Contact:
United States Equestrian Federation, Inc.
4047 Iron Works Parkway
Lexington, KY 40511-8483
Tel: (859) 258-2472
Fax (859) 231-6662
Web site: www.usef.org
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2008

By Joanie Morris

Lexington, KY -- The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Executive Committee approved the specifications for the Eventing Watch List on November 17, 2008. Born out of discussions at the USEF/USEA Safety Summit in June, the goal of the Watch List is to notify riders at USEF and USEF endorsed Eventing competitions that their riding is potentially dangerous.

The Watch List is a list of horse/rider combinations that could be regarded as displaying a pattern of potentially dangerous riding. These combinations will be observed more closely at future competitions.

Reporting agents may call the USEF Eventing department and submit the names of horse/rider combinations they feel are potentially at risk for an accident. Reporting Agents are defined as: Any R USEF Eventing Licensed Official, any FEI I or C Eventing Official, any Level 4 ICP certified instructor or any rider who, in the last 12 years, has represented the US in Eventing at a World Championship, Olympic Games or Pan American Games.

Once reported and reviewed, the horse/rider combination may be added to the Watch List. The USEF Eventing department will then assign an appropriate Notifying Agent to contact the rider.

Notifying Agents are as follows: for riders at the Intermediate Level and below: Derek DiGrazia, Phillip Dutton, Mike Huber, Karen O'Connor, Amy Tryon and Mark Weissbecker; for riders at the Advanced Level -- Mark Phillips will serve as the Notifying Agent.

The Watch List will be maintained by the USEF Eventing Department, and the intention is not to punish riders but to inform them that they are potentially riding dangerously.

The Eventing Watch List will be effective January 1, 2009. For complete details on the Watch List please see: http://www.usef.org/documents/disciplines/eventing/EventingWatchList.pdf

If you have any questions, please contact USEF Managing Director of Eventing Sara Ike at sara.ike@usef.org.

The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation(r) is to provide leadership for equestrian sport in the United States of America by promoting the pursuit of excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games, based on a foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of its human and equine athletes.