SAUGERTIES, N.Y.--Tom Struzzieri, owner of HITS, announced with great disappointment that the June series will not be held.
"We had been hopeful to start the first week of June, but the start date at HITS-on-the-Hudson is being pushed back to the Summer Series due to New York State restrictions," said Struzzieri. "While the HITS team was looking forward to being back to horse shows in our hometown of Saugerties, this gives us extra time to prepare for an even greater summer at HITS-on-the-Hudson in the 'Heart of the Hudson Valley'. We look forward to a great Summer and Fall Series!"
"This gives me great incentive to produce the rest of the Saugerties season," said Struzzieri. "The Saugerties plan now is to make the great American series the most fabulous circuit in the world with unparalleled prize money, and this gives us extra time to make dramatic improvements to our facility."
THE LAKE PLACID Horse Show Association announced cancellation of this year’s horse shows.
The current Coronavirus pandemic forced the decision to cancel the Lake Placid Horse Shows, which had been scheduled for June 23-July 5 at the North Elba Show Grounds.
“This marks the first cancellation in the horse shows’ 51-year history,” said Philip Richter, Chairman of the Lake Placid Horse Show Association Board of Directors. “We place the safety of our exhibitors, the Lake Placid community and everyone connected with the horse shows above all else and that made this the only decision possible.
“THIS IS incredibly disappointing, and I assure everyone that this decision was not made lightly,” Richter said. “We left no question unasked and no option unexplored. Our Board was unanimous that this was the only option. As tragic as this is, we look forward to welcoming everyone back to Lake Placid in 2021 when we plan to once again host the ‘Best Two Weeks of a Horseman’s Summer!’”
One of the premier stops on the nation's hunter-jumper horse show circuit, the Lake Placid Horse Shows feature more than 100 classes of competition each week awarding more than $600,000 in prize money.
The 2021 Lake Placid Horse Shows will host the Lake Placid Horse Show, June 29 – July 4, and the I Love New York Horse Show, July 6–11.
Further information is available by calling the Lake Placid Horse Show Association at 518-523-9625 or online at www.lakeplacidhorseshows.com.
THE VERMONT Summer Festival, originally scheduled to run June 30 through August 9 in East Dorset cannot be held in Vermont due to current conditions and state restrictions.
While competition organizers had remained hopeful the event could take place as planned, continued restrictions surrounding health, safety, and travel have forced the 2020 Vermont Summer Festival to pursue venues outside the state, including a possible move of the some of the shows to HITS-on-the-Hudson in Saugerties, N.Y., pending approval by the United States Equestrian Federation and New York State.
The Vermont Summer Festival will have an update on the 2020 season soon, and looks forward to seeing its faithful exhibitors in a new location.
“We are deeply saddened to announce this year’s Vermont Summer Festival cannot run in East Dorset,” said John Ammerman, Manager of the Vermont Summer Festival. “With the uncertainty surrounding the current situation, and despite our diligent efforts to move forward, there are simply no viable options under the required regulations that would allow the event to take place in Vermont this year.
“This marks the first time that we have not run in Vermont in the event’s almost 30-year history,” continued Ammerman, a Show Jumping Hall of Fame inductee who has spearheaded the Vermont Summer Festival since its inception. “My wife, Dotty, and I sincerely thank each and every competitor for their longstanding support of the event and the entire Vermont Summer Festival team for its dedication to making our horse show a mainstay on the North American schedule. The Village of Manchester and surrounding area has been a wonderful host to us all over the years, and we will genuinely miss seeing our friends in town this summer.”
THE USEA American Eventing Championships is still scheduled to take place Aug. 25-30 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.
We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing COVID-19 pandemic and are committed to hosting a safe and healthy competition for all AEC competitors,” said EEI Executive Director Lee Carter. “Along with Mary Fike and the team at the USEA, we will be implementing the appropriate safety measures as recommended by the USEF, CDC, state, and local authorities. At the same time, we are focused on making the 2020 AEC a memorable experience for all our human and equine athletes.”
