As part of US Equestrian’s July Listening Session, we presented three topics for feedback: a trainer/coach registry, an expansion to the USEF Lite Program for eventers, and data on overuse in hunter/jumper competition. US Equestrian Chief of Sport David O’Connor and CEO Bill Moroney were joined by Bec Braitling, a five-star eventer and USEA ECP level V certified eventing coach, and USEA CEO Rob Burk. If you missed the session live, you can catch a replay here.
Coaches’ Registry
O’Connor presented his plans to create the USEF Coaches’ Registry, with the goal of providing trainers and coaches continuing education. The program would be voluntary and would focus on the science of learning and how individuals learn differently based on age and other factors to help trainers be more effective coaches.
“Is there an opportunity learn more about how people think and how they learn, especially as they go through their stages of life from a kid to an adult and how they process information?” said O’Connor. “I think it’s a huge benefit because you've learned so much by investigating and teaching and going through these programs that have been so eye-opening about how people learn. It’s really changed the way I approach teaching somebody from the beginning or teaching somebody who is in the middle of their experience.”
This education would focus on the coaching aspect rather than training horses, which is better served by the affiliates, who have a strong understanding of their breed or discipline, many of which already have their own coaching programs.
“This isn’t an idea that we’re trying to take over your ideology of training horses and the accepted practices for training horses,” said O’Connor. “This is actually about can we all be better coaches and we really learn that from a lot of other sports.”
The proposed registry would be based in an online Learning Management System (LMS) with educational modules, and trainers/coaches would undergo background checks. To encourage participation, USEF Is exploring the possibility of negotiating reduced rates for liability insurance for trainers who are part of the registry and have undergone the training.
Braitling weighed in on her experience with USEA Eventing Coaches’ Program, which she initially pursued in order to be able to coach a Young Riders team and for the USEA Emerging Athletes U21 Program.
“One of the biggest things for us is the continuing education side of it,” she said. “It’s super helpful for us as trainers to keep bouncing ideas off of each other.”
Several attendees spoke up to give their support of the concept, with one pointing out that as mentorships are harder to come by, continuing education benefits both the trainer and the client as it strengthens the trainer’s teaching skills and establishes trust. Another member shared her experience taking online training for the USHJA Instructor Credential, saying that learning from outside sports and how they train coaches was enlightening.
Eventing Moves Toward a Lite License
Burk joined Moroney to speak about bringing USEF Endorsed levels (training, novice, beginner novice, and starter) under a USEF Lite license beginning December 1, 2026.
USEF Lite has been available for many years and offers competition managers and competitors a lower cost option to compete in a recognized environment. Organizers can hire an applicant technical delegate or steward, and there are grant programs offered by USEF and our affiliates to help offset the cost of those officials or the qualified medical personnel. Lite competitions will be held under the same USEF rules and regulations as Regular competitions, including those pertaining to drugs and medications. (Read more about USEF Lite here.)
“We’ve heard from our members as the USEF has,” said Burk. “We know that cost is an issue. … This way it could be possibly easier for the competition to run, a little less cost, and that will hopefully trickle down to the competitors.”
USEF membership is not required to participate in a Lite competition, however anyone signing the entry blank as trainer or coach must purchase a $15 USEF Lite Annual Pass and take SafeSport training.
Burk announced that USEA will cover the $15 USEF Lite Annual Pass for all its members signing as coach or trainer for training level and below, including amateurs or parents of junior athletes who are signing as trainer.
“I know some people will say, ‘Oh well I didn’t have to get SafeSport certification before,’ but I’ll say for myself, from our leadership at USEA, members of the board, our president especially, we do feel that for trainers and coaches, it’s in the best interest of the athletes and best interest of the sport as a whole for people to undergo SafeSport training if they’re going to be in these trainer/coach type positions,” he said.
Because each USEF breed or discipline is unique, so are the specifics of their Lite license to best fit their needs.
“We work with each one of our affiliates who’s interested in having their competitions come into the Lite competition environment to sort of make it specific to their breed or discipline,” said Moroney. “We work with each group to tailor it to work in a way that benefits their particular sport and then allow those shows to go on in perpetuity as long as they’re under that criteria that we agree on.”
A Starting Place for Overuse Discussions
US Equestrian first presented data on overuse in hunters and jumpers in December at the USHJA Annual Meeting, at which time we received feedback on further segmenting it to separate out ponies, equitation horses, and hunter breeding. Now that the second iteration is complete, we shared the information once again with USHJA and presented it during the Listening Session for feedback. (All the data presented during the Listening Session can also be found in this Insider article.)
The data showed that most hunters and jumpers were competing in less than 20 competitions during the year. The percentage of the population competing in 21 or more competitions a year ranged from 2% (hunters) to 8.1% (hunter breeding horses and ponies).
“There are a portion of this group in each of the sports that do quite a bit of horse shows and/or have done quite a bit of classes in a particular year or per horse show, and those outliers we need to be concerned about,” Moroney said. “But we also need to do this in a measured, responsible way, so that in addressing the outliers, we're not having a negative impact over the balance of people who are being responsible stewards of their horses' safety and welfare and well-being.”
In response to the outliers in hunter breeding, USHJA put forward a rule change that the USEF board passed for the 2027 competition year which states that only the horse’s first 12 competitions plus the Devon Horse Show and the Sallie B. Wheeler Hunter Breeding Championship will count towards Horse of the Year awards. While this solution worked for hunter breeding, most competitions happen over a shorter period of the year, and the same solution might not apply to outliers in other divisions. With any rule change, we must take into account the different sports, competition calendars, and migration patterns to mitigate unintended negative impact limitations have on smaller competitions.
“There’s quite a bit to still talk about in this space, and that’s why we’re also relying heavily on USHJA and their leadership and having these conversations in their committees and throughout their annual meeting, etcetera, so that we are turning over every stone as we have discussions in trying to figure out what is the right thing to do,” said Moroney.
Participants were excited to see this data, grateful for the effort put in so far, and eager to engage on this topic. We received several suggestions on ways to further analyze the available data, including pulling details about:
-
All ponies with a measurement card, regardless of what division they competed in
-
How many divisions horses are competing in
-
How many different rings are horses competing in
-
Removing model and under saddle from class calculations
Another piece of the equation is what a horse does outside of the competition ring, as workload in schooling rings, while lunging, and at home, as well as the individual horse factor into overuse concerns. Many participants also expressed concern about this portion of the issue, where horses are often out of their stalls for extended periods of time without water either being ridden or waiting for a second phase or jog.
We are also putting together an anonymous survey to attempt to capture the range of normal practices in warm-up, equipment use, general management at shows, and member perception of overuse. This survey will be conducted across breeds and disciplines to understand what’s typical, as we plan to do a similar analysis across breeds and disciplines.
“We want to make sure that it's anonymous so that the people can be honest, so that they're providing their feedback, but they don't have to worry [about a] perception of being targeted or something,” said Moroney. “We want to get as accurate feedback as possible, and people to be in a comfort setting where they feel like they can do that without any recrimination on them.”
You can watch the entire virtual listening session here, and members interested in sharing their thoughts on these topics can email [email protected].
The next Listening Session will take place August 3 at 4:30 p.m. ET. We will be discussing updates to the Drugs and Medication Guidelines as well as priorities for the next USEF CEO. You can register here: usef.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IBeTsyPJQKO5LtkhdkanKw#/registration