It was a hot and humid first day at the U.S. Eventing Mandatory Olympic Training Session at Great Meadow in The Plains, Va. A total of 12 athlete-and-horse combinations went down the jog strip, with 11 of those combinations representing the U.S. and one combination representing Canada, Colleen Loach on Qorry Blue d’Argouges. After this evening’s horse inspection, all 12 combinations will move forward to tomorrow’s cross-country.
The event schedule was updated to avoid tomorrow’s expected thunderstorms. Instead of the Thursday morning dressage rides, there were dressage test rides that ran today from 12:00 p.m. - 1:40 p.m. with judges Mark Weissbecker and Debbie Adams. These test rides were not included in the scoring but, cross-country and show jumping will have live scores available through The CourseWalk App. Cross-country will run tomorrow morning and will be the only phase running tomorrow. The schedule for Friday will remain the same.
Designed by Ian Stark, tomorrow’s cross-country course is a CCI4* level track with a total of 34 efforts. The first rider out of the start box will be Boyd Martin riding On Cue at 10:00 a.m. The last rider out of the box will also be Boyd Martin riding Tsetserleg TSF at 11:06 a.m.
Updated Event Schedule:
Wednesday, June 30
Thursday, July 1
Friday, July 2
Due to the nature of the competition being an Olympic training session, there will be no award ceremonies or presentations on Friday after show jumping.
This event will not be open to public spectators and will not be live-streamed, but make sure to follow the USEA social media for live updates and coverage of the event.
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Helpful links:
The countdown to the 2024 United States Eventing Association (USEA) American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds is getting shorter and the tentative schedule is officially set! For the second year in a row, the AEC returns to the iconic Kentucky Horse Park from August 27 through September 1 and will offer 26 divisions, including brand new Starter divisions and all levels of recognized evening up through the $60,000 Adequan USEA Advanced Final.
What’s a Hunter Pace? The Sherwood Forest Equestrian Center's Hunter Pace is a cross-country-style course around Sherwood Forest over various natural obstacles/terrain. The course ends with a final treat for riders to take in stunning views of Mt. Hood with a loop through the old Far Hill Farms field. The beginning of the course will first start with a warm-up loop around show jumping obstacles in the outdoor ring at Sherwood Forest and then riders will continue directly onto the course. Sign up as a solo rider, pair, or team.
Claire Allen remembers when she was 11 years old, having just made the switch from the hunter/jumper ring to three-day eventing. She told her new eventing trainer that her goal was to one day compete in the United States Equestrian Federation’s Eventing Young Rider Championships.
As he was finishing tacking up his horse in preparation to navigate the cross-country course at the 2024 Twin Rivers Summer Horse Trials, James Alliston expressed concern about navigating the 101 Freeway. That’s because as soon as he crossed the finish line aboard Intermediate level winner Addyson (Ampere x Nickerbocker) at 10:38 a.m. on Saturday—his fifth cross-country round of the morning with three at Preliminary and two at Intermediate—the West Coast-based five-star rider had to drive 185 miles on the 101 Freeway from Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, California, to San Francisco International Airport to catch a 4:35 p.m. flight to Frankfurt, Germany.