At the 2021 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention, the Adult Riders committee led an open forum featuring guest speakers Asia Vedder and Dr. Kevin Keane, both busy and active eventers. Throughout the forum, Vedder and Keane answer several questions on juggling work, life, and eventing to help fellow adult riders find creative ways to make all of the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
Keane, a high-level veterinarian based in Area II who has previously acted as a Team Veterinarian for three countries and has competed up to the five-star level, put together the acronym DRAFTS for key points of consideration for adult riders which stands for:
Discipline
Riding Program
Ability
Funding
Time Management
Suitability
Vedder, who has a lifelong history in horses from competing in showjumping to working with racehorses and steeplechase horses, now works for her family ranch and competes at the three-star level of eventing. She offered some different perspectives as a California resident: "I am not in a barn or a program, I am doing this on my own most of the time. So all of Kevin's points are amazing and I wish I was in a program where are of those points were dictated for me, but I have to create all of that myself. I go for a lesson probably once a week, if I can do two I will but I have to choose between taking a dressage lesson or a jump lesson so I often am jumping on my own with my father, usually setting for me."
Check out the entire Open Forum replay here and see what practices Keane and Vedder suggest that you can implement into your own program.
The United States Eventing Association (USEA) is pleased to announce the addition of the Modified Rider division beginning at the 2023 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC), presented by Nutrena Feeds. The USEA AEC will move back to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky August 29–September 3, 2023.
Are you interested in competing in the sport of eventing but aren’t quite sure how to get started? Do you have a horse that is looking for a new career? Consider participating in a USEA New Event Horse (NEH) competition in 2023! The USEA NEH Program was created to be an introduction to the sport of eventing for both horse and rider, and the 2023 NEH Calendar is now available here.
Will Coleman had a huge 2022 with his string of horses, including a team silver medal at the FEI World Eventing Championship in Italy on Off The Record and top four-star placings with Chin Tonic HS, but it was Dondante whose consistency paid off to earn the Standlee Premium Western Forage USEA Horse of the Year title.
Julie Murray has loved horses since she could breathe, so when her daughters showed an interest in Pony Club and then eventing, she was thrilled to go along for the ride.
Murray started volunteering at the Fallbrook Pony Club near her home in Fallbrook, California, serving as an intermediate district commissioner.