The recipients of the 2022 Ocala Horse Properties Rebecca Farm Flight Grant have been finalized following the initial drawing which took place during the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian. Rob and Chris Desino from Ocala Horse Properties and Sarah and Rebecca Broussard from The Event at Rebecca Farm made the selections by randomly choosing miniature airplanes with the applicants’ names on them.
Originally, two grants were awarded – one for the Rebecca Farm CCI4*-L and one for the Rebecca Farm CCI3*-L – from the pool of qualified riders and horses who entered, however the four-star grant has now been allocated to runner-up Jules Batters and her 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Cooley O (Caricello x Lady Glebe) to assist them with costs associated with traveling to compete in the CCI4*-S division. The winner of the CCI3*-L Grant is Brittany Crandall and Cooley Almighty, her own 9-year-old KWPN gelding (Verdi x Wyniella). The winning horse and rider combinations will get receive round trip airfare to and from The Event at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, Mont.
About the Ocala Horse Properties Rebecca Farm Flight Grant
In 2021 the team from Ocala Horse Properties, led by Rob and Chris Desino, visited The Event at Rebecca Farm for the first time. In awe of the quality of the event, they felt that the entire eventing community, especially those on the East Coast of the United States, needed to make this event a part of their yearly competition plans. Inspired to take action Ocala Horse Properties announced during the 2021 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention that they would step up to provide two grants to make the trip possible for horse and rider combinations at the CCI4*-L and CCI3*-L levels. Ocala Horse Properties has a long history of supporting and sponsoring three-day eventing, but this is the first time that they have established a grant through the USEA Foundation.
The Ocala Horse Properties Rebecca Farm Flight Grant will be awarded annually to two (2) horse and rider combinations, one who is competing in the CCI3*-L and one in the CCI4*-L at The Event at Rebecca Farm. The riders must be USEA members residing in Areas I, II, III, or VIII at the time that they apply for the grant.
Learn more about the Ocala Horse Properties Rebecca Farm Flight Grant on the USEA Foundation website. Learn more about the Ocala Horse Properties here and The Event at Rebecca Farm here.
Being spontaneous has paid off for Kevin Keane and Sportsfield Candy. “I bought him on a Wednesday and showed him on a Thursday,” Keane recalls about his first event with his Irish Sport Horse gelding, then 9 years old, at Plantation Field Horse Trials (Unionville, Pennsylvania) in September 2016. “I owned him for part of a day, and the next morning I showed up at a CCI and jogged him up for a two-star, and we went clean and clean and clean.”
THANK YOU to everyone who has already entered the USEF/USEA Recognized CDCTA Spring Horse Trials scheduled for Sunday, April 9 in Berryville, VA. We will continue to take late entries through Friday, March 24 using USEA’s Xentry system. If you still want to come compete, please enter! The late fee has been waived through Friday, March 24.
The U.S. Equestrian Federation announces the appointment of long-term US Equestrian employee Hallye Griffin as Director of FEI Sport. Griffin will assume the duties of former Director of FEI/High-Performance Sport, Graeme Thom, who has chosen to step away from his role to attend to personal matters.
The United States Eventing Association, Inc. (USEA) is thrilled to announce that Sidelines Magazine will not only be returning as a “Media Partner of U.S. Eventing,” but they will also be supporting the Association as a “Contributing Level Sponsor of the USEA Emerging Athletes U21 Program” and a “Prize Level Sponsor of the USEA American Eventing Championships.” Sidelines Magazine will give the USEA additional promotion and exposure through their printed and digital media products, while also providing prizes for participants at the AEC and EA21 clinics.