United States Eventing Association

Let the Countdown Begin – Two Months to the 2024 Intercollegiate & IEL Championships

The 2024 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship and inaugural USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) Championship are officially two months away, and the USEA is counting down the days to the start of competition on Saturday, May 4. For the first time, the Intercollegiate and IEL program championships will be hosted on the same weekend at the Stable View Local Charities H.T. in Aiken, South Carolina, on May 4-5, 2024. Keep reading for all you need to know about this exciting weekend of team competition!

Entries

Entries for the Championships open on Tuesday, March 19 and will close on Tuesday, April 16. The USEA anticipates significant interest in participating in the Championships, and entries are limited to a maximum of 400 competitors, so early entry is highly recommended to ensure your spot. All Collegiate Teams and IEL Affiliates are welcome and encouraged to enter to compete at the 2024 Championships. There are no qualifications necessary to enter, but teams represented must be registered Affiliates of the USEA. Don’t forget to submit your Collegiate Team Applications or IEL Application Form, along with your official team rosters, to Jennifer Hardwick, USEA Senior Director of Membership Services, at [email protected] as soon as possible to ensure your members are eligible to compete.

Tentative team rosters for the Championships are due no later than the closing date on April 16, and definite team rosters must be provided by 12:00 p.m. EST on Monday, April 29. For the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship, please submit your team rosters to Leslie Threlkeld, Chair of the Intercollegiate Eventing Committee, at [email protected]. For the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League Championship, please submit your team rosters to Chris Donovan, IEL Task Force member, at [email protected].

All collegiate participants must be enrolled as undergraduate students, or with their school’s approval, be no more than six months past the completion of their undergraduate education, allowing December graduates to compete in the May championship. Collegiate participants are also required to hold an active USEA Membership and be listed on the Intercollegiate Affiliate Roster for their respective college or university. If you attend an accredited university or college that isn’t currently listed on the Intercollegiate Eventing Program List, consider starting a new team by reviewing the program information here and submitting a Collegiate Team Application.

All IEL participants must be enrolled in 5^th through 12^th grade at a public school, private school, online school, or homeschool. Unlike the Intercollegiate Eventing Program, IEL Affiliates can be any group of junior riders who share a common bond—like riding at the same barn, competing with the same trainer, attending the same school, or being a part of the same Pony Club, for example. For a list of the current Interscholastic Eventing Affiliate Teams, please click here. If you are interested in starting a new IEL Affiliate, click here to learn more about the program and submit an IEL Application Form today.

Stable View will also be hosting an Alumni Team Challenge for any current Graduate students or college alumni that would like to participate in the fun. Any college alumni are welcome, not just alumni of the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program, and there is no age limit for participation. Competitors interested in participating in the Alumni Challenge can email Emma Young at [email protected] to establish their teams. Requests to participate are due by the closing date on April 16. This challenge is separate from the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships.

Schedule of Events

While the competition doesn’t start until Saturday, Stable View will host several activities on the afternoon of Friday, May 3 that competitors won’t want to miss. After the cross-country course opens for walking at 3:00 p.m., Intercollegiate and IEL teams will gather for the Parade of Teams and opening ceremony at 4:00 p.m. Breakout your best spirit wear and get creative with your teammates on your plans for entering Stable View’s main arena as the announcer introduces each team that will participate in the Championships. Each program will get their moment in the spotlight, and seniors of the Intercollegiate Eventing Program will also be honored in the ceremony as well. Afterwards, members will be invited to a Graze and Gaze party at the Pavilion pub for appetizers, drinks, and mingling with fellow competitors.

The Stable View Local Charities H.T. will offer divisions from Starter through Advanced, and Affiliates are welcome to field teams of three or four with members from varying levels of competition. On Saturday, all levels of competition will complete their dressage tests, and the jumping phases will begin as well. The upper levels will complete their show jumping phases on Saturday, while the lower-levels will tackle the cross-country courses. In the evening, Spirit Award contests will take center stage during the second Graze and Gaze party of the weekend. Start formulating your mechanical bull and hobby horse contest strategies, as each activity will be considerations for our final Spirit Award Championship, whose winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on the final day of competition.

On Sunday, each division will complete their remaining jumping phase before the final awards ceremony at the end of competition. During the awards ceremony, the top eight teams for each program will be honored and each championship title will be crowned. In addition, after tabulating the results of both competitions on Saturday evening, along with the barn decorating and pavilion window decorating contests, the Spirit Award Champions will be announced.

Travel & Accommodations

For those traveling to Aiken for the event, there are several ways to get to the venue. If you are driving, the easiest way to get to Stable View will be from I-20, where you will take exit #18 for Highway 19 for one mile, then turn left onto Highway 191 (Old Graniteville Rd) for 1.2 miles. Then, turn right onto Springfield Church Rd and Stable View’s entrance will be 1.5 miles ahead on your left. The GPS are Latitude: 33.6485426 and Longitude: -81.8000836.

For those interested in air travel, the nearest airports are the Augusta Regional Airport (AGS), which is 30 miles away, or the Columbia Metropolitain Airport (CAE), which is 50 miles from the venue. Both airports are serviced by major airlines like American Airlines, Delta, and United (CAE only).

Stable View has limited accommodations available on-site, including multi-bedroom bungalows, apartments, and single bedroom Hunt Boxes. For those interested in booking housing on-site, please click here or contact the venue directly at [email protected]. The closest hotels to the venue are the Carriage House, the Fairfield Inn & Suites Aiken, Holiday Inn Express & Suites: Aiken, or the Hilton Garden Inn Aiken. AirBnB and VRBO also have several local rental options.

Stay in the Know

If you are planning to compete in the 2024 Intercollegiate and IEL Championships, sign up to join the Stable View WhatsApp group for the Championships. Click here or scan the QR code to the right to join the group. The team at Stable View will post regular updates and share news related to the championships in this group chat, so members will be first to know about all the exciting updates as the event takes shape.

Any questions regarding the Intercollegiate Eventing Program or Interscholastic Eventing League and the upcoming 2024 Championships can be directed to USEA Staff Liaison Kaleigh Collett at [email protected].

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 at universities and colleges registered as Affiliates with the USEA. Many events across the country offer Intercollegiate Team Challenges where collegiate eventers can compete individually or 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 Intercollegiate Eventing Championship is a capstone event for the program, which is held annually in the spring. The 2024 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship will be held at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, on May 4-5. Click here to learn more about the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, Horse & Country, Kerrits, U.S. Equestrian, WeRideTogether, and World Equestrian Brands for sponsoring the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program.

About the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL)

In August 2020, the USEA Board of Governors approved the creation of the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) as an official program of the USEA. The mission of IEL is to unite junior riders who are in the 5th—12th grade and provide a supportive community through which students can continue to pursue their riding interests. A group of junior members in the 5th—12th grade who share a common bond, such as the same barn, school, Pony Club, or other connection, can register with the USEA as an IEL Affiliate. The USEA Board of Governors recently approved an inaugural IEL Championship to kick-off in 2024 at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, which will be held in conjunction with the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships on May 4-5, 2024. Click here to learn more about the Interscholastic Eventing League.

The USEA would like to thank Kerrits and Horse & Country for sponsoring the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League.