United States Equestrian Federation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), formerly known as the American Horse Shows Association, is the national governing body for most equestrian sports in the United States, including dressage, driving, endurance riding, eventing, hunt seat equitation, hunter, jumper, paralympic, reining, roadster, saddle seat equitation, vaulting, and western equitation, pleasure, reining, trail and related events.
It also governs breed shows for the Andalusian, Lusitano, Arabian, half-arabian, Anglo-Arabian, Connemara, Friesian, Hackney, Morgan, American Saddlebred, National Show Horse, Paso Fino, Shetland, and Welsh breeds held in the US.
The USEF keeps track of yearly points, accumulated at individual horse shows through the year, and gives awards based on these points at the end of the year. Horse shows governed under the USEF are given an AA, A, B or C rating. Shows with an AA rating are the most prestigious and often offer the most prize money, whereas shows with a C rating are more local, with less prize money.
Governing bodies working under the USEF include:
- United States Hunter/Jumper Association (USHJA)
- United States Dressage Federation (USDF)
- United States Eventing Association (USEA)
Competitions recognized by the USEF must follow its rules and bylaws.
[edit] History
On January 20, 1917, representatives of some fifty horse shows met in New York City under the leadership of Reginald C. Vanderbilt, intending to unify to maintain clean competition in the show ring. They formed the Association of American Horse Shows, which by its first annual meeting in 1918 included the organizers of 26 well-known horse shows. The Association incorporated in June of 1918. Membership grew to list 35 member shows in 1919, and 67 shows by 1924.
The Association published its first rule pamphlet in 1927.
The need for show stewards, representatives of the Association to be present at and report on recognized shows, was recognized in the minutes of a 1930 Executive Committee meeting. It was not until the 1948 Rule Book that Stewards were written in, and not until the 1960 Rule Book that licensing of Stewards was in place and recognized in the rules.
In February of 1933 the original name, the Association of American Horse Shows, Inc., was changed to the American Horse Shows Association, Inc. At the same meeting, Individual Members were recognized in addition to Show Members.
In 1935, a committee reported on their investigation of the transfer of control of the United States' membership in the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) membership from the US Cavalry Association to the AHSA. The transfer of membership took place after the 1936 Olympics, and after that, in the United States the FEI rules applied only to International Military classes. By this time, AHSA membership had grown to include 183 Members and Shows.
By 1937 the new Rule Book reflected the growth of the Association by dividing the United States into 5 zones, each with a Vice President a five member Regional Committee.
In 1939 the Association began publication of the monthly Horse Show magazine with an initial circulation of 1,200 copies. By this time there were 187 recognized shows, and 800 Individual Members.
In 2001 AHSA changed its name to USA Equestrian to reflect the change in emphasis from shows to the now over 80,000 individual members. There were more than 2,700 member competitions, 100 affiliate organizations, and 26 breeds and disciplines were recognized.
In 2003, USA Equestrian and the United States Equestrian Team joined together to become the United States Equestrian Federation.
