United States Eventing Association

Growing up just a few miles from the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in Stamford, England, Sarah Airhart naturally gravitated toward eventing.

A member of the Burghley Pony Club, Airhart recalls riding across the Burghley Park Golf Club where her father worked, and walking through the public grounds with her mother, climbing on cross-country fences and imagining what it would be like to jump them.

Julie Murray has loved horses since she could breathe, so when her daughters showed an interest in Pony Club and then eventing, she was thrilled to go along for the ride.

Murray started volunteering at the Fallbrook Pony Club near her home in Fallbrook, California, serving as an intermediate district commissioner.

The United States Eventing Association (USEA) is proud to announce a new membership category, the “Digital Membership,” which will be available to qualified participants of the Volunteer Incentive Program in 2023. This new membership will serve as a thank you to the loyal volunteers in our sport for their dedication to supporting events around the country throughout the year.

If we’re lucky, we will all have that one “horse of a lifetime” that makes us the riders we are; collects blue ribbons left and right; launches our careers; and teaches us more than we could ever imagine. With Perseverance (aka Percy) was that horse for Lauren Nethery. Percy and Nethery ascended the levels together through the top of the sport in the early 2000s, and this success was critical to Nethery’s ability to hang her own shingle as a trainer and coach. When Percy retired from upper-level competition in 2010, not chasing the big events every season meant that Nethery had a lot more time to begin giving back to the sport that she loves so dearly. She returned to Kentucky as a volunteer, occupying a variety of roles in the myriad divisions that depend on volunteers to operate: decorations, awards, grooming, and shuttles to name a few. Nethery finally settled on the vet box as her primary area of focus.

An interesting addition to the Adult Rider Open Forum that took place during the 2022 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention was the Grooms panel featuring some of the grooms from the 2022 Eventing World Championships. Former USEA President and professional groom Max Corcoran sat down alongside Stephanie Simpson, groom for Boyd Martin, and Hailey Burlock, groom for Will Coleman, to chat about all things related to grooming.

One of the biggest highlights, undoubtedly, from the 2022 eventing season was Team USA’s performance at the 2022 FEI Eventing World Championships in Pratoni. The USEA was lucky enough to have all of the team riders for the U.S. in attendance for this year’s USEA Annual Meeting & Convention, and alongside Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello and former USEA President and USEF Eventing Elite Program and Team Facilitator Max Corcoran, the team members came together for a review of the 2022 World Championships during this year’s annual gathering. Curious as to what each team member had to say relating to this year’s showdown? We’ve compiled a favorite quote from each member of the panel for your review here.

The meeting room was full of eventing enthusiasts for the Rule Change Open Forum that took place on Saturday, December 10 during the 2022 Annual Meeting & Convention in Savannah, Georgia. Moderator Malcolm Hook outlined the 12 eventing-specific proposed rule changes and clarifications and 15 general rule changes which would impact eventing competitors which have not yet been approved by the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF). Throughout the session, Hook welcomed questions and feedback from forum attendees and encouraged USEA members to continue to send in their feedback via the rules feedback portal which will go live on Wednesday, December 14th on the USEA website.

Each year, the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention comes to a close with a final meeting of the USEA Board of Governors (BOG). USEA President Lou Leslie kickstarted the meeting by officially calling to order her first USEA BOG meeting as USEA President.

This year’s USEA Annual Meeting & Convention was a special week in Savannah, Georgia. It included several days of celebration and education, including the year-end annual awards ceremony, as well as the USEA’s Hall of Fame Gala. This week and weekend would not have been possible without the support of the many loyal partners of the USEA and the Convention.

Attendees of the 2022 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention gathered together on Saturday, December 10 for a celebration of some of the sport’s most influential key players that takes place only once every four years: the USEA Eventing Hall of Fame Gala. This year the USEA Eventing Hall of Fame welcomed five new inductees into its class of esteemed riders, horses, and influencers of the sport. While only one of the inductees could be present themselves this year, the other four were well-represented with acceptance speeches on their behalf from family and close friends.