Starting in the 2026 competition season, there will be a new minimum eligibility requirement for preliminary level eventing: In addition to four MERs at training level, competitors must now also earn an MER at the modified level.

The rule change was among 11 approved at the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s mid-year board of directors meeting in June.

“We talked about wanting to do this from the get-go” when the modified level was established, said Mike Huber, chair of the U.S. Eventing Association rules committee. “But because we didn’t have any [modified] events yet, we didn’t know how it was going to go, so we thought we would try it without because we didn’t have much of a choice. Now the class has become so popular, most people [moving up to preliminary] are doing it anyway.

“When the class was developed, we thought it was going to be more for amateur riders that were looking to maybe do the FEI one-star, but now professionals are using it, and we just thought it made sense,” Huber continued. At the other levels, MERs are required from the level just below; preliminary was the only outlier, he added. “It just made sense to do that and to be consistent with the other divisions.”

The modified division made its debut in 2017 and has been growing in popularity since then. According to the USEA’s online calendar, there are more than 120 horse trials offering a modified division for the 2024 competition year.

However, there are big disparities in where those events offering modified are located. Areas II (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina) and III (Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida) both have 30-plus horse trials offering modified on the 2024 calendar. Areas I (New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) and VI (California and Hawaii) are both in the double digits.

But Areas V (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana), VII (Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana) and IX (Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota and Colorado) only have three or four. Area X (Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico) has no horse trials offering a modified division at all.

The move from training level to preliminary has long been a focal point in efforts to improve safety because it’s the biggest jump in height—from 3’3” at training to 3’7” at preliminary—and involves a significant step up in technicality. The modified division, with a maximum fence height of 3’5″, was created to provide a stepping stone between the two levels.

Focus On Preparation

Danny Warrington, the chair of rider safety on the USEA Safety And Equine Welfare Committee, said the addition of an MER at modified wasn’t initiated by their committee.

“We’re only allowed to put things forward to the rules committee, and we’re, at the moment, really focused more on education and promoting education than we are on rules,” he said. “I think the rule is fine. I think you could even make people do four modifieds, but then it falls into the category of not being able to get to them. So I do feel for the people that are in those outer places that are going to have to make that happen. But if that’s the rule, and it’s made to make people do more things, then I have to be somewhat behind it.”

But Warrington urged those involved in governance to keep a “longer vision,” and cautioned against ticking boxes for MERs and thinking it shows a horse or rider’s readiness.

“You can go to Rocking Horse [Florida] five times and be qualified, but you haven’t been anywhere, you haven’t done terrain, you haven’t done anything,” he said. “You’re qualified to go to Plantation [Field (Pennsylvania)], but you’re going to get killed. So we need to have a better overall system that exposes people to what they’re going to do.”

Challenges For Middle America

Heather Drager is the young riders coordinator for Area X and a three-time competitor at the North American Young Riders Championships herself. She lives outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, works as a physican’s assistant, and is currently competing her horse Winnsome at the intermediate level. She also previously was on a USEA Appendix 3 task force that was looking at qualifications for intermediate and advanced.

At one point during her time on the task force, it was discussing requiring 10 MERs at preliminary to move up to intermediate. “I couldn’t do that in two seasons. And [the MERs] start expiring after 24 months too. I don’t know how I could ever get a horse to intermediate again,” she said.

The current approach to MERs for preliminary is much more modest, she said, and she supports the change.

“It is going to be tough, because right now [in Area X] we don’t even have a single modified in our whole area. But when you start to get to the upper levels, you have to start thinking about traveling anyway for a lot of your horse shows,” she said. “I think the jump from training to prelim is a big one, where a lot of people kind of decide that they are either in or out at that point. So I think the modified division in itself is a good idea. And if they’re really going to promote it and make it a legitimate level, I think they’re going to have to start making people go up through modified in order to get to prelim.”

Her closest current options for a modified outing would be at the new Bayou Gulch Horse Trials at the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, which is about seven hours from Albuquerque, or at Galway Downs in Temecula, California, which is 12 hours away. 

“I don’t think one [MER] at the modified level is that big of an ask, because I think most people that are considering moving up the levels are going to start traveling,” she said. “We have a huge area, and there are six shows in the whole year. So you are going to go to Colorado or California or places like that [outside of Area X].

“I’m really appreciative that they didn’t make it three [MERs at modified] the first year that it was going to be a requirement, because that would be really hard,” she continued. “But I think one’s doable, and as long as they bring it up slowly—maybe in two years, make it two, and then make it three. I think that’s fair.”

“I don’t think one [MER] at the modified level is that big of an ask, because I think most people that are considering moving up the levels are going to start traveling.”

Heather Drager, Area X eventer

Drager added that it can be difficult to get the USEA decision-makers on both coasts to truly comprehend just how different it is to event at the mid-to-upper levels in the middle of the country.

