The United States Eventing Association (USEA) is happy to announce the dates, locations, and judges for the USEA Future Event Horse Championships in 2021. The Future Event Horse (FEH) Championships offer classes for yearlings, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and 4-year-olds to evaluate their potential for becoming successful upper-level event horses. While yearlings and 2-year-olds will strictly be judged in-hand on their conformation and movement, the 3-year-old and 4-year-old classes will also have a free-jump division. Additionally, the 4-year-olds will be judged under saddle at the walk, trot, and canter.
The USEA Future Event Horse Championships will once again offer three Championships: East Coast, West Coast, and Central. Horses must earn at least one score of 72 percent or higher at any FEH qualifier to be eligible for the USEA FEH Championships. Horses may qualify in any part of the country, but may only compete in one Championship. The 4-year-old horses may also qualify for both the FEH and YEH Championships, but may only choose one program Championship to compete in, as they may not compete in both the FEH and YEH Championships in the same year.
The 2021 USEA FEH East Coast Championships will be held at Loch Moy Farm in Adamstown, Maryland across Saturday-Sunday, September 25-26, 2021. The East Coast Championships will be judged by Robin Walker and Lori Hoos.
The 2021 USEA FEH Central Championships will once again be at Haras Hacienda in Magnolia, Texas, and will occur on the weekend of October 9-10, 2021. The Central Championships will be judged by Lori Hoos and Katie Rocco.
The 2021 USEA FEH West Coast Championships will run concurrently with the USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) West Coast Championships at Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, California. The West Coast Championships will take place Friday-Saturday, October 29-30, 2021 and the FEH Championship judges will be Chris Ryan and Robin Walker.
All three Championship venues will provide a professional jump chute crew to safely guide the 3- and 4-year-olds through the jump chute division. All three venues also plan to have a last chance qualifier the day before their respective Championships.
Helpful Links for FEH Championships
For questions about the FEH program or the FEH Championships, please contact Kate Lokey at [email protected].
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, Parker Equine Insurance, SmartPak, Standlee Hay Company, and Etalon Diagnostics for sponsoring the Future Event Horse Program.
The USEA Annual Meeting & Convention is an event that many USEA members look forward to year after year to catch up with their fellow eventing enthusiasts and stay up to date on all the latest work happening on the USEA Committees and Task Forces, but there’s so much more to explore. The educational opportunities offered at this year’s Convention, which takes place on Dec. 7-10 at the Marriott St. Louis Grand hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, are endless and afford members with the opportunity to expand their horizons through a full schedule of seminars and events. Plus, each day of the Convention counts as one ECP Continuing Education credit for those in attendance!
Each year every member of the USEA receives a nomination ballot to submit nominees to the Board of Governors and during the Annual Meeting of Members, all members are invited to vote for those individuals nominated to serve. All members receive a proxy to vote for their chosen representatives for those unable to attend the Annual Meeting of Members. The only restriction for Board membership is that they must be USEA members. There are 10 positions representing each Area of the country and 11 at-large positions with no other restrictions.
Effective Dec. 1, 2023, USEF rule EV145.8 will require, whenever possible, new cross-country obstacles (for which frangible devices are appropriate) to be constructed with FEI approved frangible technology for the Training level and above (previously it was Modified and above).
The Ram Tap Horse Park Horse Trials hosted the final USEA Classic Series Event of the year this past weekend in Fresno, California. The event offered three traditional long-format divisions at the Beginner Novice, Novice, and Training levels. Meet the final USEA Classic Series champions of 2024 below.