United States Eventing Association

Here’s Why You Need to Compete in the 2020 Fresno Intercollegiate Team Challenge

This year, the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program has its eye on the West Coast. With the program growing in popularity nationwide, John Marshall has offered to host a USEA Intercollegiate Eventing West Coast Championship at the Fresno County Horse Park in 2021.

Before this can happen, Marshall will host an intercollegiate team challenge at Fresno County Horse Park in Fresno, California on April 17-19, 2020. This team challenge will serve as a pilot year for a future USEA Intercollegiate Eventing West Coast Championship. Advised by the USEA Board of Governors, this team challenge must have at least six colleges/universities participate for a 2021 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing West Coast Championship to be considered.

"We are excited about hosting a USEA West Coast intercollegiate team challenge during our April 17-19 Horse Trials," said John Marshall, show organizer for Fresno County Horse Park Horse Trials.

Two schools are tentatively planning to compete in this upcoming team challenge which means that four more schools will need to compete in order for a future USEA Intercollegiate Eventing West Coast Championship to be considered.

“The prospect of an Intercollegiate Eventing West Coast Championship has long been on our minds,” said the USEA Intercollegiate Committee Chair, Leslie Threlkeld. “In order to make the program truly national, we need to expand the participation to the West Coast, and a dedicated Championship will boost that initiative. It's awesome that John Marshall is interested in supporting a Championship at his horse trials. It will be important now for the students to step up and get it done. The foundation is set for them, but they have to be the catalyst to make it happen. Once it's off the ground, momentum will carry it, just like we saw on the East Coast.”

How to Register for the Fresno Intercollegiate Team Challenge

First, email the show secretary, Christina Gray at christina@grayareaevents.com and let her know what school and which students plan to participate in the team challenge.

Second, have an eventing team representative fill out the Affiliate Application Form to register a school as a USEA University Affiliate. Submit the application form via email to USEA Senior Director of Membership Services Jennifer Hardwick at jennifer@useventing.com or mail in the form to the USEA office at 525 Old Waterford Rd., NW, Leesburg, VA 20176. In addition to the application form, the school must pay an affiliate membership fee, which costs $75 per year. The school must renew this affiliate membership each year.

Any accredited university or college may register as an affiliate organization of the USEA. Once the institution is registered as an affiliate, all current undergraduate students of that school will be eligible for a discounted USEA Collegiate Membership.

For more information on the USEA Intercollegiate Program, please click here.

About the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program

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. Many events across the country now offer intercollegiate team challenges 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.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, FITS, World Equestrian Brands, FLAIR and US Equestrian for sponsoring the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.