United States Eventing Association

If you attended the USEA Intercollegiate & Interscholastic Eventing Championships this year at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, you would have been hard pressed to look anywhere on grounds without seeing Randolph-Macon College’s signature yellow and black school colors buzzing around. The college fielded a personal record-breaking five teams made up of 18 students at this year’s championship and brought a substantial entourage of grooms, supporters, and fans along for the ride as well.

Sixteen-year-old Izzy Lenk (Clarksburg, Maryland) loves eventing and absorbs any opportunity she can that allows her to be further involved in the sport. She recently just wrapped up a month-long working student stint with her trainer Woods Baughman in Lexington, Kentucky, and participated in the Young Rider Mentorship Program at the Young Rider Eventing Championships. She is especially proud, however, of her ongoing efforts of supporting the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) Club that she founded, the East Coast Eventers.

Last fall while competing at the Virginia Horse Center Eventing Fall Horse Trials, Mandolin Whitten and her Virginia Tech teammates won the intercollegiate challenge and started to get some exciting ideas. It had been nearly three years since the school had fielded a team at the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship, and this time, they had enough riders to form a team and a half.

After record-breaking participation at this year’s event, the United States Eventing Association, Inc. (USEA) is proud to remind program members that the second annual USEA Intercollegiate and Interscholastic Eventing Championships will take place at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, in 2025. The Stable View Local Charities H.T. on May 3-4 will serve as the host event for both championships, yet again offering a year-end goal for students to strive towards that fosters a pipeline for participation in the sport from grade school through college and beyond.

2024 has already been a pivotal year for the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) with the introduction of the USEA IEL Championship, which saw 42 competitors join forces to create 12 teams that went head-to-head at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, early last month.

The USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) got a major boost on the West Coast last weekend when the Spokane Sport Horse Spring H.T. hosted a total of 43 fifth through 12th grader competitors in their first ever IEL Team Challenge at the venue in Spokane, Washington. Eleven teams made up of junior USEA members from Area VII and parts of western Canada went head-to-head competing in the Starter through Preliminary levels to contribute to their team’s final rankings.

We are still riding on a bit of a high after the success of the 2024 USEA Intercollegiate and Interscholastic Eventing Championships, so we loved taking the opportunity to chat about this year's event with Stable View's Barry Oliff, member of the winning Intercollegiate team Hayden Wathen, and member of the winning Interscholastic team Collins Zgutowicz. Let the countdown to the 2025 championships begin...

The "happiest horse trial on Earth," the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship, got a whole lot happier this year with the inclusion of the inaugural USEA Interscholastic Eventing Championship. Just shy of 200 entries competed at the 2024 joint championships which took place from May 4-5 at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina. There were pom poms and banners and glitter galore, but team spirit was of the greatest abundance as young riders from the 5th grade through college gathered together to share their pride for their team.

The 2024 USEA Intercollegiate & Interscholastic Eventing Championships were an incredible success, marking a new era of partnership for the two programs which aim to encourage the USEA’s junior and young adult members to continue to pursue their passion for eventing throughout their educational years and beyond.

After an action packed Saturday at Stable View on the opening day of the 8th Annual USEA Intercollegiate Eventing National Championship, the podium was up for grabs heading into the final day of competition. The stage was set for an unforgettable showdown between the 18 university and college teams who were entered.