The US Equestrian Federation will continue its popular series of member listening sessions in 2026 with a focus on equine and member welfare. This year, the federation will alternate between in-person and virtual town halls each month and, when possible, will livestream in-person events to reach more members.  

After a successful start to the 2026 slate in February at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, Calif., the spring schedule will be:  

• March 24, 4 p.m. - Wellington International 

• April 6, 5 p.m. - Virtual 

• May 16, 4 p.m. - Mid-Atlantic Dressage Festival/Keswick Horse Show 

• June 8, 5:30 p.m. - Virtual 

For in-person events, specific locations within the horse show grounds will be available in the Events tab of the US Equestrian Facebook page in the weeks before each in-person event. Horse show management will also make those details available to exhibitors with on-site signage and direct communications. USEF will email members to register ahead of virtual events and will make the recordings of the events available on our YouTube channel. 

Feel free to email questions and topics of interest to [email protected] ahead of an upcoming event. 

Additional dates will be announced in the coming weeks, and we will be making an effort to reach as many breeds and disciplines as possible. You can find an updated schedule of upcoming events here. 

New to 2026 listening sessions: the panel of USEF staff leading the town hall will be joined by trainers or amateur riders where available to ensure their questions and topics of interest are part of the body of the presentation.  

All sessions will include ample time for audience questions and engagement.  

The first 2026 listening session was held on Feb. 11 in Thermal and was led by USEF CEO Bill Moroney, COO/General Counsel Sonja Keating, and professional horseman and judge Archie Cox. As usual, the panel sought perspective from the audience on a few pending rule change proposals. One that sparked considerable debate was whether drug positives from the most serious categories of violations should merit a 60-day provisional suspension of the horse, trainer, athlete, and owner. The original goal of this proposal was to 1) Allow a horse who has been exposed to a Category IV substance or certain banned substances to recover and metabolize the drug before competing and 2) encourage a culture in which owners have an incentive to become more aware of what a horse is exposed to.  

The audience at DIHP was of mixed opinions on the scope of human penalties in the proposal. Most agreed that juniors on ponies shouldn’t be held accountable for a substance likely administered by an adult, and most of the audience was comfortable with the horse being suspended in these circumstances but from there, views diverged. Some in the audience felt that owners don’t seem put off by a trainer’s suspension in the modern era, while others pointed out that some may be so far removed from the day-to-day management at the barn they may not know what drugs are being given to their horses. Some audience members were in favor of the rider of the horse being suspended, while others cautioned this could have unintended consequences on later events which require qualifying performances. 

Rule change proposals will be available for public comment after their current revision period begining March 6 at this link. 

The audience also gave considerable feedback on the drugs and medications testing program. Most were in agreement that the most serious offenses should come with significant suspensions, but expressed confusion over the best ways to prevent positives for routinely-used therapeutic drugs. Several audience members voiced concern about whether compounded medications could impact their risk of a positive. They also encouraged USEF to build a more user-friendly web page or app which could make it simpler to search for information by substance. (A project to accomplish this is in progress.)  

Equestrians also praised the USEF Horse Welfare Guidelines, known commonly as the Stoplight Guidelines. These were designed to help all participants and spectators recognize the outward signs of stress in horses, giving them clear parameters for when they need to report the rare interaction that’s inappropriate. The guidelines, originally based on German educational materials, have attracted attention from national federations in other countries because they also serve as a reference in social license conversations. You can find the guidelines here and access video guides and other educational materials here.