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.
The Spokane Sport Horse 10th Annual Fall H.T. hosted three USEA Classic Series divisions from Sept. 26-29 at Spokane Sport Horse Farm in Spokane, Washington. We caught up with some of the winners to learn more about their experiences.
This year’s USEA Area VII Championships took place across two weekends with the Intermediate, Preliminary, Training, Novice, and Beginner Novice levels taking place at the Aspen Farm Horse Trials in Yelm, Washington, from Sept. 13-15, and the Starter level running as part of the Spokane Sport Horse Farm Horse Trials in Spokane, Washington, from Sept. 27-29. There were 13 new Area VII Champions crowned across the various championship divisions. Get to know each of them a little bit better below!
Sixteen-year-old Izzy Lenk (Clarksburg, Maryland) loves eventing and absorbs any opportunity she can that allows her to be further involved in the sport. She recently just wrapped up a month-long working student stint with her trainer Woods Baughman in Lexington, Kentucky, and participated in the Young Rider Mentorship Program at the Young Rider Eventing Championships. She is especially proud, however, of her ongoing efforts of supporting the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) Club that she founded, the East Coast Eventers.
The United States Eventing Association (USEA) American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds (AEC) is the annual national championship for every level of the Olympic equestrian sport of eventing. The USEA is officially accepting bids for the following service providers at the 2025 USEA AEC which takes place Aug. 26-31, at Galway Downs in Temecula, California.