Welcome to the 2020 USEA Virtual Convention! This week, the USEA will be hosting a series of interactive live webinars on a variety of topics and release several on demand educational videos and written articles, all in the lead-up to the 2020 USEA Virtual Annual Meeting & Keynote Address on Saturday, December 12 at 2:00 p.m. EST.
The Convention Daily will be released every morning and will serve as your handy-dandy guide to that day's Convention schedule and other important information. Keep it locked on the USEA website and social media to stay in the loop!
Live Webinars
Coming to you live today at 12:00 p.m. EST is the Rules Open Forum - typically one of the most popular sessions at the USEA Convention - led by Malcolm Hook of the USEA Competitions, Calendar, and Rules Committee. The Rules Open Forum will discuss changes to the USEF Rules for Eventing for the upcoming competition season. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear which changes are coming and why they are in place.
Click here to access the Rules Open Forum Zoom Webinar. Can't watch today at 12:00 p.m.? The Rules Open Forum will be available on demand later today on the USEA website.
Closed committee meetings will also take place for the YEH Committee (3:00 p.m. EST), the ICP Committee (4:00 p.m. EST), and the Organizers Committee (7:00 p.m. EST). The full convention schedule can be viewed here.
On Demand Content
For today's on demand content, we have two videos lined up for you. The first is from the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. Dr. Lauren Schnabel, an Associate Professor of Equine Orthopedic Surgery at North Carolina State University's Comparative Medicine Institute, discusses the therapeutic use of stem cells for tendon and ligament injuries.
The second video will feature Martin Douzant of The Frame Sport Horses explaining his process of backing young horses from start to finish. The video focuses on the backing process of Daedalus WG (Doctor Wendall MF x Blumins Best) a 3-year-old Oldenburg gelding, bred by Eileen Pritchard-Bryan, owned by Will Duhring, and ridden by Meghan O’Donoghue.
Virtual Annual Meeting
The 2020 USEA Annual Meeting & Keynote Address will be held virtually this year on Saturday, December 12 at 2:00 p.m. EST. The event is free to attend, but you must be a current 2021 USEA Member. Invitations to register for the 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting will be sent out on Thursday, December 10, so please join or renew your membership by Wednesday, December 9 to receive the registration invitation. More information about registering for the Annual Meeting is available here.
Following the Annual Meeting of Members, we have an exciting keynote address featuring the 2020 World Equestrian Brands USEA Rider of the Year Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp and British five-star eventer Piggy March. Moderated by Nicole Brown of the EquiRatings Eventing Podcast and USEA Official Podcast, Halliday-Sharp and March will speak about their respective successes and what it has taken to reach them. Start preparing your questions now and learn more about our keynote speakers here.
Voting
In addition to attending the 2020 USEA Annual Meeting, members should participate by exercising their right to vote! If you are attending the Annual Meeting, voting will be done ahead of the meeting through an online ballot system and votes will be tabulated just before the Annual Meeting. Members should enter their USEA member login to access the online ballot and all ballots should be submitted by Friday, December 11. Click here to submit your online ballot.
You should only vote using the online ballot if you will be in attendance at the Annual Meeting. If you will not be attending the Annual Meeting, we encourage you to vote by proxy. Log in to Online Services and select the "Member Proxy Form" link from the Membership section and follow the instructions to submit your proxy electronically.
Zoom
You will need to have the Zoom app installed on your computer in order to participate in any of our interactive live sessions and the Annual Meeting. The app will begin downloading automatically when you click to join your first Zoom Webinar, or you can click here to download the app in advance.
Helpful Links
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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! Click here to learn more about the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention.
The USEA would like to thank the USEA Corporate Partners and Annual Meeting Sponsors for making this year's virtual meeting possible: Nutrena Feeds, Standlee Hay, SmartPak Equine, Mountain Horse, Bates Saddles, Parker Equine Insurance, Adequan, and Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.
The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) is pleased to announce the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team for the FEI Eventing Nations Cup Poland CCIO4*-NC-S at the Strzegom Horse Trials (Poland) from June 21-25, 2023. The team will be under the direction of USEF Eventing Emerging and Development Coach Leslie Law.
The United States Eventing Association, Inc. (USEA) is excited to announce the launch of the USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) New Judge Education Program. Qualifying candidates, who are no longer required to hold a USEF judge’s license, will be encouraged to sign up to participate in the YEH New Judge Education Program to receive certification to judge the Jumping and Galloping phases of Young Event Horse competitions.
USEA podcast host Nicole Brown is joined by Dr. Barry Miller of the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab and Catherine Winter of Ride EquiSafe for an important, informative, and engaging discussion about helmet safety. For more than a decade, the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab has investigated helmets in football, cycling, equestrian sports, and more, collecting more than 2 million data points related to injury and biomechanics research.
If a horse doesn’t have a proven eventing record, those interested in finding their next eventing partner must use other criteria to evaluate a horse’s potential in the sport. Understanding and appraising a horse’s conformation can be a way to look into a crystal ball for that horse’s future suitability for eventing.