The United States Eventing Association (USEA) Foundation serves as the administrator for numerous grants and scholarships, including the Rebecca Broussard Developing Rider Grant. On the evening of Saturday, September 7, 2024, the USEA Foundation was made aware of allegations of equine abuse, which included links to videos which appear to show a recipient of a Rebecca Broussard Developing Rider Grant striking a horse.
The USEA Foundation holds horse welfare as a central tenet of its mission and takes these allegations with the utmost seriousness. The allegations are deeply concerning, and we take this matter very seriously. Horse abuse in any form is unequivocally unacceptable and is not reflective of the values we seek to promote within the sport of eventing.
For over a decade the Broussard family, through the Broussard Family Charitable Foundation Trust, have supported educational opportunities for riders with international competitive aspirations. The Event at Rebecca Farm was the fulfillment of Becky’s vision of creating a world-class international facility for education and competition and 2011 marked the inauguration of the Rebecca Broussard Developing Rider Grant. These grants were the culmination of Becky’s dreams to create and fund a grant with the goal to inspire, advance the skills, educate, and expand the knowledge of developing riders at the international level.
The grant review process includes in person interviews, rider subcommittee input, reports from officials, and review of competitive records by a group of volunteer reviewers. The Rebecca Broussard Developing Rider Grant Review Committee takes this process very seriously. We are grateful for their work, and the contributions of the Broussards.
As part of the grant application process, any rider with open investigations or violations, including Yellow Cards, is automatically disqualified from consideration. At the time this Grant was awarded in December 2023, there were no records or available information that would have rendered the rider ineligible for the Grant.
The USEA Foundation remains dedicated to supporting the eventing community and will continue to ensure transparency and integrity in all of our grant processes.
Ride iQ’s popular “Ask An Expert” series features professional advice and tips from all areas of the horse industry. One of the most-downloaded episodes is an expert session with Peter Gray, an accomplished dressage judge and Olympic eventer. He has recently judged at events like the five-star at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, and he served on the ground jury at the 2022 FEI World Eventing Championships in Pratoni, Italy. His background as a competitor in the Olympic Games riding for Bermuda and as a coach and selector for the Canadian eventing team adds depth to his understanding of the sport.
With a total of 382 volunteer hours in 2024, Catherine “Cathy” Hale not only topped the USEA Area III VIP Volunteer leaderboard, but she also ranked fourth out of all eventing volunteers across the country. Hale (The Villages, Florida) has worked as a travel agent for over 30 years, a career that suits her love of travel nicely. At the time of being interviewed for this article, Hale was passing the equator on a cruise to Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia.
The USEA office will close at 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, and will reopen again on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. The USEA staff will return emails and phone calls when the office re-opens on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 or at their earliest convenience.
After the success of the first annual USEA Intercollegiate & Interscholastic Eventing Championships at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, members are not going to want to miss the second edition in 2025! Barry and Cyndy Olliff, owners of Stable View, and their team are gearing up for an even bigger and better event in the coming year. If you are a current or prospective member of the Intercollegiate Eventing Program or the Interscholastic Eventing League, be sure to block off the weekend of May 3-4, 2025 to attend these exciting Championships.