The Galway Downs International Event starts on Halloween Thursday and ends on time-change Sunday, so there’s likely even more excitement than usual to be had this weekend. So much so that organizer Robert Kellerhouse commissioned a one-minute promotional video to help spread the word.
Three hundred horse/rider pairs from throughout the West will convene at the Galway Downs Equestrian Center’s beautiful 240 acres in the heart of Temecula Valley Wine Country. Fan friendly “Super Saturday” is set to draw big crowds with live music, local craft beers, and beverages from Galway Spirits Distillery enjoyed in on-course oasis spots with great views of the cross-country action.
Important qualifying scores are on the line in the CCI-L 4/3/2* divisions, with equally intense national level competition through Beginner Novice. The agenda includes the popular Training Three-Day division, which preserves eventing’s origins by staging all of the discipline’s original endurance day phases: roads and track, steeplechase, more roads and track, and cross-country.
Interesting match-ups are already emerging, including several steeds tackling their first CCI4*-L challenge. The CCI3*-L division features mother-daughter duo Tamie Smith and Kaylawna Smith-Cook going head-to-head, as well as James Alliston and Helen Bouscaren. These training business and life partners will jump off their horses after Sunday’s show jumping then dash off to a special cross-country spot to tie the knot in front of their equestrian family.
FEI-Stabling is the newest of year-round facility upgrades. New cross-country features and expert footing maintenance highlight a track that combines the international perspective of Canadian designer Jay Hambly with the local expertise of longtime Galway builder Bert Wood.
Chants of “War Eagle” were heard from end to end of the White Oak cross-country course as the overnight leaders and defending champions from Auburn University tore between the red and white flags Saturday to remain atop the leaderboard of the 2023 Intercollegiate Eventing Championship at the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC).
The last three years have been a time of great change throughout the country for homes, businesses and industries. Rising costs of living, shrinking of assistance and changes in demographics have affected so much of our world, and that includes the equine industry. However, not all of the changes are easy to identify. This is why the American Horse Council (AHC), together with the U.S. Equestrian Federation, has kicked off what could be one of the biggest studies in more than 50 years with the 2023 National Economic Impact Study (EIS) for the equine industry.
Twenty-three teams from 13 colleges and universities have traveled far and wide for the seventh annual USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship held at the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) in Mill Spring, North Carolina.
If you have been involved at a higher level with the USEA, you probably recognize the names of the two ladies that spearhead all of the efforts of the USEA’s Programs, Partnerships, and Marketing department: Kate Lokey, Director of Programs and Marketing, and Kaleigh Collett, Marketing Coordinator, but a new member of this team has also joined the USEA staff in Heather Johnson, Programs and Inventory Assistant. If you have considered advertising with the USEA or are involved in the USEA’s Young Event Horse, Emerging Athletes U21, New Event Horse, Adult Riders, Young Riders, Classic Series, or Grooms programs, you probably have or most likely will interact with one of these staff members.