Maxime Livio to Headline 2019 USEA Educational Symposium

Maxime Livio and Qalao Des Mers at Kentucky 2017. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

French team rider Maxime Livio will headline the 2019 USEA Educational Symposium on Feb. 18-21, 2019, at Grand Oaks in Weirsdale, Florida. The USEA Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP), Future Event Horse (FEH) Program and Young Event Horse (YEH) Program will all offer training and education over the course of a jam-packed four days.

Maxime hardly needs an introduction to EN readers, having finished second to Michael Jung at Kentucky in 2017 and won team bronze at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon. (If you need a little refresher on what we love about Maxime, we’ll just leave this link right here.)

The ICP Symposium will take place on Monday, Feb. 18 and Tuesday, Feb. 19, with Maxime teaching dressage lessons on Monday and show jumping and cross country lessons on Tuesday. The USEA is looking for demo riders at Training to Advanced level for both ICP days. Email Lauren Gash at [email protected] if you are interested in applying to be a demo rider.

Auditors are welcome to watch the lessons on one or both days of the ICP Symposium. One-day tickets cost $35 for ICP Certified Instructors, FEH/YEH participants and USEF licensed officials; $50 for the general public; and $15 for children 12 and under. Two-day tickets cost $60 for all ICP Certified Instructors, FEH/YEH participants and USEF Licensed Officials; $90 for the general public; and $25 for children 12 and under.

Click here to register for the ICP Symposium.

The YEH Symposium — “From Five Years to Five Stars: Identifying the Star Quality” — will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 20, with Maxime evaluating 5-year-olds and their suitability as future five-star horses based on their conformation, movement, behavior, rideability and trainability.

The YEH symposium will start in a classroom setting in the morning to discuss and watch videos of what top international horses looked like as 5-year-olds. In the afternoon, Maxime will assess each demo horse. Demo horses will be ridden by their designated riders, and might also be selected for Maxime to ride.

The USEA is looking for quality horses ranging from 4 to 6 years old to serve as demo horses for the YEH Symposium. Contact Kate Lokey at [email protected] if you are interested.

USEA members can attend the YEH Symposium for $30, and non-members can attend for $40. Two-day tickets to attend both the YEH Symposium and FEH Symposium cost $55 for USEA members and $70 for non-members. Click here to register and purchase tickets.

Click here to register and purchase tickets for the YEH Symposium.

The FEH Symposium will take place on Thursday, Feb. 21 with a focus on hands-on assessment of young eventing prospects. Holly Simenson will lead the morning session on conformation for FEH judges, breeders and competitors. A breeder for more than 30 years, Holly is a conformation specialist and the only approved U.S. inspector of young horses for the Oldenburg Verband.

German show jumping rider Matthias Hollberg will lead the afternoon session on free jumping, studying the canter, and quality of jump and scope. He has multiple wins on the Grand Prix circuit and is well known for his prowess in producing quality young horses.

Robin Walker and Peter Gray, who judged at the 2018 FEH Championships, will also offer commentary during the FEH Symposium.

Young horses ranging from yearlings to 4-year-olds are needed as demo horses for the FEH Symposium. Please contact Kate Lokey at [email protected] if you are interested.

USEA members can attend the YEH Symposium for $30, and non-members can attend for $40. Two-day tickets to attend both the YEH Symposium and FEH Symposium cost $55 for USEA members and $70 for non-members.

Click here to register and purchase tickets for the FEH Symposium.