Organizer’s Guide: IEL Team Challenges

Updated December 2025

The USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) is strongly based on team competitions – referred to as IEL Team Challenges, which are between two or more teams from one or more Clubs and held at USEA/USEF-Recognized Horse Trials. All rules of competition as put forth in the USEA and the USEF Rule Book apply to all IEL competitors.

Who can participate?

Any rider in the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, or 12^th grades. It is the responsibility of the riders and clubs to be in membership compliance. Incoming 5^th and outgoing 12^th graders may participate for the full competition year.
A student must be a current individual member of the USEA.
The club must be a current affiliate of the USEA. This is an annual membership that costs $75. Clubs that register with an Eventing Coaches Program (ECP) certified coach will have their registration fee waived.
The Club Representative must be an adult with a connection to the participants. The representative is required to complete SafeSport Training.
Any junior member of the USEA is eligible to compete in an IEL Team Challenge. New participants that are unaffiliated with an IEL Club at the time of entry will be placed on a “scramble team” at the discretion of the Event Organizer. To select a specific team for any challenge, the rider must join an affiliated IEL Club and be listed on their official roster.

Quick Tips

An organizer may choose to either 1) host an IEL Team Challenge or 2) accept a request from a Club to host one at their event.
The IEL Team Challenge may run in conjunction with any other Team Challenge. However, the team challenges must have separate scoring.
Levels of Competition: Levels to be included in an IEL Team Challenge are offered at the discretion of the organizer. Frequently, Starter through Preliminary are the levels offered.
Teams: Teams can consist of either three or four riders. Four-member teams will utilize a “drop score.” Teams can be comprised of members that are from the same club, or “scramble teams” can be made up of riders from different clubs and/or individual competitors interested in participating.
Fees: No fees are required by the USEA for offering an IEL Team Challenge. An organizer may choose to charge a nominal fee to cover the costs of awards and management of the IEL competition.
Scoring: The USEA encourages all host venues to utilize the scoring guidelines outlined. Most electronic scoring platforms, including ShowConnect, EventEntries, Startbox, and more, offer team scoring solutions already.
Awards: While not required, organizers are encouraged to award team ribbons and/or prizes for the IEL Team Challenge competitors.

Communication

An organizer can expect to have all communications regarding the organization of an IEL Team Challenge with either one of the riders or its’ Club Representative. The organizer is welcome to contact the USEA office at any time with questions regarding the Interscholastic Eventing League.

Get the Word Out Early

Once an organizer has determined that they would like to host an IEL Team Challenge at their event, the following promotional steps are recommended:

Request the addition of your event to the IEL Team Challenge calendar by emailing event information to Kaleigh Collett at [email protected].
Add IEL Team Challenge information to the host event’s USEA Omnibus listing by emailing USEA Director of Competitions, Hannah Seagle, at [email protected].
Alert the Clubs in your Area. Share the announcement on your event’s website and social media pages. An organizer or event representative may also write a brief announcement for inclusion in the news section of USEventing.com.
Reach out to Cindy Clingman at [email protected] on the Tuesday prior to your event to obtain the roster of IEL members participating at your event. If these competitors haven’t already self-identified to you to participate, you can contact them directly to join a team.

Entries

When listing an IEL Team Challenge in the Omnibus, IEL Calendar or elsewhere, organizers should indicate:

The levels to be offered for the IEL Team Challenge
The preferred method (online, paper, etc.) for submitting team list(s).

Riders/Clubs signing up for an IEL Team Challenge are encouraged to:

Include the Club name and team name(s) on their entry and stabling forms.
Riders shall make a note of the team’s name on any electronic and/or paper entry.
Club Representative shall email the team list(s) by the closing date to the event secretary or team challenge coordinator.

In turn, the organizer and their team are asked to:

Support the creation of scramble teams when there are Club riders not associated with a team.
Support the requests to stable team challenge participants together to promote team atmosphere and camaraderie. For one day events, enabling parking together is encouraged.

Team Dynamics and Scoring

The USEA encourages all host venues to use the coefficient system as outlined in the IEL Guidelines. Electronic scoring platforms, like ShowConnect, EventEntries, and Startbox, support team scoring with the desired coefficient system automatically applied. There is an excel spreadsheet available should an event need a method to calculate team results manually instead. The scoresheet can be found here.

It is recommended that the Event Organizer post the scores for an IEL Team Challenge on the scoreboard and/or event’s results page, so Clubs can keep up with the team challenge standings.

Awards

Awards for IEL Team Challenges are provided at the discretion of the Event Organizer. Organizers may offer team ribbons and/or prizes. Because of the nature of IEL Team Challenges, it may be necessary to mail awards. These can be sent to the Club Representatives, and it is not unreasonable to request a self-addressed envelope and postage fees from them upon arrival.