“We are lucky to have an outstanding organizing team including EEI and Mary Fike and I am incredibly confident in their ability to reduce risk as much as is possible,” said USEA CEO Rob Burk. “We have already begun planning how we can host the AEC while carefully following local, state, CDC, and WHO guidance. We have studied the USEF COVID-19 Licensed Competition Action Plan and are incorporating it, and we are applying the WHO risk assessment tool to better prepare over the next several months. This AEC is going to be one for the record books, and it will have its own unique feel. The entire team is sensitive to the fact that this needs to be no less special than every other AEC while at the same time implementing new cautionary measures related to COVID-19.”
The USEA Board of Governors has requested data from the USEA’s I.T. Department to evaluate all the options to alter qualifying criteria for the AEC in lieu of the current competition shut down.
The USEA is looking at how many horses and riders have lost the opportunity to qualify for 2020 in order to develop the best available options.
“Maintaining the safety of the riders and horses remains paramount, followed by ensuring the highest level of competition,” said Burk. “We are analyzing options to maintain a similar size pool of qualified competitors as in previous years. Currently, over 2,200 riders and 2,500 horses are already qualified to compete. The options on the table to alter qualification include, but aren’t limited to, easing placing requirements, allowing those that qualified in 2019 special dispensation, and/or extending the qualifying period earlier in 2019.”
The qualifying period for the 2020 AEC is currently May 27, 2019 - Aug. 18, 2020.
Other options are being looked at as well, and the USEA Board of Governors will make these decisions in the coming weeks, and those decisions will be announced to the membership as soon as possible.
THE CAPITAL Challenge Horse Show management team is working closely with state and local government officials and is looking forward to welcoming exhibitors to the show’s home, the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD., on Sept. 25 to Oct. 4.
In conjunction with the team at the Prince George's Equestrian Center, Capital Challenge management is planning a comprehensive set of protocols to allow for a safe competition.
On June 1, US Equestrian sanctioned competition will resume, allowing riders to again earn qualifying points for the National Children’s Medal and the National Adult Medal classes.
While this is the case, the Capital Challenge team is aware that not all areas of the country will resume showing at the same time.
Therefore, in an effort to keep the qualifying process as fair as possible, the following revision has been made for both classes:
The points a rider earns at their 10 best shows will count toward qualifying.
A rider may compete in more than 10 shows during the qualification period, but only the 10 shows where they earned the most points will count toward qualifying for the finals.
Questions regarding standings and qualifying for the National Children’s Medal or the National Adult Medal should be directed to Ryegate Show Services by phone at (717) 867-5643 or by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
In addition, the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) has released revised qualifying procedures for the East Coast 3’3” Jumping Seat Medal Finals to be held during the Capital Challenge Equitation Weekend, Sept. 25-27, 2020. These revised procedures can be found here.
For questions regarding the USHJA 3’3” Jumping Seat Medal Finals, contact Melanie Mader at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Revised qualifying criteria in regard to the World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) regional and national points will be announced soon by the USHJA, and entries for all Capital Challenge Horse Show classes will open in August, following the release of the prize list on July 29.
EQUESTRIAN Sport Productions (ESP) announced that an additional week will be added to the 2021 show schedule as part of the 2021 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF).
The “WEF Premiere” week will be held on Jan. 6-10 and added on to the beginning of the WEF 2021 circuit, held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL.
Our hearts go out to everyone suffering during this difficult situation, whether it is hardships with their health or their business. Our industry has been severely impacted, and everyone at ESP has been working hard to keep Palm Beach International Equestrian Center ready for when shows resume. Equestrian Sport Productions wants to offer a way for everyone to be able to enjoy competitive sport again and build their businesses back up.
“The mandated COVID-19 cancellation of the last two weeks of the 2020 WEF was very hard on all of our stakeholders,” said ESP President Michael Stone. “We are very cognizant of the hardships created by the abbreviated schedule and also keenly aware of the difficulties everyone is facing as the pandemic continues. We wanted to find a way to add value back to our competitors, sponsors, vendors, and VIP table holders and feel that we can best accomplish this by being able to offer more with an additional week on the WEF schedule in 2021.”
The remaining 2021 WEF circuit will run as originally scheduled on Jan. 13-April 4 with the full schedule of major events essentially running as it did in 2020.
