United States Eventing Association

Sinead Halpin Maynard’s impressive international eventing career has deep roots in community and a dedication to good horsemanship. A member of the U.S. Eventing Team for the 2014 World Equestrian Games, Halpin and longtime partner Manoir de Carneville accumulated a number of top-10 finishes at some of the world’s most challenging competitions including Burghley Horse Trials, Military Boekelo, and the Kentucky Three-Day Event.

Take a moment, before you dive into this article, to picture the most stoic horse you know. Surely you know the idea well – the horse that never shows pain, doesn’t wear his heart on his saddle pad, that always comes to the ring ready to work.

The Area VII Adult Riders are bringing in Three-Time World #1 Eventer, Oliver Townend. Everyone is invited to audit. The audit fee is $20 per day with a discounted price of $10 per day for Young Riders, Adult Riders, or any parent of a rider in this clinic (membership has its privileges!)

One day you’re going to do everything right and it’ll still go wrong. You’ll give 100 percent but come up short. You’ll do your best, but your best won’t be good enough.

Ever wonder what the pros see when they're out walking cross-country? In the Ride Between the Flags series, riders walk us through their approach to tackling different cross-country questions. International rider and trainer Deborah Rosen talks us through fence 12AB of the Galway Downs Novice cross-country course.

As the colors change and the temperature begins to drop, it's time to think about pulling your blankets out of the barn loft. The correct blanket will help keep your four-legged friend comfortable and warm as the temperature changes, but over- or under-blanketing can lead to trouble.

“To understand why we do dentistry and what the aims are, you need to understand about anatomy – how the teeth are set up – and how horses chew,” began Dr. James Brown, Clinical Associate Professor of Equine Surgery at Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Virginia. “They chew on a side-to-side motion versus an up-and-down motion, the way we chew. So, it’s important that they have that range of motion.”

Seven members of the ICP Faculty met September 23-24 at Phyllis Dawson's beautiful Windchase in Purcellville, Virginia, for co-teaching and continuing education. Faculty members took turns teaching and instructing demo riders/horses in cross-country riding lessons. In an evening session, they talked about risk management and SafeSport as it relates to instructors and how new frangible technology is changing the way horses are trained.

We all have that "aha" moment when we see THAT HORSE. You know the one; the horse that shows off three lovely gaits in the dressage ring and demonstrates scope and a big ground-covering gallop as it smoothly and eagerly jumps its show jumping and cross-country courses. THAT HORSE takes our breath away; reminding us why we love horses and the sport of three-day eventing.

In honor of this past weekend’s USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) Championships, we are excited to feature an off-the-track Thoroughbred who has successfully made his way through the YEH Program in this month’s OTTB Critique column. The Young Event Horse Championship is one of the most competitive classes of the year for 4- and 5-year-olds and if you have a horse that not only qualifies but also competes and holds its own, you know you have a horse for the future.