigned as necessary.

The USEA has a scoring template in an Excel spreadsheet. Please email the Interscholastic Eventing League staff liaison, Kaleigh Collett, at [email protected] to request a copy of the template.

Awards

The event organizer has the liberty to determine the awards provided to teams at their event. While ribbons and prizes for top placing teams are not required, they are highly encouraged. Given the nature of IEL Team Challenge often having competitors entered in various levels, the results are often not known until the end of the event. The Club representative should offer to provide the event a self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage for the awards to be mailed.

IEL Championships

The USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) Championship is hosted annually in the spring alongside the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships. By bringing the two program championships together on the same weekend at the same venue, the USEA encourages a pipeline for participation in the sport through all levels of a student's educational career. The inaugural USEA Intercollegiate & Interscholastic Eventing Championships were hosted at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina in 2024.

IEL Leaderboard

Individual Leaderboards

All athletes on the IEL Team Rosters will be added to the Individual IEL Leaderboards categories by level using the same methodology used for the existing individual leaderboards.

Team Leaderboard

At this time, the Interscholastic Eventing League is not tracking a team leaderboard at the national level. Some Areas are testing the IEL Year End Awards. A future goal of the IEL is to have an Interscholastic Eventing League Leaderboard based on Club performance. Points will be awarded as follows:

Format Point System: Placing	1	2	3	4	5	6
Points	100	80	60	40	20	10

When an Club has more than one team present at a competition, they must declare by 3:00 pm the day prior to the start of competition as to which team will account for leaderboard points. Should a Club be scrambled on a team with other Cub(s), each Club of a scramble team’s top three scores - will be awarded the same number of points based on the scramble teams placings.

The Club's best three team challenge placements are used to calculate the leaderboard standings. Clubs with less than three results will still appear on the leaderboard standings. In the event of a tie on the leaderboard at year end, the Club with the lowest average team score across their best three team challenge final scores will be considered the leader. Please note that leaderboard points are based on the best three placements (point system) and ties are broken based on the best three team challenge final scores. These may not be the same challenges.

Program Contacts

USEA Interscholastic Eventing League Committee:

Co-Chair: Kate Boggan - [email protected]
Co-Chair: Molly Pellegrini - [email protected]
Chris Donovan - [email protected]
Teresa Harcourt - [email protected]
Elizabeth New - [email protected]
Leslie Threlkeld - [email protected]

USEA Staff:

Chief Executive Officer - Rob Burk, [email protected]
Senior Director of Membership - Jennifer Hardwick, [email protected]
Membership Services Manager - Cindy Clingman, [email protected]
Competitions Manager - Hannah Seagle, [email protected]
Interscholastic Eventing League Staff Liason - Kaleigh Collett, [email protected]

Helpful Links

Organizers Guide: IEL Team Challenges

The program is strongly based on a team competition – referred to as an IEL Team Challenge between two or more teams from one or more Clubs and held at USEA/USEF-recognized Horse Trials. All rules of competition as put forth in the USEA and the USEF Rule Book apply to all interscholastic competitors.

Who may participate?

Any rider in the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, or 12^th grade. It is the responsibility of the riders and Clubs to be in membership compliance. Incoming 5^th and Outgoing 12^th graders may participate for the full competition year.
A student must be a current individual member of the USEA.
The Club must be a current member of the USEA. This is an annual membership that costs $75. Clubs that register with an Eventing Coaches Program (ECP) certified-coach will have their Club fee waived.
The Club representative must be an adult with a connection to the participants. The representative is required to complete the SafeSport Training.
Only riders listed on a Club’s team roster may participate on a team at IEL Team Challenges and/or Championships. The roster can be updated through the USEA Senior Director of Membership – Jennifer Hardwick.

Quick Tips

An organizer may choose to either 1) host an IEL Team Challenge or 2) accept the request of a Club to host one at their event.
The IEL Team Challenge may run in conjunction with any other Team Challenge. However, the team challenges must have separate scoring.
Levels of Competition: Levels to be included in an IEL Team Challenge are offered at the discretion of the organizer. Frequently, Beginner Novice through Preliminary are the levels offered.
Teams: Teams can consist of either three or four riders. Four-member teams will utilize a “drop score.”
Individual riders representing their Club are encouraged to participate by joining a “scramble” team.
Fees: No fees are required by the USEA for offering an IEL Team Challenge. An organizer may choose to charge a nominal fee to cover the costs of awards and management of the IEL competition.
Scoring: The USEA encourages all host venues to utilize the scoring guidelines outlined in this guide.
Awards: While not required, organizers are encouraged to award team ribbons for the IEL Team Challenge competitors.

Communication

An organizer can expect to have all communications regarding the organization of an IEL Team Challenge with either one of the riders or its’ Club Representative. The organizer is welcome to contact the USEA office at any time with questions regarding the Interscholastic Eventing League. The current team rosters may be obtained from the USEA Senior Director of Membership – Jennifer Hardwick should they desire to validate Club status of the riders.

**Please read the full Interscholastic Eventing Program Guidelines for a complete understanding of hosting an IEL Team Challenge**

Get the Word Out Early

Once an organizer has determined that they would like to host an IEL Team Challenge at their event, the following promotional steps are recommended:

List your event on the IEL Team Challenge calendar by emailing event information to Kaleigh Collett at [email protected].
Add IEL Team Challenge information to the event’s USEA Omnibus listing by emailing the USEA’s Competitions Manager Hannah Seagle, [email protected].
Alert the Clubs in your Area. Share the announcement on your event’s website and social media pages. An organizer or event representative may also write a brief announcement for inclusion on the news section of USEventing.com.
Reach out to Membership Services Manager Cindy Clingman at [email protected] on the Tuesday prior to the event to obtain the roster of teams participating at your event.

Entries

When listing an IEL Team Challenge in the Omnibus, IEL Calendar or elsewhere, organizers should indicate:

The levels to be offered for the IEL Team Challenge
The preferred method (online, paper, etc.) for submitting team list(s).

Riders/Clubs when signing up for an IEL Team Challenge are encouraged to:

Entry forms will include the Club name and team name on the entry notes and stabling forms.
Riders shall make a note of the team’s name on any electronic and/or paper entry.
Club shall email the team(s) by the closing date to the event secretary or team coordinator.
The event will be asked to support creating scramble teams when there are Club riders not associated with a team.
Please try to support the requests to stable team challenge participants together in order to promote team atmosphere and camaraderie. For one day events, enabling parking together is encouraged.

Team Dynamics and Scoring

The USEA encourages all host venues to use the scoring guidelines as outlined. EventEntries and Show Connect scoring systems support team scoring with the desired coefficient system. There is an excel spreadsheet available should an event need a method to calculate team results. The scoresheet can be found here.

Awards

It is recommended that the organizer post the scores for an IEL Team Challenge on the scoreboard and event’s results page so teams may keep up with the team challenge standings. Organizers may offer team ribbons and/or prizes. Because of the nature of IEL Team Challenges, it may be necessary to mail ribbons. These awards can go the Club representative, it is not unreasonable to request a self-addressed envelope and postage fees from the Clubs.

The USEA requests that final results of the team challenge be submitted at the conclusion of the competition. Please email the results to Cindy Clingman at [email protected].

Official Corporate Sponsors of the USEA