United States Eventing Association

Two Weeks Away! Prizes, a Spirit Award, and More at the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships

The countdown is on! The 2022 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships will take place later this month starting with the opening ceremony on Friday night, May 20, and ending with the awards ceremony on Sunday, May 22.

The event offers Beginner Novice through Advanced level and will run Saturday and Sunday. Entries for the 2022 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships at Chattahoochee Hills H.T. closed on Tuesday, May 3. But, if teams have not sent in their championship team rosters, please do so immediately. All team rosters and graduate team rosters should be sent to Leslie Threlkeld at [email protected].

Ribbons and Prizes:

This year, Championship ribbons will be awarded to the top eight teams. Ribbons will also be awarded to the top two teams in the graduate division. Each team member on the Champion and Reserve Champion teams will receive a custom engraved award tray. Additionally, the top three teams of the Championship (undergraduate division) will be awarded a lovely array of prizes including engraved leather leads from U.S. Equestrian, $100 FITS gift certificates, Bates luggage kits, show coats, and certificates from Kerrits, and more.

The senior plaques will be awarded to every senior student attending the 2022 Championships. These plaques will be presented during the opening ceremony. Please email Leslie Threlkeld at [email protected] to let her know how many seniors from your school will be attending.

Spirit Award Criteria:

The Spirit Award will return! A series of judged competitions will occur during the show weekend. Points for each competition will be awarded as follows: 1st place: 5 points, 2nd place: 3 points, 3rd place: 2 points, participating team: 1 point. All contests will be judged by the Chattahoochee Hills Organizing Committee. Points will be awarded per school and official scores will be displayed on the show scoreboard. The team that accumulates the most amount of points over the weekend wins.

• Friday Night Relay Race: A relay team will be made up of three individuals (each school may enter multiple teams). It will be a relay race over fences and obstacles with the best time winning. Students need to bring stick ponies for the race. Please note that the course may change based upon ring availability.
• Most Spirited Cross-Country Crowd: A combined score will be given based on the most spirited fans watching cross-country (including tailgaters). The judges will be judging quality over quantity.
• Stall/Barn Decorations: Team decorations will be judged after cross-country on Saturday.
• Saturday Night Competitors Party: Teams will perform a song, group, or individual act (three-minute maximum to entertain the crowd). Please provide any music to be used via flash drive and please email the song to [email protected] so it can be downloaded.

Eligibility for Championships:

There are no qualifications necessary to compete in these Championships, but there are two requirements. First, the student must be registered as a USEA Collegiate Member and enrolled as an undergraduate student. Undergraduate students may compete in the Championships up to six months after graduating, allowing December graduates to compete in the May Championships. Second, the school must be an affiliate of the USEA. Every school has to renew each year, click here to renew for 2022.

If an undergraduate student is not on the official team roster, please update the team roster before the Championships. Send all updated team rosters to Jennifer Hardwick at [email protected].

The USEA will offer a graduate division at Championships which will allow current graduate students to compete in their own division. In addition to graduate students, the 2021 seniors who were unable to compete in the 2021 Championships due to their school’s COVID-19 restrictions will be allowed to compete in the graduate division as well.

College Row at LRK3DE:

Apart from the upcoming USEA Intercollegiate Championships, there was a College Row Tailgate that took place on Saturday, April 30 during cross-country at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. Schools were awarded on the tailgate with the best food, best drink, and best décor and the judges of this contest were the USEA CEO, Rob Burk, and the USEA Intercollegiate Committee members, Jordan Litter and Kate Boggan. Please see the results below.

• Best Food: University of Kentucky Eventing Team
• Best Drink: Virginia Tech Eventing Team
• Best Décor: University of Findlay Eventing Team

A special mention for the best prop goes to Clemson Eventing Team.

About the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program

The USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program was established in 2014 to provide a framework within which eventing teams and individual competitors could flourish at universities and colleges across the country. The USEA offers a discount of $25 on annual USEA memberships for current students of universities and colleges registered as Affiliates with the USEA. Many events across the country now offer Intercollegiate Team Challenges where collegiate eventers can compete individually as well as on teams with their fellow students. In Intercollegiate Team Challenges, each rider’s score is multiplied by a coefficient appropriate for their level to account for differences in level difficulty, and then the individual scores are added together to determine the team score. Click here to learn more about the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, FITS, Kerrits, USEF, and World Equestrian Brands for sponsoring the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.