United States Eventing Association

The 2025 USEF/USEA Developing Horse Championships are right around the corner. Now in its third year, this championship features two divisions—a CCI2*-S division for 6-year-old horses and a CCI3*-S division for 7-year-olds. This year’s championship takes place during the Morven Park International & Fall Horse Trials, which will run Oct. 9-12 at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia.

Creating a Pipeline in the United States

The USEF/USEA Developing Horse Championships originated in 2023 with the goal of creating a continued competition pathway for graduates of the USEA’s Young Event Horse (YEH) program and other young horses competing in the States.​

Many of last year’s top competitors had positive things to say about the addition of the 6- and 7-year-old Championships in the U.S. for young horses.​

“It's a big environment, and here at Morven they've done a beautiful job this weekend of making it a big environment,” said Madison Temkin, who piloted YEH graduate Fernhill Bertus to a third place finish in last year’s 6-year-old championship. “I think it's really important for developing horses for the future, so that when they do go overseas, and they do get into that environment, they've had the experience. I think, as someone that produces a lot of young horses, it's pretty exciting because it's just not a normal two-star; it's important. I think it's a great way to develop young horses.”

Qualifications

The qualification criteria for this year’s Championship are as follows:

• Open to U.S athletes

• For the CCI2*-YH-S division: Any horse that has a recorded age with the FEI of 6 years old in the current year is eligible to participate in the Championship.

• For the CCI3*-YH-S division: Any horse that has a recorded age with the FEI of 7 years old in the current year is eligible to participate in the Championship.

This Year’s Entries

There are 18 entries in the two Young Horse Championships with six in the CCI3*YH-S and 13 in the CCI2*YH-S. Five-star and U.S. team rider Sharon White has entries in both divisions—Anita Antenucci’s homebred 7-year-old Warmblood gelding Arden Augustus (Jaguar Mail x Juneau) and another homebred of Antenucci’s, the 6-year-old American Sport Horse mare Arden Janeway (Jaguar Mail x Freespirit). Both are graduates of the USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) program, with Arden Augustus having finished in the top 10 in the 2023 USEA YEH East Coast Championships (Elkton, Maryland) and Aden Janeway placing sixth in last year’s East Coast Championships. Arden Augustus also competed in the 6-year-old Championships last year where he finished in fourth.

Last year’s reserve champion YEH 5-year-old on the East Coast, Centerfold, will also be competing in the CCI2*-S with owner Alyssa Phillips. The Irish Sport Horse gelding (Sligo Candy Boy x Temple Polly) impressed everyone last year with his phenomenal way of going and has since had two successful outings at the two-star level, placing fifth at the Bouckaert Equestrian H.T. International (Fairburn, Georgia) and sixth at Plantation Field (Unionville, Pennsylvania).

One of the strongest advocates for young horse development programs in the U.S., Caroline Pamukcu, has four entries across the two championships. She will be campaigning the Irish Sport Horse gelding HSH Talbots Hill (Coolkeeran x Sisceal), owned by herself, Sherrie Martin, and Gayle Davis, in the three-star championship for 7-year-olds, and three 6-year-olds in the two-star: the Dutch Warmblood mare HSH Olive, owned by Olive Equestrian, Martin, and herself; her own and Martin’s Irish Sport Horse mare HSH Cruising Spirit (Spirit House x Amazon Cruise), and Emile Spadone’s Belgian Warmblood gelding Oban HX (Cape Coral RBF Z x Chellanka Z). HSH Talbots Hill finished in the top-10 in the 2022 YEH East Coast Championships as a 5-year-old.

Olympian Phillip Dutton has an entry in the two-star as well. He will be competing Caroline Moran’s 6-year-old Holsteiner gelding Darwinn (Denver x Emma V), who finished in the top 15 last year in the East Coast YEH Championship. He just made his two-star debut at Plantation Field earlier this month in the lead-up to the championship.

This year’s USEF/USEA Developing Horse Championships will get underway on Friday, Oct. 10. A tentative schedule can be found here.