United States Eventing Association

Meet the Teams of the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship

It’s time to meet the teams of the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship! A total of 90 horses, 16 schools, and 23 teams will be competing at the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship on May 18-19 at Chattahoochee Hills Horse Trials.

Auburn University is coming back with three full teams to defend their 2018 championship title. The 2018 spirt award winners, the University of Kentucky, will also have three teams. Florida State University and the University of Louisville will be making their championship debut, and a new division was introduced to this year’s championship – the graduate division. With a new location, new schools, and a new division, the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship will be one for the records.

Before the action starts, find out which championship rider is ‘most likely to pick up the wrong lead,’ ‘the pre-med nerd,’ or ‘most likely to stalk a celebrity,’ in the Meet the Teams preview.

“The last hoorah before we part ways for the summer,” said the University of Kentucky. “The ultimate marker for how much we have grown as a team,” said the University of Florida. “It will be our first year participating in the [USEA] Intercollegiate Eventing Championship,” said the University of Louisville. Read what the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship means to each school.

Auburn University: The Championship are special because we get to travel as a team, decorate, and cheer for each other in a way we usually don’t get to. Eventing is an individual sport, but being able to make it about teams is so much fun and makes our team closer!

University of Alabama: This championship means the world to our team. We have gone through a lot to get our team here, and have really turned the team around from years past. We have the best group of strong and dedicated girls. We have all worked so hard this year to make it our best year ever. Winning the national championship would be the icing on the cake to an amazing year that we have had, and would motivate us for the years to come!

University of Kentucky: The Intercollegiate Championship means a lot to UK Eventing, as it’s such a fantastic way to be able to come together as a team (in an event that would normally be an individual competition) and showcase our school spirit. We love being able to show off our riders at all levels, while competing on the same playing field in the team competition. The Championship is the “last hoorah” for a lot of our riders before we part ways for the summer and for lots of our members champs is the college equivalent of AEC or NAYC, and is a fantastic way to showcase and support our riders at their pinnacle event of the year.

Texas A&M University: This will be the third time the team will be attending the Intercollegiate Championship and we can't wait to showcase all the hard work and long hours we've put in with our partners in crime.

Bridgewater College: The Championship is a great opportunity for us to spend time with our families, horses, and coach! Thank you to everyone who helped us get here!

Clemson University: The Championship is what our team works and prepares for all year. After placing two of our three teams in the top six last year, we have been working hard to try and fight our way back to the top of the podium. Additionally, we view the Championship not as a single responsibility for each person, but a time to bring together all of the team support from throughout the year. All around, our goal is to represent Clemson in the best way possible and provide inspiration for other young riders around the country that want to continue their riding career throughout college.

Transylvania University: The Championship is a great team bonding experience. This particular group of riders has been together for several years now, so this is kind of one last hurrah before the seniors graduate. Luckily, we have a great group of underclassmen to carry the team forward in years to come!

USC-Aiken: For us, the Intercollegiate Championship is a way for our team to work together and become more united as a whole. the Championship is a chance to celebrate the hard work each member on our team puts in each and every day to continue to improve their riding while also balancing school and other responsibilities. The Championship is a reminder that we need our teammates to lean on and it is a chance to show how powerful that camaraderie can be under the pressure of competition.

University of The South: The Championship is a way for us to get our team out there and compete with teams we haven’t seen before. It is also a culmination of the entire year of competition. We are looking forward to meeting new people and of course, doing our best.

University of Findlay: While having a relatively young eventing program, this is our first year having a full team to compete at the Championship. It means a lot to be able to represent the university amongst other competitive collegiate eventing teams.

University of Florida: UF is very grateful to be able to send a team to compete again this year! The Intercollegiate Championship is the ultimate marker for how much we have grown as a team and we can’t wait to represent the Gator Nation.

Florida State University: We are so excited to be attending the Championship for the first time! When we heard that the Championship would be in Georgia this year, we made it our goal to prepare throughout the year and send a team. We are always recruiting, and this Fall we were thrilled to welcome some new members who were excited to compete. We were lucky to have dedicated, passionate founding members who laid the groundwork of the club for us. Over the past couple of years, we have worked diligently to preserve and build that. For us, attending the Championship is representative of that.

University of Louisville: The Championship is a very important and exciting event for our team. This is the third year our team has been in existence and it will be our first year participating in the Intercollegiate Championship. Being able to attend this event has shown how our team continues to grow and improve, and we cannot wait to represent the University of Louisville in the eventing community!

North Carolina State: Eventing at NC State is a newer, smaller team (founded in 2016 with 11 competing members), so to have a full team willing and able to travel down to Chattahoochee Hills to compete is a big deal for us!

Good luck to all the championship competitors this weekend!

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. Click here to learn more about the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.

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