Ellen Ahearn and Eric Markell at Badminton. We became involved in the sport of eventing when our daughter, Alexandra Ahearn, became an eventer. She started in Michele Pestl’s program in Renton, WA on an older horse named Sir Frederick. After a couple of years, it was clear that Alex had advanced as a rider to the point she needed a younger, more vibrant horse. So, off Michele and Ellen went to Munich, Germany, where we were fortunate enough to locate and purchase Mai Baum at the...

Alex Waldrop, the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), shared U.S. horse racing’s history and recapped some of the challenges that horse racing has faced in the past 15 years. The challenges affected horse racing’s social license to operate and required earnest changes to improve horse welfare. “An old adage comes to mind: ‘If you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.’...

USEF Chief of Sport David O’Connor, University of Kentucky Equine Science professor and member of the FEI Equine Ethics and Welfare Commission, Dr. Camie Heleski, and Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare, Roly Owers, spoke to the USEF Annual Meeting about equestrian sport and the social license to operate. Here are five takeaways from their presentation. 1. Social license to operate is an unofficial but essential piece of the puzzle. Owers describes social license to operate as...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian is pleased to announce that Salvino, Betsy Juliano LLC’s 2007 Hanoverian stallion, was voted the 2022 International Horse of the Year and Cannon Creek, the Wheeler family’s 2011 Holsteiner gelding, was voted the 2022 National Horse of the Year by the USEF membership. Salvino and Cannon Creek were honored during the SmartPak/USEF Horse of the Year Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 14. International Horse of the Year Salvino, 2022 USEF...

Lexington, Ky. - US Equestrian President Tom O’Mara and CEO Bill Moroney spoke during the General Session presentation to members and staff on January 13 th at the US Equestrian Annual Meeting. They looked back at progress made by US Equestrian in 2022 and laid out three priorities for 2023 with the theme of Working Together for Our Future. “Each year, we take this time to review our progress from the prior year, reassess where we stand, and establish the key goals and strategies...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian congratulates 2022 International Equestrian of the Year Adrienne Lyle and 2022 National Equestrian of the Year Hunt Tosh. Lyle and Tosh were nominated as Equestrians of Honor and selected by US Equestrian member voting in December. Both Equestrians of the Year were honored at the 2023 Pegasus Awards Dinner at the USEF Annual Meeting in Lexington, Ky., on Jan. 12. Adrienne Lyle. ©Matt Turer/US Equestrian International Equestrian of the Year –...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian is pleased to announce the top endurance athletes from the 2022 competition season. Cheryl Van Deusen (New Smyrna Beach, Fla.) will receive the Maggy Price Endurance Excellence Award as the top U.S senior endurance rider. Avery Betz-Conway (Kingsland, Ga.) will receive the Brunges Junior/Young Rider Trophy as the top U.S. junior or young rider. Cheryl Van Deusen and Tru Beau Sardi. ©Becky Pearman Photography Van Deusen has maintained an exceptional...

Lexington, Ky. – The national federations of the FEI North American Youth Championships are pleased to announce they are now accepting applications to host the 2024, 2025, and 2026 FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC) for Dressage and Jumping, in addition to a National Eventing Team Championship for Juniors and Young Riders. US Equestrian and the organizing committee National Federation must receive applications before 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, for consideration. 2022...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian is pleased to announce the 2022 Horse of the Year and Equestrian of the Year nominees. The International and National Equestrians of the Year will be announced at the 2022 Pegasus Awards Dinner on Thursday, January 12, and the International and National Horses of the Year will be announced at the 2022 SmartPak/USEF Horse of the Year Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 14, at the 2023 US Equestrian Annual Meeting in Lexington, Ky. Horses of Honor and...

Lexington, Ky. - Following a review of Area VI community feedback, modifications to the 2023-2027 U.S. Eventing Calendar were recommended by the Eventing Strategic Calendar Task Force to the Eventing Sport Committee, who in turn recommended the modifications to an Ad Hoc of the Board of Directors. Due to hardships demonstrated for qualification under the current structure and criteria, and to limit the travel to achieve those qualifications in the interest of horse welfare, the following...