The Clemson Intercollegiate Eventing Team is comprised of 28 riding and non-riding members. Riding members are Clemson students who regularly compete in team trials and ride in clinics hosted by the team. Our non-riding members are students who are active participants in team sponsored activities and share a love of horses and the sport of eventing.
This year, Clemson teams placed well at every event in which we participated, including second place on a scramble team with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville at Chattahoochee Hills and third place at the FENCE Horse Trials. We also had quite a few individual highlights at USEA Intercollegiate Championships. To kick off the fall semester, senior Linda Limeri finished second in her starter division at the FENCE Horse Trials. At Chattahoochee Hills in October, freshman Kaley Crosby placed second in the Senior Training Rider division and freshman Audra Alland placed fourth in the Open Novice division. The River Glen Horse Trials was also a success as junior Olivia McQuarrie and freshman Cortlinn Bailey placed first and second in the Beginner Novice division, respectively. Alland also placed third in the Senior Training division. To finish out the season, sophomore Emily Thomas placed first in the Beginner Novice division at Pine Top’s Thanksgiving Horse Trials.
Throughout each semester, the team always makes time to have fun and spend time together with team dinners, movie nights, and fun cross-training activities. Additionally, team activities include fundraisers, like our semi-annual combined test and jumper show, and peppermint wreath sales during the holidays. Moving forward, the team plans to expand their fundraising efforts with new activities this upcoming spring.
When looking at the team’s riding and non-riding activities and achievements, there are several aspects that make the Clemson team unique. By including options to become either a riding or non-riding member, the team fosters a supportive culture that focuses on loving the sport, in addition to working to make membership more flexible based on students’ needs or desires. Furthermore, the team is completely student-run and requires that members hold themselves accountable for training for events. In order to aid members in their training, our Clinician Chair Jessica Ruffa organizes clinics throughout the semester and brings in numerous clinicians from different disciplines. Typically, she is able to secure these clinics at discounted prices.
Looking at future goals, the Clemson Eventing Team hopes to regain its national championship title as well as continue to grow in numbers to help support USEA’s Intercollegiate Program.
Follow the Clemson Intercollegiate Eventing Team on Facebook and Instagram or check out their website.
The USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program was established in 2014 to provide a framework within which eventing teams and individual competitors could flourish at universities and colleges across the country. The USEA offers a discount of $25 on annual USEA memberships for current students of universities and colleges registered as Affiliates with the USEA and many events across the country now offer Intercollegiate Team Challenges throughout the year, where collegiate eventers can compete individually as well as on teams with their fellow students.
In Intercollegiate Team Challenges, each rider’s score is multiplied by a coefficient appropriate for their level to account for differences in level difficulty and then the individual scores are added together to determine the team score. Only the best three individual scores will count towards the team score, so teams of four will have one “drop” score. Click here to learn more about the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program.
The USEA wants to feature your collegiate eventing team in our Intercollegiate Eventing Spotlight series! Please send your story and photos to Claire Kelley at [email protected] to be featured.
Karma is developing into one of the fastest and most-reliable cross-country horses in the West. The 9-year-old bay Oldenburg mare and James Alliston won their third-straight blue ribbon together at either the four-star or Advanced level in the CCI4*-S at the Twin Rivers Fall International in Paso Robles, California, with the only double-clear cross-country round on Saturday.
Most couples share a kiss and part ways at 8:00 a.m. as they head off to their own work days, but eventing power couple James and Helen Alliston do it all together. We gave our USEA members the opportunity to submit their questions for this West Coast-based couple, and USEA Podcast host Nicole Brown gets them to share all on many topics: eventing in the U.S. versus the U.K., who is the most competitive of the two, dealing with warmer temperatures, why James likes to drive illegally slow, and so much more!
The Plantation Field International CCI4*-S concluded today with the cross-country phase, and the final standings were nearly a matter of “last one standing.” As Tropical Storm Ophelia brought a torrential downpour to the area, a number of riders decided to opt out: of 39 competitors, only six completed, and 17 withdrew before the start of cross-country.
After 15 years of successfully cultivating and establishing the Future Event Horse (FEH) program for eventing breeders and owners, the United States Eventing Association (USEA) has merged the FEH program with the Young Horse Show Series (YHS). The updated YHS allows for a more comprehensive show series for sport horses in the U.S., as the YHS is now open to young talent with a future in eventing, as well as hunters, jumpers, and dressage.