Major changes are ahead for two youth development training programs the U.S. Equestrian Federation organizes each January for the country’s best up-and-coming dressage and show jumping riders.

Those changes include new names—the series long known as the Robert Dover Horsemastership Clinic Week next year becomes simply the USEF Dressage Training Series—and new formats. For dressage, that means adding a three-day Under 25 section to the Florida clinic and reducing the number of participants in the main section from 20 to 15.

For the jumpers, it means cutting the group of invited athletes in half—from 12 to six—and requiring them to provide their own horses. 

Those hoping to watch the clinics should note an additional change: There will be no livestream this year; instead, clips from each clinic will be posted online. Alternately, people in the area can audit the clinics live; both East Coast clinics will be held at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival grounds in Wellington, Florida, and the West Coast dressage clinic will be held at Del Mar Horsepark in Del Mar, California. 

Dressage Clinic Gets A New Look

After a dozen years of being headlined by six-time Olympian Robert Dover, the annual clinic designed as part of the U.S. Dressage Pathways Program to develop the next generation of dressage team talent will no longer carry his name. The new name aligns with other new efforts, said Laura Roberts, USEF managing director of dressage.

“The rebranding of this clinic better aligns with other initiatives in the works, including increased training opportunities available to USEF dressage program members at the youth, development and senior levels,” she wrote in an email. “In 2025, additional training series (previously called Program Pathway Clinics) will be added to the calendar, and consistent branding is important to grow recognition and education for these initiatives. …

“Robert Dover’s undeniable impact on the success, popularity, and growth of the clinic over the years will always be recognized and respected as the foundation of this event,” she added, “as well as his legacy of giving back to future generations of young athletes in U.S. Dressage programs.”  

As in the past, invitations to the 2025 clinic were automatically extended to the individual and freestyle gold medalists from the FEI North American Youth Championships in the junior and young rider divisions; the champion and reserve champion from the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions in the Dressage Seat Medal Finals (both age groups), childrens and pony divisions; and the top three finishers from Festival of Champions in the junior and young rider divisions. Wild card applications from riders ages 12 to 21 were also considered to fill a maximum 15 spots—down from 20 in previous years—in the clinic. 

“The purpose of the training session is for participating athletes to come away with valuable educational tools, both mounted and on the ground, to apply to their home training and programs,” Roberts wrote. “With direct access to our best coaches, veterinarians and support staff, after discussing with our coaching staff, we felt a restructure of the programming was needed to ensure each athlete can make the most of the opportunity while creating a more hands-on environment with all educational aspects.”

The new U25 group will provide an additional opportunity for riders ages 16 to 25 that are riding at Intermediaire II or higher. 

“The U25 addition is targeting athletes with goals to compete in the 2025 Wellington CDIO-U25, the European U25 Tour and/or the FEI North American Youth Championships (U25),” Roberts wrote. “As this division continues to grow on the competition front, we feel it is important to increase training opportunities for the U25 athletes and continue to invest in and support their development as they are critical in our pathway.”

Both the East and West Coast training sessions will aim to have approximately five U25 athletes, with a total maximum of 10 athletes on the West Coast and 20 athletes on the East Coast, she added. While the application period has closed for the East Coast session, West Coast applicants who are competing or schooling at the FEI levels can still apply through Dec. 6.

The East Coast clinics will be held Jan. 2-5 (or Jan. 3-5 for U25 riders) at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival Grounds in Wellington. The West Coast clinics will be held Feb. 20-23 at HITS Del Mar Horsepark in Del Mar.

Jumper Clinic Gets Smaller

At last year’s annual USEF Horsemastership Training Series, last-minute withdrawals meant only 11 riders out of a possible 12 ultimately participated in the three-day session. The number of participants is being cut in half for 2025.

The training series traditionally begins with a mounted flatwork session taught by Anne Kursinski, chef d’equipe of the U.S. Show Jumping Development Program, followed by gymnastics and coursework sessions, which willl be taught by Beezie Madden and McLain Ward this year. In addition, the selected riders participate in multiple unmounted educational sessions with top professionals.

Like its dressage counterpart, the jumping clinic series is intended to identify and develop the next generation of potential team athletes and is offered as part of the U.S. Jumping Pathways Program.

To be eligible this year, riders ages 16-21 must have competed over 1.40-meter or higher courses with 0 faults at least three times in the previous six months, and they are required to bring a horse to the training series that “must be very fit and proficient at 1.40m or higher and over open water.” 

This year, as in previous years, automatic invitations were extended to the junior and young rider individual gold medalists from the FEI North American Youth Jumping Championships, the winners of the East Coast and West Coast USEF Talent Search Finals, and the USEF Junior Jumper National Championship. 

Only one wild-card slot was specifically designated on top of those qualifiers. It, plus any of the other slots in which the winners don’t meet the other criteria, will be filled based on wild-card applicants’ results at 1.40 meters and higher, looking at consistency, course difficulty, competitiveness, and the person’s “perceived potential to successfully contribute” to future U.S. team competitions.

“The [invitation system] has been revised this year to provide a more personalized, immersive, and engaging experience for the athletes,” wrote Erin Keating, USEF’s director of jumping development programs. “In gathering feedback from past participants and clinicians, it was determined a smaller group of athletes would allow for more time to be dedicated to specific areas of hands-on education, including the horsemanship and in-barn sessions. It is important athletes don’t feel rushed or pressured to move from session to session, and our intention is to provide focused resources on horse care and management, which is the foundation of this training session.”  

Last year’s gymnastics session created a controversy after clips taken from the livestream showed clinician Katie Prudent making comments that USEF later said were “problematic” and “not aligned with our values.” The video was ultimately taken down, and the problematic sections edited out before being reposted in USEF’s video archives.

This year, rather than streaming the mounted sessions in their entirety, USEF will post selected clips from the three days of riding.

“For both jumping and dressage, the sessions will be available on-demand on USEF Network,” USEF spokeswoman Carly Weilminster wrote. “This format will allow the athletes to ask questions, receive personalized feedback, and participate in a more natural environment without the added pressure of being on live stream.”

The clinic will be held Jan. 2-5 at the AGDF grounds in Wellington, Florida.