US Equestrian continued its slate of town hall events in the month of August with discussions at the USEF Pony Finals held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., and US Dressage Festival of Champions held at Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, Ill.

Each town hall event focused on the potential rule changes and areas of concern relevant to each discipline.

In addition to USEF staff, the panel at Pony Finals included United States Hunter Jumper Association president Britt McCormick. At Festival, the panel included Lisa Gorretta, USEF Director, Chair of the International Disciplines Council, and Chair of the Dressage Sport Committee.

At Pony Finals, topics of interest, concern, and discussion included:

• The necessity and challenge of implementing limits on whip use (is the manner of use the best approach, or a limit on strikes in a competitive period a better approach?)
• Education for parents who are new to equestrian sport
• The possibility of creating a chief steward pool in which a lead steward would be hired by USEF, rather than competition management, for each event
• A minimum eligibility requirement for certain heights of hunter and jumper classes to ensure participants are prepared for the level they’re jumping, removing the tendency for clients to switch trainers if they’re not allowed to progress quickly
• The concept of a 60-day provisional suspension for horse, owner, rider, and trainer in the event of positives for the most serious prohibited substances. This could be in effect immediately after a notification for a positive, prior to the completion of the investigation and would give the horse time to clear out the substance from their system
• Continued education for licensed officials to help them better know what they are empowered to address, and what’s expected of them by USEF and membership
• The difficulty in changing judging philosophies, particularly those that may discourage expressiveness in the hunter discipline.

 

At Festival, the same ideas were discussed, in addition to:

• Examining whether the existing blood rule in dressage is effective for horse welfare, and fair, and realistic in competition
• The importance of sport wide education to ensure the entire community regularly receives the same information on horse welfare so we all share the same understanding of the responsibilities of everyone in the community  
• A summary of the initial work of the Dressage Horse Welfare Task Force, which has developed a horse welfare version of the training scale visualizing the flow of horse welfare responsibilities, from judges to owners and riders. The group has also been examining the role of equipment like whips, double bridles, and spurs, contemplating ways to make sure riders are experienced enough to begin using those tools properly at the right point in their horse’s development
• Clarifying the rules surrounding stewards and technical delegates, better defining their responsibilities at horse shows
• Exploring an alternative to the provisional, immediate suspension of horse, owner, rider, and trainer, which would allow all the same parties to be part of a suspension after an investigation is completed
• A preview of upcoming horse welfare guidelines provided by USEF to help licensed officials and competitors recognize, deescalate, react to, and report incidents of horse mistreatment

 

US Equestrian began our series of horse welfare town hall discussions in June and already, the feedback generated has led to a presidential modification to the collapse rule in hunter/jumper disciplines and the expansion of drugs and medication testing to include hair samples.

These events are key opportunities for USEF to receive member feedback on concepts and possible rule changes under consideration, as well as ideas for new areas that need work in the rulebook.

A number of town halls are scheduled through the rest of 2025, both in-person and virtual, across breeds and disciplines. The full schedule is available here and will be updated as new dates are confirmed. If you are unable to attend but want to provide your feedback on horse welfare issues, email [email protected].