United States Eventing Association

IEA Horse Trial in Edinburgh, Indiana, hosted the year’s first USEA Classic Series Three-Day Event on June 3-6, 2021. Offering Training Three-Day and Novice Three-Day divisions, the event drew a total of 37 entries – 13 in the Training Three-Day and 24 in the Novice Three-Day.

The Training Three-Day welcomed a victory for Brooke Kahl and Nata Montada SCF, her own eight-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Baldev x Whinny II), with 31.9 penalties. Second went to Sarah Younger and her own Power Trip, who were sitting in sixth place after dressage but finished with a score of 33.9. Third went to Hannah Maloney riding her own Phoenyx to 35.8.

The first USEA Classic Series event of 2021 will kick off later this week at the IEA Horse Trials on June 3-6 in Edinburgh, Indiana. The USEA Classic Series offers the long format at the Beginner Novice through Preliminary level. Instead of cross-country, a Classic Series Event offers four phases on Endurance Day (two roads and tracks, steeplechase, and cross-country). Understanding what to expect is the key to success for a Classic Series first-timer.

We are pleased to announce the return of the Waredaca Classic Road to the Three-Day Challenge for 2021!

The Waredaca Classic Three-Day is fortunate to be supported by a group of organizers in Area II who believe firmly in the importance of the Classic Format of eventing. These organizers in coordination with Waredaca have put together a Waredaca Classic Road to the Three-Day Challenge. The Road to the Three-Day is paved with preparation, and these six events offer an ideal path to success at the Waredaca Classic Three-Day:

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything, it was an amazing experience.” Twenty-five years ago, Kerry Millikin and her off-the-track Thoroughbred gelding, Out and About (who was only 8 years old at the time) won the individual Olympic bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, making her one of five females to have earned an individual Olympic medal for the U.S.

In the early 2000s, eventing shifted away from the traditional long format events with roads and tracks and steeplechase on endurance day at the highest levels of the sport, opting for the modern short format event we see today. In an effort to preserve the history, tradition, and horsemanship of the long format three-day event, the USEA Classic Series was formed.

The USEA Classic Series was formed in response to the shift away from long format events at the uppermost levels of eventing in the early 2000s. Instead, the tradition of the long format event, including the four phases of endurance day, was kept alive for the Preliminary level and below. USEA Classic Series events also include educational activities on topics ranging from horse inspections and steeplechase to horse care and conditioning.

The Modified level was introduced to eventing in 2017 to bridge the gap between the Training and Preliminary levels, a gap that has frequently recognized as being the biggest “jump” between levels. After watching the Modified level grow successfully over the last four years and with the addition of the new CCI* level as the FEI equivalent to the national Modified level, the USEA is very pleased to announce the addition of the Modified Three-Day Event in 2021.

“An experience of a lifetime,” Phyllis Dawson described of her time competing at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. Dawson and her horse Albany II was the highest placed U.S. event rider and finished 10^th individually in the Seoul Olympic Games.

Waredaca in Laytonsville, Maryland hosted this year’s only USEA Classic Series Three-Day Event on October 22-25, 2020, offering Training Three-Day and Novice Three-Day divisions. The event drew a total of 45 entries – 18 in the Training Three-Day and 27 in the Novice Three-Day. Both divisions were led wire-to-wire by the ultimate winners – Ema Klugman and RF Redfern in the Training Three-Day and Jamie Leuenberger and Flight of Fancy in the Novice Three-Day.

Born in Paget, Bermuda, Peter Gray became the first international event rider to represent Bermuda in 1980. He competed all over the world, including three Olympic Games, two World Equestrian Games, a Pan American Games, Badminton, Burghley, and the Kentucky Three-Day Event – all before steeplechase and roads and tracks were removed from the upper levels of the sport.