Virginia Horse Center
IEA Nationals is hosted in different locations each year to allow members to travel to different parts of the country, experience different horses and horse communities, and allow various IEA zones and the teams within them to showcase their horses. For 2017, Zone 3 was chosen zone, and the Virginia Horse Center was the perfect fit.
IEA National Finals Coordinator, Stephanie Keough, said, "Zone 3 has long tradition of quality equestrian competition and activity. We're excited for our riders to be part of that. When looking at Zone 3, Virginia Horse Center is a top-notch facility that can accommodate all of our needs."
The Virginia Horse Center was founded to promote the development of all aspects of the equestrian sport and is located in the rolling hills and mountains of Rockbridge County. The facility features a 4,000 seat coliseum arena, eight barns to accommodate over 1,200 horses, and 19 different show rings including two indoors, a cross country field and combined carriage driving course, campgrounds, and full catering and dining services.
The Virginia Horse Center is run by the Virginia Horse Center Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The Foundation is an integral part of the Rockbridge County, VA community and economy and is a valuable resource to the East-Atlantic competition circuit. The Foundation serves over 500,000 people and 100,000 animals, and manages 115 annual events, most free and open to the public.
"The IEA is one of the most important organizations in equestrian sport today," expressed Virginia Horse Center Foundation CEO John Nicholson. "By providing young people an organized forum for safe and fair competition, IEA not only is making a critical contribution to the future of our sport, but also to the positive character development of middle and high school students throughout the country. The Virginia Horse Center is proud to welcome the all the participants of the IEA National Finals. We are confident all will enjoy our first class facilities and will enjoy the beautiful vista of the Shenandoah Valley."
Keough concluded, "We're looking forward to the continued support of our many sponsors and expect the quality of the event to continue to impress!"
Founded in 2002, the IEA has more than 12,500 members across the United States. The IEA was organized to promote and improve the quality of equestrian competition and instruction available to middle and secondary school students and is open to public and private schools and barn teams. Its purpose is to set minimum standards for competition, provide information concerning the creation and development of school associated equestrian sport programs, to generally promote the common interests of safe riding instruction and competition and education on matters related to equestrian competition at the middle and secondary school levels. There is no need for any rider to own a horse because the IEA provides a mount and tack to each rider at every event, including the National Finals. For more information, please view the IEA website at: www.rideiea.org.
To learn more about additional upcoming events at the Virginia Horse Center visit http://www.horsecenter.org/.