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 Affiliate and list each member on a roster for the Affiliate. The teams who compete at IEL Team Challenges are made up of members from the Affiliate.
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 5th through outgoing 12th grade. The secondary goal is to build organizational awareness and engagement with Affiliates who are instructing our members.
Riders are encouraged to create an Affiliate with their friends, barn-mates, other students of the same instructor, etc. Registration of a USEA IEL Affiliate is done using the Interscholastic Eventing League Application Form. Riders are only allowed to join one IEL Affiliate at a time. The Affiliate membership fee is $75. Each Affiliate 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 Affiliate 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 Affiliate representative be SafeSport certified and a member of the USEA.
For IEL Affiliates that are associated with a certified USEA ECP coach, the $75 Affiliate fee will be waived. The ECP coach is only allowed to be associated with one IEL Affiliate.
Each Affiliate 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 Affiliate intends to participate in. Please send your initial Affiliate rosters to USEA Senior Director of Membership, Jennifer Hardwick, at [email protected].
Riders representing an Interscholastic Eventing League Affiliate 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 Affiliate 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 Affiliate at a time. Riders should confirm that their name is on the Affiliate’s roster that is submitted annually by the Affiliate representative. Riders may also modify their IEL Affiliate selection by contacting the USEA Senior Director of Membership, Jennifer Hardwick. IEL members must be in the grades 5th through 12th. Incoming 5th graders and outgoing 12th 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.
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. Affiliates with less than three riders attending may be scrambled by the organizing committee. Affiliates with more than four riders may choose to send multiple teams to the same competition, or riders can be scrambled with other Affiliates. 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].
When listing an IEL Team Challenge in the Omnibus, IEL Calendar or elsewhere, organizers should indicate:
When entering an IEL Team Challenge the riders/Affiliates are encouraged to:
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:
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.
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 Affiliate representative should offer to provide the event a self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage for the awards to be mailed.
In 2024, the inaugural USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) Championship will be hosted in conjunction with the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship at Stable View Farm in Aiken, South Carolina on May 4-5, 2023. Click here to learn more. Additional information will be forthcoming as the championships approach, but you can join Stable View's WhatsApp communication group now by clicking here to stay up to date on the latest news regarding the event. Placement points will be doubled for champions.
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 Affiliate 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 Affiliate 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 an Affiliate be scrambled on a team with other Affiliate(s), each Affiliate of a scramble team’s top three scores - will be awarded the same number of points based on the scramble teams placings.
The Affiliate’s best three team challenge placements are used to calculate the leaderboard standings. Affiliates 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 Affiliate 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.
USEA Interscholastic Eventing League Committee:
USEA Staff:
IEL Team Challenge Scoresheet
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 Affiliates 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?
Quick Tips
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’ Affiliate 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 Affiliate 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:
Entries
When listing an IEL Team Challenge in the Omnibus, IEL Calendar or elsewhere, organizers should indicate:
Riders/Affiliates when signing up for an IEL Team Challenge are encouraged to:
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 Affiliate representative, it is not unreasonable to request a self-addressed envelope and postage fees from the Affiliates.
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].