United States Eventing Association

It was a beautiful but chilly weekend in the pines at the Setters' Run Farm Carolina International. After a record-setting 19.4 in the CCI4*-S dressage, Will Coleman became the first three-time winner in the event's history when he led from start to finish on Hyperion Stud's Chin Tonic HS.

West Coast eventers experienced tremendous success in 2022. Tamie Smith recorded top-10 finishes at Badminton in England, at the FEI World Championships at Pratoni in Italy, and at the Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill. Helen Alliston won the $60,000 Adequan USEA Advanced Final, and Tommy Greengard captured the USEA Intermediate Championship at the USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC), presented by Nutrena Feeds. James Alliston returned to the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event for the first time since 2017 and finished third in the CCI4*-S.

When Will Coleman first sat on Chin Tonic HS as a 3-year-old, he knew the horse oozed talent on the flat and over jumps, but his future as a top-level eventing horse wasn’t so certain.

“He was a pretty stunning horse,” he said. “You watched him trot up and you were just kind of drooling over him, even at that stage. I rode him in this very small indoor [in Europe], and you couldn’t believe that you were riding a 3-year-old horse. Just the presence and the way that he sort of just connected into the bridle was just a very incredible, athletic feeling but he was not really a galloping horse. He was more of dressage and show jumping breeding, so I think it’s taken him a little while to develop a step on cross-country.”

Sometimes you just have to be a goldfish, as Ted Lasso says to his team on the Apple TV series of the same name—forget what happened quickly and move on.

Will Coleman came into the CCI4*-S show jumping today at the Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International on top of the class with Chin Tonic HS and in third with Off The Record, but by the end of the class he was ready to forget his wild day.

Ayden Schain and Sarah Ross were two of the 19 young riders that participated in the first-ever USEA Emerging Athlete U21 (EA21) National Camp in Ocala, Florida, at the start of 2023. Ross came from the West, originally from Nevada and most recently training and competing in California. Schain came from the East, based out of Vermont. Both are now pursuing eventing full-time in Florida with Schain working for Leslie Law and Lesley Grant-Law and Ross with Zachary Brandt.

Are you following along with the action from home this weekend? Or maybe you're competing at an event and need information fast. Either way, we’ve got you covered! Check out the USEA’s Weekend Quick Links for links to information including the prize list, ride times, live scores, and more for all the events running this weekend.

The first time Caroline Martin competed at the FEI WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships at Mondial du Lion in Le Lion D’Angers, France, in 2021, she admitted she was a bit of a deer in the head lights. With 40,000 spectators lining the galloping lanes on cross-country and a buzzy atmosphere around the arena for dressage and show jumping, it was a big ask for her horse King’s Especiale, but the experience made the gelding better and made Martin want to come back.

The Carolina Horse Park in Raeford, North Carolina, will once again host the Setters' Run Farm Carolina International CCI and Horse Trials this weekend for its ninth year (the event has run every year since 2014 aside from a cancellation in 2020 due to COVID-19). As the first international event in Area II this year and the first CCI4*-S, the field is loaded with top competitors itching to get out and get their FEI season underway. In addition to the main attraction, the CCI4*-S, the Carolina International also features a CCI3*-S, CCI2*-S, CCI1*-S, as well as Advanced, Intermediate, Preliminary, Modified, and Training national divisions.

With much of the country still gearing up for the start of the 2023 eventing season, it is the perfect time to review what you will need to do to get qualified for the 2023 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC), presented by Nutrena Feeds. You won’t want to miss this year’s AEC, which will take place from Aug. 29 through Sept. 3 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky!

The United States Eventing Association’s (USEA) Area III has become a hotspot for eventing. It’s quite literally a hotspot because the warm weather attracts riders and horses from around the country during the winter with more events scheduled in 2023 than any other area in the country.