United States Eventing Association

Whether it’s your first event of the season or your first event ever, this week’s USEA Podcast some top tips from professionals on how to make sure you are prepared for your next event.

This week, on the first episode of the USEA Podcast in 2019, we are joined by retired Fire and EMS Captain Rusty Lowe, who volunteers his time at many events as Safety Coordinator, and Marcia Kulak, an upper-level event rider with over 25 years of international competitive experience.

The 2018 USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) are headed west this year to the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, Colorado, and with that comes some unique challenges for horses and riders in the form of high elevation and increased temperatures.

On the last episode of the USEA Podcast, we heard from USEA CEO Rob Burk about the USEA Educational Activities Program as well as Wendy Wergeles, organizer of The Event Derby in California, and Penny Morse, organizer of the Southeastern Schooling Show Championships at Chattahoochee Hills in Georgia.

At its founding, the USEA was established as an educational organization to teach people about the sport of eventing, and the USEA views the support of all educational opportunities as part of our duty to the sport. This includes the many unrecognized competitions, clinics, and schooling opportunities available to competitors as part of the USEA’s Educational Activities Program.

​Leslie Law and Kai-Steffen Meier join us this week to share some highlights from their teaching as featured clinicians at the 2018 ICP Symposium at Longwood Farm South in Ocala, Florida, February 19-20, 2018. The two-day symposium was dedicated to the training of young event horses, with the first day focusing on flatwork and the second day focusing on work over fences, both show jumping and cross-country.

The USEA announced earlier this week that EquiRatings Quality Indexes (ERQIs) are now available for all USEA registered horses who have competed in the last five years. EquiRatings formed a partnership with the USEA in 2017 with the goal of creating a risk management tool that allows members to track and monitor risk in a tangible way.

Dr. Catherine Kohn, chair of the USEA Equine Cardiopulmonary Research Group, shares the progress the group has made as well as ways that riders can reduce the risk of equine fatality during competition. Dr. Stephanie Davis then comes on the program to provide some tips to help your horse beat the summer heat and dispels some myths about the best ways to cool down your horse.

We catch up with Richard Jeffery who is the USEF Eventing Show Jumping Course Advisor about the new program for reviewing the show jumping courses at every FEI competition in the U.S. Course Designers will be asked to submit their courses as posted to Jeffery with all technical details (distance, time allowed, etc.) within five days of the competition. Each course will be posted on the USEF Website with Jeffery’s analysis along with a course evaluation completed by the Course Designer prior to the event. Also on the Podcast is course designer, Chris Barnard with his feedback on the program.

This week on the USEA Podcast, Marilyn Payne and Maxime Livio come on the show to discuss the Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP) and Young Event Horse (YEH) Program Symposia that took place last month at the Grand Oaks Resort in Weirsdale, Florida.