In April of this year, the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Board of Directors approved amendments to the Federation’s Bylaws that changes the eligibility requirements for foreign participants. Those changes, which will take effect on September 1, 2023, were announced to the membership in an April 18 press release.
Following the announcement, USEF and Equestrian Canada (EC) leadership began meeting regularly to discuss options under the reciprocal agreement that would clarify the mutual requirements for both Canadian and U.S. participants and provide a timeline to fully comply with the new requirements.
As a result of those meetings, the deadline for EC sport license holders to comply with the new eligibility requirements has been extended to December 1, 2023. The eligibility details are being fine-tuned but will be announced within the next few weeks. Until December 1, 2023, the existing USEF/EC reciprocal agreement rules remain in place:
- All Canadian citizens wishing to compete in USEF national competitions can do so by demonstrating they maintain a current EC gold or platinum sport license in good standing.
- All US citizens wishing to participate in EC national competitions can do so by demonstrating they are Competing Members in good standing with USEF.
- This date extension applies only to Equestrian Canada sport license holders. All other foreign participants will be required to comply with the USEF Competing membership and Safe Sport training requirements beginning September 1, 2023.
- As a reminder, for those participating in FEI-only events, these participation eligibility requirements do not apply.
For more information about this update and what it may mean for you, please refer to the FAQ page.
For any additional questions related to this update, please contact USEF General Counsel Sonja Keating at skeating@usef.org.
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