United States Eventing Association

Announcing Dates and Details of the 2020 USEA Educational Symposium

The United States Eventing Association (USEA) Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP), Young Event Horse (YEH) Program, and Future Event Horse (FEH) Program are joining forces yet again to bring the ultimate educational opportunity this winter. The 2020 USEA Educational Symposium will be at Barnstaple South in Ocala, Florida on February 17-20, 2020.

The ICP Symposium will be on Monday, February 17 and Tuesday, February 18. The YEH Symposium will be on Wednesday, February 19 and FEH Symposium will be on Thursday, February 20.

Considered to be one of the best schooling facilities in Ocala, Barnstaple South is an event horse training facility in the heart of Ocala’s horse country, just behind HITS. Sitting on 80 acres, Barnstaple South has everything for an eventer – portable fences, irrigation, ditches, banks, logs, a viewing tower, barns with living quarters, and a covered arena with immaculate footing.

The featured clinician will be the top international eventer Andreas Dibowski. Dibowski was a member of the German gold medal-winning team at the 2008 Olympic Games with his horse Butts Leon. He’s won Luhmuhlen twice (2011 and 2016) and Pau in 2010. In 2009, he placed second in the 6-year-old division at the Young Horse World Championships Le Lion d’Angers with the well-known eventing stallion Mighty Magic. The following year, he won the 7-year-old division with Mighty Magic at the Young Horse World Championships Le Lion d’Angers. He’s successfully completed almost every five-star event in the world and has helped secure numerous team medals for German eventing.

Both YEH and FEH will also be hosting judge seminars for judges to maintain their judging status. The FEH judge seminar will be led by FEH Committee Co-Chairs Susan Graham White and Robin Walker. The YEH judge seminar will be led by YEH Committee Chair Marilyn Payne.

In order to improve the young horse programs, it is now required for judges to attend a recent judge seminar. If a current judge didn’t attend the judge seminars offered during the 2019 championships, they must attend the 2020 symposium in order to maintain judging status. Please email [email protected] for more information.

The USEA Educational Symposium is open for everyone and registration will be available soon. If you are interested in being a demo rider for the ICP Symposium, please contact Lauren Gash at [email protected]. If you are interested in being a demo rider for the YEH Symposium or FEH Symposium, please contact Claire Kelley at [email protected].

About the USEA Instructors’ Certification Program

Instructors are essential to the training of riders and horses for safe and educated participation in the sport of eventing. The USEA Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP) was initiated in 2002 to educate all levels of eventing instructor with essential training principles upon which those instructors can continue to build throughout their teaching careers. ICP offers educational workshops and assessments by which both regular instructors, Level I through Level IV, Young Event Horse (YEH) instructors, and Young Event Horse professional horse trainers can become ICP certified. Additional information about ICP’s goals, benefits, workshops, and assessments as well as names and contact information for current ICP-certified instructors, YEH instructors, and YEH professional horse trainers are available is available on the USEA website. Click here to learn more about the Instructors’ Certification Program.

The USEA would like to thank EquiAppraisal for sponsoring the Instructors’ Certification Program

About the USEA Young Event Horse Program

The USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) Program was first established in 2004 as an eventing talent search. Much like similar programs in Europe, the YEH program was designed to identify young horses that possess the talent and disposition to, with proper training, excel at the uppermost levels of the sport. The ultimate goal of the program is to distinguish horses with the potential to compete at the four- and five-star levels, but many fine horses that excel at the lower levels are also showcased by the program.

The YEH program provides an opportunity for breeders and owners to exhibit the potential of their young horses while encouraging the breeding and development of top event horses for the future. The program rewards horses who are educated and prepared in a correct and progressive manner. At qualifying events, youngsters complete a dressage test and a jumping/galloping/general impression phase. At Championships, young horses are also evaluated on their conformation in addition to the dressage test and jumping/galloping/general impression phase. Click here to learn more about the Young Event Horse Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, SmartPak, Standlee Hay Company, C4 Belts and Etalon Diagnostics for sponsoring the Young Event Horse Program.

About the USEA Future Event Horse Program

The USEA introduced the Future Event Horse Program in 2007 in response to the popularity of the already established USEA Young Event Horse Program. Where the YEH program assesses 4- and 5-year-old prospective event horses based on their performance, the FEH program evaluates yearlings, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and 4-year-olds for their potential for the sport based on conformation and type. Yearlings, 2-year-olds, and 3-year-olds are presented in-hand while 4-year-olds are presented under saddle at the walk, trot, and canter before being stripped of their tack and evaluated on their conformation. Divisions are separated by year and gender. At the Championships, 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds are also required to demonstrate their potential over fences in an additional free-jump division. Click here to learn more about the Future Event Horse Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, SmartPak, Standlee Hay Company, C4 Belts, Etalon Diagnostics and Guardian Horse Bedding for sponsoring the Future Event Horse Program.