Thinking Big Picture with RevitaVet USEA Young Rider of the Year Meg Pellegrini
For Meg Pellegrini, 2024 was a year of transition. She’d started to train with Olympian Will Coleman and his wife, Katie Coleman, as she was eyeing the upper levels of the sport and admits she was struggling at the Intermediate level. But by the end of the year, a top-10 finish at the CCI3*-L at ...
Thinking Big Picture with RevitaVet USEA Young Rider of the Year Meg Pellegrini
For Meg Pellegrini, 2024 was a year of transition. She’d started to train with Olympian Will Coleman and his wife, Katie Coleman, as she was eyeing the upper levels of the sport and admits she was struggling at the Intermediate level. But by the end of the year, a top-10 finish at the CCI3*-L at ...
In Memoriam: Sandra McDonald (1962-2026)
The USEA is saddened to hear of the passing of our 2022 Ironmaster Award recipient Sandra McDonald (Aiken, South Carolina). She was 63.
Leslie Law and Lesley Grant-Law: Same Names, Same Love for Eventing
Leslie Law’s life forever changed in 2004. As a member of the British eventing team, Leslie won the individual gold medal and team silver at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics aboard Shear L’Eau. That fall, he met Canadian eventer Lesley Grant when he traveled to Toronto, where he participated in a ...
An Unlikely Path: Alex Carbonaro’s Gamble That Paid Off
In March 2024, after more than 15 years without a horse of her own and after decades in the hunter/jumper world, Alex Carbonaro purchased a young Thoroughbred mare named Mystic Radar (“Rayna”).
Love, Loss, and Legacy: How USEA Area IV Remembers Long Legs Lenore
Dr. Katie Sisk, DVM, is no stranger to working for what she has got. All through undergrad, she would train and sell ponies for spending money. In her first year of vet school, her grandmother gave her a loan for $4,000 to help her purchase her first “big horse,” a Thoroughbred/Hanoverian mare na...
Behind the Scenes at an Event: Risk Management
Everyone in the sport is aware that eventing is a high-risk activity. We partner with 1200 lb prey animals and ask them to fancy prance, jump fixed obstacles at high speed, and stay quick-footed over colored poles. What could possibly go wrong?
From Setback to Spotlight: James Power and His Connemara Sport Horse’s Remarkable Comeback
When 17-year-old James Power headed to the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington last month, he wasn’t chasing a blue ribbon. He just wanted a clean go—something steady to help him qualify for this year’s USEF Eventing Young Rider Championships (Adamstown, Maryland). But by weekend’s end, he and his...
Meghan O’Donoghue: Thankful For the Gift of Horses
While many riders spend decades searching for their “horse of a lifetime,” Meghan O’Donoghue considers herself doubly blessed. At only 35 years of age, the international five-star event rider has already had two such horses. Pirate’s Gold Star and Palm Crescent—both bay OTTB geldings—achieved rem...
From the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Cross-Country: Miriam Keefer’s Eventing Journey
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 ...
