United States Eventing Association

Modern cross-country courses have an emphasis on related combinations, often including one or two ‘skinny’ fences. It is therefore vital to understand how the stride length is affected by different factors so that you can make the distances work for you and reduce the room for error and risk. It is also vital to develop a ‘second nature’ safety position.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, medical supplies were in demand, movement is still being restricted, and deliveries are delayed, which makes keeping a well-stocked first aid kit more important than ever.

Any riding exercise is about the art of the possible. This is especially true with jumping exercises, when a step too far will compromise safety. Exercises and a method should be developed progressively that build confidence and competence for both horse and rider, and in particular also allows room for error.

Last month we began a series of monthly tips discussing defense mechanisms and coping strategies. It’s common for these terms to be used interchangeably, but they’re actually quite different. Coping mechanisms are mental strategies that resolve stressful thoughts and feelings, while defense mechanisms are behaviors that attempt to avoid or hide from them.

Cross-country riding is often associated with steeplechasing but there are fundamental differences between the two sports. Firstly, you do it by yourself, not in the company of other horses, which encourages more level headed, less excited responses from your horse. Secondly, you should not go at your maximum speed in horse trials. Therefore the horses will be working well within themselves and this reduces the risks substantially.

After a spring season of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, eventers were finally able to gallop out of the start box once again at the beginning of June, and the Plantation Field Horse Trials was one of the first events to take place after the suspension of competition was lifted.

“I think our bodies get used to riding and our overall fitness level just starts to plateau after a while. It gets to the point that it doesn’t matter how many horses we ride in a day, we just stay at the same level of fitness.”

For over 20 years the USEA Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP) has been educating all levels of eventing instructors to confirm their knowledge base, both theoretical and practical, upon which they will continue to build throughout their teaching lifetime. The USEA is now shining the spotlight each month on some of the 300 ICP Certified Instructors.

The aim of this clinic is to help riders master good cross-country riding skills and to allow horses to have a pipe-opener on excellent footing at a time of year when the ground is hard. This will be a perfect warm-up for the Virginia Horse Trials!

The USEA Eventing Licensed Officials Committee will be writing a series of articles relating to current rules from the USEF Rules For Eventing and how they are interpreted and implemented. The committee feels that transparency is important, and want to keep everyone current on the rules and how officials are expected/required to implement them.