The Whidbey Island Horse Trials announced yesterday that they sadly will not be able to run a USEA recognized event in 2019.
"We have been keenly aware of the speculation surrounding the fate of the event and only held off from this decision as we worked to exhaust all our options with hope that we could offer this event in 2019," said a statement on the Whidbey Island Horse Trials website. "We know you look forward to and make plans early for joining us and we are sorry for any inconvenience that this change presents." The Whidbey Island Horse Trials is working on plans to offer an unrecognized event the same weekend that the horse trials would typically run.
"Whidbey Island Horse Trials does not own the land where the event is held and while we have a lease for about 50 acres of land, in order to run a recognized event, we must utilize adjacent farmland for stabling, dressage rings, and cross-country tracks and have done so since the mid-1990's under agreement with the farmers that cultivate the land," the statement continued. "Changes in recent years to farming activities have led to us being restricted to only having use of our 50 acres and the single lane South Access Drive."
Whidbey Island plans to return to the USEA recognized eventing calendar in 2020 at an alternate site. "Our long-term goal is to acquire a permanent event site and we will be looking to our eventing community's support in our effort to raise funds that will guarantee a permanent home for the Whidbey Island Horse Trials. Whidbey Island Horse Trials is the longest running event in Area VII - our first event ran in 1974. When we were forced to relocate in 1996, we also had a pause, and just like in 1997, we will be back in 2020."
Riders in both the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S and the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L are sharing similar sentiments about this year's cross-country courses: course designer Derek di Grazia didn't play around this year. Here is what some of the riders across both divisions had to say about the tracks they will aim to conquer on Saturday.
Off The Record decided not to let Michael Jung be the only record-breaking entry at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this week and delivered a career-best score in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S on Friday morning. He and Will Coleman delivered a test that received a score of 21.8, not only marking a personal best for the horse but also securing their position at the top of the leaderboard going into cross-country tomorrow.
Boyd Martin and the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 were the last pair to go in the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L field on Friday afternoon and were warmly greeted to the bluegrass with an impressive downpour that outshined anything the other horse and rider pairs had to combat throughout the day. But that didn’t stop this pair from putting their best foot forward and impressing the judges enough to earn them a score of 26.0, just 0.2 points ahead of second-place pair Tom McEwen (GBR) and Brookfield Quality.
Please always remain vigilant when it comes to sending any personal communications via email or text. Every year we receive reports of members and leaders of our sport receiving phishing attempts both online and by phone. These are often communications disguised as being sent from USEA staff or other leaders. As the years go on, the phishing attempts appear to be more directed and tailored.