The Whidbey Island Horse Trials lost the ability in 2019 to run a recognized event on the property where we have been operating since the mid-1990s, forcing the painful decision to cancel the 2019 horse trials. Since late summer last year, planning was in the works for our 2020 Horse Trials to be held at a new beautiful location in the prairie farmland outside of Coupeville. Preliminary agreements were in place with the landowner, site plans had been developed, and our course designer had approved of the site’s potential. This property, like a large proportion of the agricultural land in this area, has conservation easements on it to prevent development and maintain the rural character of the prairie. The easements on this property also have provisions for equestrian trails and the landowner did not anticipate that the horse trials use would conflict in any way with the purpose of the easements. Lawyers for the Land Trust, however, determined that our event would not be allowed under the terms of their agreement with the landowners – this terrible news was just conveyed to us in February, forcing us to scramble to find an alternative plan or cancel the competition once again.
The good news is that a promising alternative event site has already been identified. We feel, however, that there are too many risks to our ability to deliver a quality event in just four months at a site where we are still working out contractual details and where we will still need to submit for County permits and construct trails, courses, and fencing. Additionally, changing sites at this late date is a violation of USEF GR302 which requires notice 240 days in advance of a competition location change. It is with great sadness and disappointment that we convey this development to our wonderful competitors and supporters. While we were operating in good faith believing that we would be able to deliver on our commitment to run the Whidbey Island Horse Trials in 2020, we understand that for competitors this is frustrating. As we did in 2019, we plan to instead to offer a schooling event in place of a recognized event in July 2020 and our very popular back-to-back one days in September 2020.
We remain resolute and committed to continuing to offer a quality eventing experience on Whidbey Island in 2021 and beyond, just as we had for more than 40 years in the past. Thank you - we are very grateful for your support of our ongoing effort.
What’s a Hunter Pace? The Sherwood Forest Equestrian Center's Hunter Pace is a cross-country-style course around Sherwood Forest over various natural obstacles/terrain. The course ends with a final treat for riders to take in stunning views of Mt. Hood with a loop through the old Far Hill Farms field. The beginning of the course will first start with a warm-up loop around show jumping obstacles in the outdoor ring at Sherwood Forest and then riders will continue directly onto the course. Sign up as a solo rider, pair, or team.
Claire Allen remembers when she was 11 years old, having just made the switch from the hunter/jumper ring to three-day eventing. She told her new eventing trainer that her goal was to one day compete in the United States Equestrian Federation’s Eventing Young Rider Championships.
As he was finishing tacking up his horse in preparation to navigate the cross-country course at the 2024 Twin Rivers Summer Horse Trials, James Alliston expressed concern about navigating the 101 Freeway. That’s because as soon as he crossed the finish line aboard Intermediate level winner Addyson (Ampere x Nickerbocker) at 10:38 a.m. on Saturday—his fifth cross-country round of the morning with three at Preliminary and two at Intermediate—the West Coast-based five-star rider had to drive 185 miles on the 101 Freeway from Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, California, to San Francisco International Airport to catch a 4:35 p.m. flight to Frankfurt, Germany.
There is so much more to proper grooming than keeping your horse picture-perfect for the horse inspection. Good grooming practices are critical to proper horse management, no matter if you are planning for your next FEI appearance or your Starter level debut. To help you maximize your knowledge of grooming practices, we opened up the opportunity for USEA members to submit any questions they might have on our Instagram and Facebook stories. In this week's episode, Host Nicole Brown sits down with three of the highest-regarded grooms in this industry, Max Corcoran, Emma Ford, and Stephanie Simpson, and asks them all of your questions and more to help you perfect the art of grooming.