United States Eventing Association

The United States Eventing Association, Inc. (USEA) is thrilled to announce Santa Cruze Animal Health as a “Bronze Sponsor of the American Eventing Championships (AEC),” “Sponsor of the Adult Team Championships,” as well as a support sponsor of the AEC volunteers. They will provide gift certificates for the top three teams in the Adult Team Championship divisions and 350 UltraCruz Natural Fly & Tick sprays and coupons for the AEC Volunteers!

If you’ve ridden at Fair Hill International (Elkton, Maryland) in the last decade, you’ve most likely ridden at an event put on with the help of volunteer Dennis Davis. Davis and his wife, Bobbie Davis, have been volunteering at Fair Hill for the last 11 years.

You might not know her name, but chances are, if you’ve competed at an event in South Carolina, Virginia, or other venues across the eastern United States, you’ve met Diane Bird.

Do you have plans to attend the USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds at the Kentucky Horse Park this Aug. 27 – Sept. 1? Make your mark on the event by signing up to volunteer! Volunteer positions are open to everyone, including competitors, trainers, owners, fans, friends, and family that are making the trip to Lexington, Kentucky, later this summer, and the USEA highly encourages its members to find the time in their busy schedules to give back. These Championships cannot run without the support of hundreds of volunteers that donate their time.

There are a lot of moving parts behind every horse trial, but one of the most important facets to an event running smoothly is the dedication of the volunteers working the event. Let’s face it, our sport would not be what it is without the time offered up by these individuals. Without the contributions of volunteers, it would be impossible for an event to operate in the way that it needs to and at a cost that competitors could afford. That is why it is so important that we continue to not only recognize the amazing volunteers who give up their weekends to support our sport, but also carve out time in our schedules to volunteer as well and give back to the sport in that manner.

Stuart Landrum and Laurie Garner have been helping direct riders to the dressage ring at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event for nearly 30 years, maintaining a calm and collected atmosphere for each pair in the final warmup ring before they head down the chute to the Rolex Stadium.

Since the mid-’80s, lifelong horsewoman and professional artist Debra Sue Waters has devoted countless hours to the sport of eventing, and last year topped the rankings of the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program in Area V. Assisting behind the scenes at an event just comes naturally to the Millsap, Texas, resident.

For the second year of the program, the United States Eventing Association (USEA) is proud to award free Digital Memberships to qualified participants of the Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP) that completed 10 or more hours of volunteer service through EventingVolunteers.com in 2023. The Digital Membership, which was introduced in January of last year, serves as a “thank you” to the loyal volunteers in our sport for their dedication to supporting events around the country throughout the year.

This past year has been a great one for eventing in the U.S., but it was also an amazing year for members of the USEA’s Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP). Over the course of 191 events which utilized eventingvolunteers.com to track volunteer hours, an impressive 4,134 volunteers dedicated 70,720 hours of volunteer time to horse trials across the country. The Volunteer Incentive Program, which was formed in 2015, was created to recognize the USEA’s dedicated volunteers through national and area leaderboards which award year-end awards and prizes. Here are the volunteers that topped the leaderboards across the 2023 season!

With 850 competitors on the roster, putting on this year’s USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds was no easy task. And like all other horse trials in the U.S., the AEC still relies heavily on the efforts of volunteers to bring its efforts to fruition. Over 750 volunteer shifts were filled over the course of the 7-day-long competition by an outstanding 300-plus volunteers. Those volunteers hailed from all over the country, with 30% of the final volunteer number driving in from out of state. Eventing enthusiasts flew in from each coast to help make this event a special one for the qualified competitors this year. While on grounds, the USEA caught up with a handful of these spectacular individuals to get the down low on why they opted to volunteer at this year’s national championships.