Dear U.S. Eventing Community,
Our country and our world are facing a pandemic the likes of which haven’t been seen in over a century. This is creating a monumental barrier to our ability to enjoy our sport in a normal fashion. We recognize the tremendous burden this is placing on our competition organizers, venues, and professionals. Our hearts are with you and we will do everything we can to bring the sport back to full speed as soon as possible. It is essential that the eventing community does our part in this challenging time. I am confident we will get through this and eventing will resume like normal. We are a tough and resilient bunch and we will kick on!
I want to notify our members and the general public that the United States Eventing Association (USEA) has prepared for difficult times. Since the USEA was founded over 60 years ago we have been well-guided by volunteer leaders on the USEA Board of Governors and they have held true to our mission, goals, and core values. One of our primary governance measures is maintaining several months of cash coverage to sustain our Association in times of difficulty. While there is no telling how long this pandemic will seize up our sport and the economy, rest assured that we will be here to support you on the other side. We are also incredibly lucky that the USEA Foundation has worked over the years with the USEA Board of Governors and the small but mighty USEA Staff to raise funds for when they are needed most. We are continually grateful for the support we have received from all of those on our honor roll of donors.
At the onset of the pandemic the USEA Staff took immediate steps to conduct a department by department evaluation of the essential services our office provides to the eventing community. We were able to enable telework for about 95% of those essential services, and the services unable to be completed remotely will be handled by staff local to the USEA headquarters in Leesburg, Virginia. Additionally, we have suspended all work-related travel and identified additional areas to enact cost-cutting measures. Finally, we evaluated our individual staff duties and delegated temporary staff replacements should it become necessary.
As of March 17th the USEA headquarters is closed to the public, but we are working hard to make sure that you do not experience any disruption of service. We will re-evaluate our office status on March 27th and announce further plans. While the USEA headquarters is closed the USEA Staff will still be available by phone and email. As always the USEA will endeavor to communicate the status of our sport and encourage you to review the announcements and resources available on www.useventing.com.
Thank you for all that you do for our sport!
Respectfully
Rob Burk
USEA Chief Executive Officer
Riders in both the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S and the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L are sharing similar sentiments about this year's cross-country courses: course designer Derek di Grazia didn't play around this year. Here is what some of the riders across both divisions had to say about the tracks they will aim to conquer on Saturday.
Off The Record decided not to let Michael Jung be the only record-breaking entry at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this week and delivered a career-best score in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S on Friday morning. He and Will Coleman delivered a test that received a score of 21.8, not only marking a personal best for the horse but also securing their position at the top of the leaderboard going into cross-country tomorrow.
Boyd Martin and the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 were the last pair to go in the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L field on Friday afternoon and were warmly greeted to the bluegrass with an impressive downpour that outshined anything the other horse and rider pairs had to combat throughout the day. But that didn’t stop this pair from putting their best foot forward and impressing the judges enough to earn them a score of 26.0, just 0.2 points ahead of second-place pair Tom McEwen (GBR) and Brookfield Quality.
Please always remain vigilant when it comes to sending any personal communications via email or text. Every year we receive reports of members and leaders of our sport receiving phishing attempts both online and by phone. These are often communications disguised as being sent from USEA staff or other leaders. As the years go on, the phishing attempts appear to be more directed and tailored.