United States Eventing Association

Rule Refresher: Extraordinary Rule Changes Effective April 1, 2025

Equally as important as staying brushed up on your knowledge of the USEF Rules for Eventing, it is also important to stay up to date on any rule changes coming through the pipeline. In this month's edition of Rule Refresher, we are outlining the six extraordinary rule changes that will be going into effect on April 1, 2025. For more detailed information on these extraordinary rule changes, please refer to this document provided by USEF.

One thing to note is that five out of six of these extraordinary rule changes are GR or General Rules. General Rules apply to any of the sports that take part under the umbrella of US Equestrian/USEF. The last rule change is specific to the sport of eventing only and is labeled as EV, which stands for Eventing Division. You can view all of USEF's rules and regulations for both General and discipline specific rules here.

1) GR 414 limits the administration of Shock Wave Therapy to licensed veterinarians on competition grounds.

2) GR 414.8 prohibits the use or possession of a list of injectable substances and any injectable prescription medication without a manufacturer or compounding pharmacy label with all ingredients listed on competition grounds. It also makes it a prohibited practice to rectally administer any substances on USEF competition grounds.

3) GR 702.1 identifies failure to cooperate, and obstructing or delaying a Federation investigation as a violation.

4) GR 801.6 permits the use of equine and human biometric sensors that are minimal in design and meet specified criteria.

5) GR 839.1 prohibits the use of nosebands with abrasive interiors, except for rope and rawhide nosebands.

6) EV112.3 indicates a whip should be used to encourage the horse forward and never used to vent an athlete’s temper or as a reprimand.

Have a suggested rule change proposal? USEF Members may submit rule change proposals by logging in to their member account and using the online form.

Want to catch up on past rule refreshers? Click here.