United States Eventing Association

The FEI World Breeding Eventing Championships for Young Horses at Mondial du Lion will take place this week on October 15-18, 2020 in Le Lion d’Angers, France. Competitors come from all over the world to showcase their 6- and 7-year-old event horses. The 6-year-old Championship is a CCIYH2*-L and the 7-year-old Championship is a CCIYH3*-L.

In 2008, the USEA Young Event Horse Program (YEH) had 20 competitions on the YEH calendar, 36 horses who qualified to compete in the championships, and 15 horses who competed in the 2008 USEA YEH Championships held in Wayne, Illinois at Lamplight Equestrian Center.

The babies came out to play on the second and final day of the 2020 USEA Future Event Horse (FEH) Championships at Loch Moy Farm in Adamstown, Maryland. Today, FEH East Coast Championship judges Robin Walker and Susan Graham White evaluated 10 2-year-olds and seven yearlings to decide the final champions on the East Coast.

The 2020 USEA Future Event Horse (FEH) East Coast Championships kicked off today at Loch Moy Farm in Adamstown, Maryland following the successful completion of the FEH Central Championships at Haras Hacienda in Magnolia, Texas this past Thursday. Twenty-three horses were presented today to Championship judges Robin Walker and Susan Graham White – four in the FEH East Coast 4-year-old Championship and 18 in the FEH East Coast 3-year-old Championship.

The 2020 United States Eventing Association (USEA) Future Event Horse (FEH) Central Championships took place yesterday, September 24 at Haras Hacienda in Magnolia, Texas. With four new champions crowned, this marked one of the first USEA Championships to be held in 2020. Jayne Lloyd, the organizer of the Championships shared, “Everyone had a nice day with their youngsters. The quality of horses is getting better and better. Haras [Hacienda] is a lovely facility to put this on – great stabling, great footing, all indoor because we’ve had some bad weather the past few days. But overall, I think it all went really well.”

This year's USEA Future Event Horse (FEH) Championships will have three regional competitions. First, the FEH Central Championships will take place tomorrow, Thursday, September 24, at Haras Hacienda in Magnolia, Texas. The FEH East Coast Championships will follow this weekend on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27 at Loch Moy Farm in Adamstown, Maryland.

To compete at the five-star level in eventing takes a lifetime of hard work and training, but to compete at the five-star level and finish in the top three is even more difficult. That’s what Maya Black and her former longtime partner, Doesn’t Play Fair, a 15.2 hand Holsteiner gelding owned by Dawn and Jonathan Dofelmier, did in 2016.

The United States Eventing Association (USEA) and the USEA Future Event Horse (FEH) Committee are set to run the upcoming 2020 USEA FEH Championships with the same venues as previously announced. However, due to travel concerns amidst COVID-19, the FEH Championships will have separate judges at each championship (East, West, and Central).

“This individual shows good refinement,” said Chris Ryan as he began his assessment of this 3-year-old Hanoverian/Arabian cross. “You can see obvious quality at first glance. The horse’s near fore should ideally be placed further forward to show the horse to best advantage. The way she stands here puts her on the forehand.”

Within their first few years of being born, young horses have the opportunity to get a taste of U.S. Eventing through the USEA’s young horse programs. The USEA Future Event Horse Program (FEH) evaluates the potential of yearlings, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and 4-year-olds under saddle to become successful upper level event horses while the USEA Young Event Horse Program (YEH) evaluates the potential of 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds to become successful upper level event horses.