“I think there are certain individuals that are [aware], and then there are certain individuals that are completely blind to it,” she said. “Basically you can get it done on the East Coast, and nowadays you can get it done if you’re totally on the West Coast—[Area VI] is pretty good, and even [Area VII], they definitely have some weather issues, but you’ve got some big shows out there. You’ve got Rebecca [Montana], you’ve got Aspen [Washington]. So you can get it done on either side of the country pretty well. And in the middle, we’re just in this hole.

“I know [they’re] looking out for the safety of people, but when you start to make it 10 [MERs], I mean, I might as well forget it. And I’m probably the most dedicated upper level rider [in Area X],” she continued. “I know there’s a safety issue, but there’s got to be a little bit of give and take. Not everybody’s gonna live in Florida—that was [someone’s] answer to me. ‘Move, if you want to go advanced. Move.’ That was his answer.”

Organizers Support Change; Worry About Cost

Kristina Whorton of Kansas City, Missouri, is a mom, works full-time as a project manager, is president of the Mid America Eventing Association and has competed up through the CCI3*-S level. She also helps organize the Heritage Park Horse Trials in Olathe, Kansas, in Area IV, which is the largest USEA area geographically. There are six events offering a modified division in the area for 2024, but Heritage Park is not currently one of them.

“We have had some modified jumps built in hopes to hopefully have that in the near future,” she said. They have also offered a modified combined test and occasionally a one-day horse trial at MAEA schooling shows. “We just mix our training and smaller prelim jumps together to make a cross-country course, because it’s unrecognized,” she said.

“Modified within the last few years nationwide has obviously grown exponentially, and I feel like it’s a great level that bridges the gap between training and prelim, because it is such a huge jump in technicality and fitness,” she said. “So I think what holds event organizers back [from adding the division] is the cost, because we would want a true modified course, not just ‘Here’s a training level jump, but with a harder question, or a small prelim one.’ And so we just really want to make sure we’re offering a legit modified course.

“Cost is kind of prohibitive,” she continued. “But at the same time, you can use modified jumps in some prelim questions, you know, with terrain and everything. So that’s kind of how we’ve been using our current modified jumps is incorporating them into technicality on the prelim course, but hopefully with entries and modified growing at the level in itself, we would be able to offer it and have a full division one day.”

Whorton added that local events sometimes struggle to fill training and preliminary divisions.

“So we have brainstormed that as well: ‘Hey, we’re going to spend X amount of dollars to build a modified course, but we’re getting four prelim entries and six training level entries. How do we justify that?’ ” she said. “I think that it is a real big conversation that has to be had, just with how expensive everything is currently in the world and just how much it is to put on an event already. But we would love to offer [modified]. It’s definitely been talked about; it’s definitely in the plan, hopefully in the near future. It’s just not something we can do instantly.”

Whorton suggested that the USEA could consider something similar to the frangible pin grants they offered to events to help make that somewhat-expensive technology more readily available.

“[T]hey see the need for modified, they know how important modified is. So let’s help the shows out that don’t have them, so that it can become even more of the norm.”

Kristina Whorton, horse trials organizer

“It would be nice to be able to get some sort of support for small shows like [Heritage Park] that would really benefit from a modified, but it is a huge financial burden,” she said. “Just like the frangible grant: ’OK, we’re going to give you money so people have these frangible jumps, because we see the need, and we see how important they are.’ Well, they see the need for modified, they know how important modified is. So let’s help the shows out that don’t have them, so that it can become even more of the norm. Because the numbers and the studies are out there; research is proving that it’s a great level, and it definitely was needed within the sport, but it’s a lot of lot of financial responsibility on the shows to make it happen.”

She added that riders in the middle of the country are all already used to driving long distances, and it’s an accepted part of trying to be competitive at any level. In fact, Whorton said, the long drives are part of the fun of eventing for her. 

“Sometimes the road trips are the best part of the horse show! I’ve loved all the memories I’ve made road tripping. You see a lot of a lot of great things on the open highway—there are a lot of conversation starters as you drive along I-80 or I-70!” she said with a laugh.

But she echoed Drager’s sentiment that those at the upper echelons of the sport, the folks who sit on committees and make rules, don’t always understand the impact of that travel schedule, especially on areas like Area IV that are primarily amateurs and juniors.

“I feel like a lot of people on the governing boards of the organizations that make these rules, statistically they’re East Coast or West Coast, or they live in very populated areas with a lot of events close by. ‘Close’ to us is eight hours away. When you talk to people at shows [on the East Coast], they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, eight hours! That’s like a whole day’s drive, I could never do that!’ ” she said. “Unless you’ve experienced it and lived and breathed it, I think it’s a totally different mindset.”