United States Eventing Association

Ten Sessions You Won’t Want to Miss at the 2019 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention

With the 2019 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention fast approaching, you’ll be anxiously planning which sessions you want to attend once you arrive at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. From educational talks, open forums, and even interactive sessions, there is something for everyone at the 2019 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention. Take a look at some of the sessions you won’t want to miss!

Horsemanship Series II: Practical Advice to Optimize Horse Training

Thursday, December 12 | 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

The recent boom in affordable technology is providing new opportunities to better understand horses and to optimize their training. Fitness wearables, smartphones, and new research can be combined to answer questions that were previously barriers to ensuring horses were at their best for competition. This talk will provide an overview of key training concepts and provide practical advice for monitoring the equine athlete. Some data from Dr. Tim Worden’s past work analyzing FEI jumping horses will also be discussed

Problem Solving: Reason, Response, Recommendations, & Resolutions for Officials

Friday, December 13 | 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Speakers: Cindy Deporter, Gretchen Butts, John Michael Durr, Loris Henry, Marilyn Payne, Tim Murray

Officials have to deal with many types of situations on the field of play and during a competition. As we all know, there are many types of personalities that are involved in events as there are in all walks of life. This seminar is designed to provide officials with strategies in dealing with these types of personalities. Our customers in eventing are varied from the parents that know little to nothing about horses or the sport to the confirmed rider that makes their living riding, competing, and coaching to the harried organizer who is dealing with anything from a water break to ice on the pond to 10 inches of rain the night before. This session will be interactive with real-life scenarios.

Tai Chi for Riders

Friday, December 13 | 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Saturday, December 14 | 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Sunday, December 15 | 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Speaker: Matt Brown

Improve your balance, timing, and strength by using techniques from the ancient Chinese art of Tai Chi Chuan. Come learn from four-star eventer Matt Brown how to stay with your horse over those big drops, how to sit that extended trot, and how to control your horse without tension. This class will help you to increase your balance and partnership skills. The strength gained through this type of martial arts training can often be very useful to riders due to the increased flexibility, body awareness and posture that goes along with the training. For this reason, it can sometimes be more useful than more traditional forms of strength training. Come have fun working out your convention kinks and improve your riding while not in the saddle.

Adequan I.M.: Understanding the Facts!

Friday, December 13 | 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Speaker: Allyn Mann

You may think you know everything about the product but if you stop by you will benefit from the information being presented by Allyn Mann, who has much to share for those who attend. Adequan. Start with it. Stay with it.

Cultivating the Whole Equestrian

Friday, December 13 | 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Speakers: Emily Hamel and Tyler Held

The focus of this presentation will be mindfulness practice, how it ties into the core principles of mindset, fitness, nutrition, and community, and how these topics foster optimal performance in and out of the saddle. As equestrians, we invest a lot of time and energy making sure that our horses are in their best shape to compete and in doing so we often sweep our own needs to the side. By paying attention to the Whole Equestrian and investing in our own self-care, we believe we can enhance our lives with horses as a source of success and fulfillment regardless of outside circumstances.

Course Designers/Builders Open Forum

Friday, December 13 | 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Speaker: Morgan Rowsell

Bring all of your course designing and building questions to the Course Designers/Builders Open Forum to have them answered by the top professionals currently designing and building courses. This forum will focus on recent developments in frangible technology as well as other key factors relating to the design and building of cross-country courses.

Rider Biomechanics

Friday, December 13 | 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Speaker: Hannah Diebold

This session will cover assessing the suitability of the saddle for you, the rider, assessing the suitability of a saddle for your horse, fine tuning your saddle, how your saddle can support a balanced and secure position, identifying rider imbalance and when this is a symptom of an underlying saddle issue, and understanding the power of a quarterly saddle check.

Tips for Designing Cross-Country Schooling Courses at Home

Friday, December 13 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Speaker: Morgan Rowsell

Morgan Rowsell leads a session detailing tips for creating a safe cross-country schooling course on your own property. He will discuss details including footing, course maintenance, jump positioning, jump construction, and creating a schooling policy for your venue.

Feeding Strategies and Nutrition for the Sport Horse

Saturday, December 14 | 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Speaker: Jaclyn Gagnon

In this session, Jaclyn Gagnon will focus on how to build and maintain quality muscle through nutrition, understand the proper calorie sourcing for fueling different types of work, and tips to manage common situations encountered by performance horses.

Sports Massage for the Performance Horse

Saturday, December 14 | 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Speaker: Jo-Ann Wilson

This presentation will cover understanding the connection between problems in performance and the precise underlying muscle causing the problem, due to resistance from muscle tightness, identifying causes of muscle tightness and prevention, and solving and eliminating the resistance to specific movements in performance.

Details about these sessions and more are available on the USEA Convention website.

Registration is now open! Click here to register.

Reserve a room at the Sheraton Boston Hotel by clicking here to receive the special USEA rate.

For more information about the 2019 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention, click here or contact [email protected].

About the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention

The USEA Annual Meeting & Convention takes place each December and brings together a large group of dedicated USEA members and supporters to discuss, learn, and enjoy being surrounded by other eventing enthusiasts. The USEA organizes multiple seminars in addition to committee meetings, open forums, and tons of fun! The 2019 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention is taking place at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, December 12-15, 2019. Click here to learn more about the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention.