Great Meadow Eventing

 

Eventing is not new to Great Meadow.  The Middleburg Horse Trials, which were originally held from 1975 to 1984 at Dresden Farm in Middleburg VA, the home of Mr. and Mrs. James J Wilson, and organized by Mrs. Barbara Wilson and Mr. Jeff Blue, moved to Great Meadow in 1985. In 1987 the horse trial was still held at Great Meadow but changed its name to the Virginia Horse Trial. The Virginia International Three Day event in 1988 was the last time this organizing committee ran their event at Great Meadow.  The horse trial then moved to Glenwood Park and was again called the Middleburg Horse Trial and is still running horse trials under the organization of the Middleburg Pony Club. Notably the Virginia International 2 Day in 1998 was won by Karen O'Connor and Mark Weissbecker, a member of this year's ground jury finished 4th. 

 

After many years with no eventing being held at Great Meadow, it became the home for the horse trials and FEI run by the Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association (CDCTA). From the spring of 1995 until fall of 2005 CDCTA organized their horse trial with the upper levels running at Great Meadow. They built the Preliminary horse trial course in 1995 and the Intermediate level course in 1996, They ran a Preliminary 2 day event 1997-99,  a National One Star event in 2000 and CCI* and CCI** in 2001.

 

However in 2002, CDCTA no longer ran any FEI level competitions as the demands of running FEI levels had become too demanding for a volunteer organization as it really needed a full time staff to grow the CCI one and two star.  They continued to run the upper level part of their national horse trials in the spring and fall at Great Meadow until they moved to Culpeper in fall of 2005. A look at the results shows many of the premier eventers of those years competing at Great Meadow, not the least being Olympian, current Coach of the US Team and Organizer of the FM International, David O'Connor, his wife and Olympian Karen O’Connor, and Robert Costello, former Olympian and head of the Selector Committee for the US. Also Philip Dutton, Kim Severson, Sinead Halpin, and Buck Davidson, all of whom represented the USA at the World Equestrian Games in 2014, competed at the last FEI level competition in 2001 at CDCTA at Great Meadow. 

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Before Eventing:  Eventers need land to compete.  This event takes place on the land of the Manahoac.  We honor the Manahoac and other Indigenous caretakers of these lands and waters and will continue to work on further acknowledgment of this land’s history. 

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