United States Eventing Association

The U.S. Eventing Association and The Professional Riders Organization Form Partnership to Promote Eventing

The USEA and PRO are delighted to announce the two organizations are forming a partnership to create greater promotion of the sport by focusing on a joint promotional effort of the Adequan USEA Gold Cup and the PRO Tour Series. During the past few years the two series have been run on separate divisions at the Advanced and CIC3* levels at selected events with PRO including some CCI3* competitions in its series. In 2013, the programs will both run on the same division which will eliminate the need for riders to make a decision as to which division to enter.

USEA and PRO will closely collaborate on cross-marketing and cross-promotion of the two programs sharing the responsibilities of providing high quality media coverage at each of the competitions. USEA will feature videos of the competitions on its newly launched USEventing.tv and publish in-depth articles in Eventing USA. PRO will continue to provide its very popular color commentary by the riders and other special events that have become a highlight of the PRO Tour Series. Each organization will continue to maintain their own leaderboards and promote their respective sponsors.

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup will now consist of 11 qualifying competitions at the Advanced Horse Trials and CIC3* levels, with the Final at the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships, September 26-29 in Tyler, Texas. The $40,000 AEC Advanced division will serve as the designated division and the winner of the division will be named the 2013 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champion. The horse and rider pair must complete at least one Gold Cup qualifier to be eligible to compete in the AEC Advanced division and earn the chance to be the keeper of the cup and take home a major chunk of the $40,000.

The PRO Tour Series has expanded its schedule of competitions in 2013 to include 13 events with the addition of Jersey Fresh, Chattahoochee Hills and Aspen Farms and will continue to incorporate CCI3*s in its schedule. Many of the venues include exciting mini competitions and demonstrations provided by the PRO riders such as the popular PRO Bareback Jumping competitions, “Meet the Riders” sessions, course walks and kids on foot show jumping and rider Q & A’s photo and autograph opportunities among the other features.

“The USEA is delighted to be working so closely with PRO to promote our sport,” said Jo Whitehouse, USEA CEO. “Each organization brings very special strengths to the table and it only makes sense to combine our promotional expertise using these two high profile programs in our efforts to increase public interest in Eventing. Our goal is that everyone, owners, organizers, and riders alike can gain some benefit from these programs. ”

“We’ve been talking for some time about both organizations working together in a way that would make sense for the sport and add to the competitive and spectator experience at each event,” said Samantha Lendl, PRO Executive Director. “Each organization has unique strengths that complement each other. Our partnership will allow us to promote the Eventing at a much higher level and offer a consistent world class sporting experience to competitors, organizers, owners, sponsors, patrons and spectators.”

2013 Adequan USEA Gold Cup & PRO Tour Series Schedule

PRO MEDIA CONTACT:
Samantha Lendl
[email protected]

USEA MEDIA CONTACT:
Leslie Mintz
[email protected]