What should students pack for the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships? School spirit, support, and sportsmanship! These intangible qualities can come in various forms, from a miniature pony mascot to matching saddle pads. In just over two weeks, on May 18-19, students will travel to Fairburn, Georgia for the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships at the Chattahoochee Hills Horse Trials.
Last year, the University of Kentucky (UK) won the coveted Spirit Award that rewards each team member with a refund on their entry fee. For the University of Kentucky, the team spirit went further than the decorations hung on their stalls. Behind the school memorabilia was a team who supported one another, had fun, and remained positive throughout the weekend.
“[In 2017] we saw how underprepared we were,” said Mia Fox, a student at the University of Kentucky. Coming back with a vengeance, the University of Kentucky stepped up their school pride and Fox explained the team’s preparation for the 2018 Intercollegiate Championships. “We set up meetings and planned out every last detail down to the socks.” Fellow UK student Jackie LeMastus added, “We wanted to show that we’re a team with a lot of spirit and have a lot of fun.”
School spirit items include:
*Please keep in mind that everything on this list is optional and based on what other teams have brought to championships in previous years.
As the 2019 Intercollegiate Championships has changed location, so has the spirit award criteria. 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 accumulated the most amount of points over the weekend wins.
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 FITS, RideSafe, World Equestrian Brands, FLAIR and US Equestrian for sponsoring the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.
At last fall's Full Moon Farm Horse Trials, 16-year-old Miriam Keefer guided her horse, Micky, over the final cross-country jump with quiet determination and a flash of joy. It was her first recognized event at the Novice level, and she placed second out of 16 competitors—qualifying her for both the USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds and a long-format three-day event.
Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo were pure class in the final, tense moments of the MARS Badminton Horse Trials, jumping faultlessly to regain the title they won two years ago by just 1 penalty.
Day 3 of competition at the Yanmar America Tryon International Spring Three-Day Event presented by Tow & Collect showcased Clayton Frederick’s course design at the picturesque White Oak Cross-country course at Tryon International Equestrian Center & Resort (Tryon International). The leaderboard of the CCI4*-L division saw a shakeup after two phases of competition.
here was a dramatic finish to cross-country day at the MARS Badminton Horse Trials when the top two riders, Oliver Townend, with Paul and Diana Ridgeon's mare Cooley Rosalent, and Ros Canter with Lordships Graffalo, were both awarded 15 penalties for going the wrong side of a fence flag.