United States Eventing Association

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.

The following schedule was developed by the USEA and approved by the USEA Executive Committee as welll as the Competition, Calendar, and Rules Committee and the Area Affairs Committee. Any rule change proposals meeting these deadlines will follow the USEF’s process for 2023 rule change submissions.

Each year a similar schedule and actions will be enacted by the USEA for the membership, USEA Committees, and USEA Area Councils to review and provide input on the USEA’s rule proposal review and submission process.

General Rule* Change Proposal Schedule for USEA

• May 31, 2021 – General Rule change proposals due from all USEA Committees to USEA headquarters.
• June 4, 2021 – General Rule change proposals distributed to every USEA Committee Chair, Staff Liaison, and USEA Area Chair.
• June 11, 2021 – General Rule change proposal open comment period begins and online portal available for USEA member comments.
• July 11, 2021 – General Rule change proposal open comment period ends.
• July 23, 2021 (Second to last Friday in the month of July) – All USEA Committee and USEA Area Council input on General Rule change proposals due to USEA headquarters.
• August 4, 2021 – Original formulating Committee submits General Rule change proposals with any amendments developed through comment period to USEA Board of Governors.
• August 10-11, 2021 – USEA Board of Governors meets to review all General Rule change proposals during the Summer meeting of the Board.
• September 1, 2021 – All General Rule change proposals due to the USEF.

Eventing Rule* Change Proposal Schedule for USEA

• November 15, 2021 (Monday of the week preceding Thanksgiving) – Eventing Rule change proposals due from all USEA Committees to USEA headquarters.
• November 19, 2021 (Friday before Thanksgiving) – Eventing Rule change proposals distributed to every USEA Committee Chair, Staff Liaison, and USEA Area Chair.
• December 9-12, 2021 – Eventing Rule change proposals presented to the public for comment during the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention.
• December 13, 2021 – Eventing Rule change proposal open comment period begins and online portal available for USEA member comments.
• January 17, 2022 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) – Eventing Rule change proposal open comment period ends.
• January 28, 2022 – All USEA Committee and USEA Area Council input on Eventing Rule change proposals due to USEA headquarters.
• February 16, 2022 – Original formulating Committee submits Eventing Rule change proposal with any amendments developed through comment period to USEA Board of Governors.
• February 24, 2022 (Final Thursday of the month of February) – USEA Board of Governors meet to review all Eventing Rule change proposals.
• USEF: March 1, 2022 – All proposed rule changes are due to the USEF.

Questions about rule change proposals or the USEF Rules For Eventing? Email Sharon Gallagher, USEA Senior Director of Competitions, at [email protected].

* The USEF Rule Book for equestrian sport currently consists of General Rules (GR) that appear in chapters 1-13 of the USEF Rule Book and specific breed and discipline rules. General Rules typically impact all equestrian sports, though if a conflict exists with sport and breed specific rules in most cases the sport or breed specific rules can take precedence over the General Rules. In the case of the sport of eventing, the Eventing (EV) Division Chapter of the Rule Book is dedicated solely to the sport of eventing. These rules are modeled after the original Rule Book for the sport of Combined Training first created by the USEA (formerly USCTA) in 1960.