United States Eventing Association

This year, the 2021 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention will host a full-day educational show jumping design clinic on Wednesday, December 8 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Led by the well-known show jumping course designer, Chris Barnard, this seminar will be educational for any USEA member interested in learning more about the show jumping courses. Read below for more information.

If your farm has the space to set up a cross-country schooling course, it can be to your advantage to have cross-country jumps available for schooling purposes. Safety should be the number one priority when designing and building cross-country jumps, and an expert should be consulted whenever possible.

Cross-country course designer Morgan Rowsell led a session on Friday evening at the 2019 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention about best practices for maintaining a cross-country schooling course.

Tasked with designing 10 separate courses for the nearly 500 competitors in attendance at Twin Rivers as well as riding a horse in the Intermediate division and coaching several students, James Atkinson has his hands full this weekend. Still, he took time out of his busy schedule to talk about course design, which he confessed, “I could talk about all day long!”

Calling all course designers, course builders, certified course designers, or anyone interested in learning the technology behind frangible devices! Mick Costello will be hosting a frangible device clinic on Thursday, April 25 during the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event.

If you have ever considered becoming involved in eventing as a licensed judge, TC, or CD, then the B & C Jumping/Course Design Training Program is for you!

James Atkinson led a panel including course designers Captain Mark Phillips, John Michael Durr, Gretchen Butts, Morgan Rowsell, and Cathy Wieschhoff in a discussion about the responsibilities of the course designer and the many factors that influence course design.

Many of us, when we walk courses, have a routine. Things we look for, things we know will catch certain riders off guard, things we’re careful to point out to our students. Even the way we walk, the practiced length of our strides, the lines we take between fences. We think about this stuff from the rider or trainer’s perspective, carefully honed over years of walking, thinking about, and riding courses. Time, and experience.

Last weekend, 25 prospective “r” judges, technical delegates, and course designers gathered at Lara Anderson and Daniel Brown’s Full Gallop Farm in Aiken, South Carolina for the B & C Jumping/Course Designing Training Program. This training program is a requirement for prospective “r” Eventing Judges, “r” Eventing TDs, and “r” Eventing CDs to obtain their licensure, as well as for certified cross-country course designers, who must attend every three years to maintain their certification.

The USEA Training Program for Eventing Officials (TPEO) is responsible for educating the next generation of officials and encouraging members of the eventing community to get involved as licensed officials, including judges, technical delegates, and course designers. The safe running of competitions relies on quality officials as they guarantee that all safety rules and precautions are adhered to.