USEA Gives Amateurs a Boost Towards AEC

Think you're not qualified for the 2009 Bit of Britain/USEA American Eventing Championships? Think again!

As a service to our amateur members, the USEA IT department is working on a system to recognize amateurs who should be qualified for the Championships, but did not receive qualifying placements at events. Because many events hold "Open" divisions where the professionals and amateurs are joined together in one division, the amateurs may have a harder time trying to get the first or second placings they'll need to qualify them for the AEC. Sure, we have many outstanding amateurs who are very competitive in the Open divisions, but our hope is that our amateurs will receive an opportunity to qualify for the designated amateur divisions at the AEC, even when only open divisions are offered at qualifying events.

The USEA IT department will run a report to "pull out" the professionals in an Open division, and bump up the amateurs in placing (making it an "amateur division"). For example, if an amateur rider (who has declared their amateur status on their USEA membership), gets third place behind two Olympians, and a four-star rider (all professionals), then they will be bumped up to a "first place" finish - thereby giving them the qualifier they needed. Results will be changed for qualifying and points purposes down to the 8th place in a division.

As an added perk, the amateurs who are "bumped up" in placings will receive new leaderboard points to reflect their "move up." This will affect the overall USEA Amateur leaderboards only.

Obviously, there will be no "tweaking" of designated amateur divisions at events. Remember, this only affects the placing criteria for the AEC - riders must still meet the rest of the qualifying criteria at each level.
 
Not sure about the new qualifications this year? Simply download the 2009 AEC Qualifications (PDF) on the bottom of the AEC page.

This is for AEC qualification and amateur leaderboard purposes only, and will not change the official results of an event.

Everyone deserves the chance to compete equally with their peers, and event organizers do their best to organize riders into fair divisions. To make this easier on organizers, please don't forget to designate your preferred division (Amateur, Rider, Horse, Young Horse, Open, or Championship) on the "Eligible Section" at the top of the USEA Event Entry Form.

Also, please make sure that if you are an amateur, you've checked the "Amateur" box on your USEA membership form. Forgot to check the box? You can log on to the USEA Dashboard to simply update your status, or call the USEA membership department at 703-779-0440 ext. 3014.

The new "Amateur Only" list of AEC qualified riders will be up in the coming month, as well as the rest of the AEC Qualified Horses and Riders - stay tuned for more details. We will also notify AEC Qualified Riders via email in the coming months leading up the AEC.

Have questions about this new service? Contact the USEA IT department for more info.

The USEA can't give you a blue ribbon, but we can give you a few extra leaderboard points and help you to qualify for the AEC this fall - hope to see you there!   -Distributed with permissiion of USEA • www.USEventing.com

For more information about the AEC visit www.useventing.com.