United States Eventing Association

As of Dec. 1, the USEA’s Area calendar will look a little bit different. Following a request from the Area VIII Council and support from the Area III Council the state of Tennessee will become a part of Area VIII. This move was finalized when the USEA Area Affairs Committee and Competitions, Calendar, and Rules Committee recommended support for Tennessee to leave Area III and join Area VIII beginning with the 2026 competition year. The USEA Board of Governors approved the change over the summer.

With this change, Area VIII, which consists of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia, will now gain several new events within a comfortable driving distance for many members.

“The eventing calendar and competition style in Tennessee align more naturally with Area VIII, making this a logical and positive shift,” said USEA President Lou Leslie. “At a local, grassroots level, it simply makes sense and will better serve riders and organizers alike.”

Cross-country course designer and trainer Cathy Wieschhoff, who’s based in Lexington, Kentucky, helped drive the change along with other Tennessee event organizers. She designs for River Glen Horse Trials, held in New Market, Tennessee, and in speaking with organizer Bill Graves, found that his three recognized events were getting a lot of entries from Area VIII, but his numbers were also dwindling. Wieschhoff knew the shift to Area VIII would benefit both riders in the area and River Glen.

“It's not that far a drive. It's like three hours from Lexington,” she said. “They work hard. They have a great facility, they have good stabling, they have good arenas—they're a private farm, which is going away—the people that run competitions on private farms.”

Wieschhoff and Graves chatted about moving his summer dates to accommodate Hoosier Horse Trials in Indiana and Cobblestone Horse Trials in Michigan, and now the Area VIII calendar is able to include River Glen’s events on dates that work for everyone. Graves is particularly excited about his spring date the weekend before the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, which had been successful in the past, but had been shifted in recent years.

“The vast majority of our subscription is Area VIII people,” said Graves, who felt like his event was a bit of an outlier in Area III. “I’m very much looking forward to being a part of Area VIII for the ability to participate in the Area more and have the opportunity to host things that we never could, like camps. It’s a change that’s long overdue.”

River Glen had hosted FEI divisions in the past and still hosts an Intermediate division, a level which has dwindled in Area VIII recently. Wieschhoff and Graves are hoping River Glen can fill that gap for competitors. “It doesn’t mean we’ll do it every time—we have certain minimums that we have to have just to make it viable, but we’re offering them at least,” said Graves.

River Glen can also become an alternate site for the Area VIII Championships since they’re able to host Starter through Intermediate. The Championships have run at the Kentucky Horse Park, most recently at Kentucky Classique Horse Trials in August this year, but that date will be taken for the next three years for the USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds. “We were never able to host it in Area III because we’re up in the northwest corner of Area III, right on the line with Area VIII,” said Graves. “Nobody from North Florida or Aiken are going to go that far."

Organizers from Middle Tennessee Pony Club Horse Trials, the oldest event in the country, which celebrated 70 years this summer, also came on board with the change to Area VIII.

Hannah Maloney, who has helped organize Middle Tennessee for several years as District Commissioner of Middle Tennessee Pony Club and is an active competitor herself, says that many eventers are based near Nashville, and it’s about a 4-hour drive to Lexington, to River Glen, to Bouckaert Farm near Atlanta, and to Hoosier, so she was in favor of the change since she spends much of her time competing in Area VIII.

“It seemed like Area III was really kind of consolidating down into the Ocala area, and that is just very far for us,” she said. “Then there's a whole thing with dates. I know River Glen really struggled. Their date got changed, and they've been pretty dramatically hit with low turnout, and they're in a really tough spot, because they are close to Tryon [Mill Spring, North Carolina] and not that far from [Bouckaert Farm]. They have to compete with Virginia [Horse Trials].”

Maloney thinks the Young Rider program will be easier for Tennessee eventers now that they’re a part of Area VIII.

“My daughter is 15, and she is going prelim, and I actually signed her up for Area VIII because it's so much closer for us [before the change],” she said. “I think for the young riders it's pretty difficult to get down to Ocala to do young rider things. It's much more feasible to get them to Lexington. Now we'll be in the Area that we live in.”