United States Eventing Association

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.

Learn the dressage wrong test? Here is the established protocol. What happens if you start your dressage test and it is the wrong test? Current USEF eventing dressage test ‘A’s track left and test ‘B’s track right, so the judge knows within the first movement that you probably learned the wrong test.

From the moment they hit the ground to the day they take their first steps under saddle, everything you do with your young horse is setting them up for success in their future career. Sue Clarke, Stable Manager at Ms. Jacqueline Mars’ Stonehall Farm in The Plains, Virginia, is part of a team that includes Lauren Nicholson (neé Kieffer), Kimmy Cecere, and David O’Connor that helps raise young horses from their very first steps on the ground to their first competitions and beyond.

Why do we not talk more about fear when fear is a common emotion in cross-country riders? There is probably no sane person who is totally fearless and everyone has his or her limits. Even a Grand Prix race car driver, who is brave enough to average 150 miles per hour around a circuit, may well frighten himself trying to improve his time by just half a second. Fear is a basic human mechanism to place limits on what we do.

“Keep going,” says five-star eventer Will Faudree. A stalwart member of the U.S. Eventing squad since he was named USEA Young Rider of the Year in 2002, Faudree’s impressive resume has provided him the experiences to become a successful rider, trainer, and coach.

Whether it’s caused by a summer thundershower or a winter storm, mud is simply a part of life on a farm. Erika Crowl, the Agriculture Educator for the University of Maryland Extension program in Baltimore County, observed that every farm owner has battled mud at some time, but it’s worth trying to win the war because of the issues mud can cause.

Last month, we introduced this series with a look at the Preliminary level. Now, EquiRatings is showing you the key stats from Beginner Novice. How strong have your Beginner Novice results been? What’s a good final score? What’s a good dressage? What scores should you be aiming for if a top finish is your goal? Read on to evaluate your Beginner Novice game.

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.