United States Eventing Association

Rule Refresher: Submitting an Inquiry, Protest, or Appeal

There may come a time at a competition where you wish to submit an inquiry, protest, or appeal, and it is important for you to understand the difference between the three and how to go about handling each scenario. Luckily, the USEF Rules for Eventing has clear outlines on how to do so. Let's take a look at the current regulations as of today's publish date to see how to handle these situations should they arise.

Text has been taken directly from the USEF Rules for Eventing with emphasis added by the USEA.

EV115 Inquiries, Protests, and Appeals

1. INQUIRIES. The Athlete, a parent or guardian of an Athlete under 18 years old, the owner of the Horse, or
the owner’s agent, may inquire about any perceived irregularity or scoring during the Event. Inquiries may
be addressed to the Organizer, Ground Jury, or Technical Delegate.

2. PROTESTS. The Athlete, a parent or guardian of an Athlete under 18 years old, the owner of the Horse, or the owner’s agent authorized in writing, are entitled to lodge a protest. Protests must be addressed to the
President of the Ground Jury. Protests must be in writing, signed, delivered to the event secretary, and
accompanied by a fee made payable to the Organizer, which will be refunded if the protest (or subsequent
appeal) is upheld.

3. TIME LIMITS FOR PROTESTS. Protests must be lodged within the following time limits:

Protest	Time Limit
Eligibility of a Horse or Athlete	If challenged prior to the start of the Event, the protest must be lodged not later than one hour prior to the start of the Event. If the protest is not made prior to the start of the Event, the Federation may, in its sole discretion, retroactively apply ineligibility but only within the same competition year as the Event at which the eligibility of the Horse or Athlete is being challenged.
Condition of the Dressage arena	Not later than one hour before the start of the relevant phase
Cross-Country – Obstacle(s), course length, course condition, etc.	Not later than 6 p.m. the day before the start of the phase
Show Jumping – Obstacle(s), course length, condition of arena, etc.	Not later than 15 minutes before the start of the relevant phase
Incidents during the Event or scoring (except errors as noted below)	Not later than 30 minutes after the results of the relevant results are posted
Mathematical or transcription errors	Not later than 3 p.m. the day following the last day of the Event

4. APPEALS. An appeal against a ruling of the Ground Jury must be lodged within one hour of the
announcement of the Ground Jury’s determination. Appeals must be addressed to the Organizer, in writing,
signed, and delivered to the event secretary.

5. VIDEO. As an exception to GR1219, and in addition to Official Video as defined in GR150, unaltered video or
still photography is permitted for consideration by the Ground Jury and Technical Delegate for a Cross-Country field of play decision.

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