United States Eventing Association

The United States Eventing Association (USEA) is pleased to announce the addition of the Modified Rider division beginning at the 2023 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC), presented by Nutrena Feeds. The USEA AEC will move back to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky August 29–September 3, 2023.

If you saw 2022 RevitaVet USEA Young Rider of the Year recipient Cassie Sanger walking down the hallways of her high school, you probably wouldn’t identify her as the token ‘horse girl.’ The 18-year-old student prioritizes separating her eventing life from her social life to allow herself a bit of balance and normalcy amidst the highly-structured schedule she follows to fit school, training, and a social life into her everyday routine. But don’t let that fool you, this young rider has made great strides in her eventing career over the past few years, so much so that she ended the 2022 season on a personal high: placing third at her goal event and first-ever CCI3*-L at the 2022 Maryland 5 Star, ultimately pushing her to the top of the leaderboard to claim the Young Rider of the Year title.

The United States Eventing Association (USEA) would like to request nominations for the Eventing Riders Association of North America (ERAofNA) awards to be presented at the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention in Savannah, Georgia December 7-11, 2023.

For Roisin O’Rahilly, horses have been a lifelong passion that she has had to press pause on for periods of her life. But like the true horse person that she is, O’Rahilly always found her way back to the saddle. While she has a lifelong list of accomplishments related to horses, her most recent one is being named the third-ever USEA Century Ride Award, sponsored by Spokane Sport Horse Farm, recipient. This award celebrates horse and rider pairs who complete an event with a combined age of 100 or more. After placing first in their Beginner Novice division aboard, Rachel Jurgen’s, 26-year-old former five-star Thoroughbred, Ziggy, at the Five Points Horse Trials in Raeford, North Carolina in September, O’Rahilly, age 79, checked another goal in the saddle off of her list - and she doesn’t aim to slow down any time soon.

This is an opportunity for the sport to recognize those horses and riders who excelled in Eventing throughout the year. It is also an opportunity to recognize and honor the very important people who have served the sport tirelessly both in a non-riding capacity and riding capacity during their golden years.

Katharina Huenermann drove nearly 2,300 miles while making the trek from Atlanta, Georgia to Kalispell, Montana for the 2022 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds with her beloved 6-year-old Welsh Arabian gelding Targaryen TWF (Winterlake Tristan x CNF Marteenna) in tow. With a second-place finish in the USEA Beginner Novice Rider division, Huenermann left the arena aboard “Teddy” with a memory of a lifetime. It was the perfect conclusion to a special partnership as Huenermann handed off the reins to Teddy’s new owner, Bozeman, Montana resident Jodie Knox, not without shedding a few tears and wrapping her dear friend in a warm embrace. While adding another decorative finish to the young gelding’s resume, Huernermann also celebrated yet another successful equine adventure with her mother Dagmar Weisser-Berner, who flew in from Germany to show her continued support for her daughter’s involvement in this sport.

The USEA Appreciation Awards were created as an opportunity for the eventing community to recognize and honor people who have served the sport tirelessly both in a non-riding capacity and riding capacity. While tabulating horse and rider awards is a simple matter of calculating points earned in a competition, it is a very different proposition when it comes to the non-rider awards; these awards require nominations from our members.

The 2022 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds have completed, and many dreams were made this past week and weekend. The AEC at Rebecca Farm garnered nearly 500 entries across AEC and festival divisions, and none of it would have been possible without the partnership of Rebecca Farm and Montana Equestrian Events. Thanks to their generous support, the USEA was able to provide AEC competitors with around $100,000 in prize money, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes and in-kind donations. Whether an AEC competitor placed 5^th or won their division, they walked away with prize money and a plethora of prizes donated by the wonderful sponsors.

For Immediate Release: The USEA Beginner Novice Championship took an early and fiery start to the day with ponies, horses and riders ready to leave their best round in the show jump arena, signaling the final phase on the final day of the American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds. The smokey skies gave way to a cloudless, picturesque backdrop as the sun shone bright on new winners through each level of this division.

For Immediate Release: The USEA Novice Championship divisions came to a tidy and tight-knees show jumping finale today at the 2022 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds. All riders and their mounts brought their season’s best riding and piloting to the arena for this final phase.