Last Thursday, March 3, was a disappointing day for most of the individuals who applied for the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Eventing Chef d’Equipe/Technical Advisor position. Of the nine applicants for the job, only two, David O’Connor and Leslie Law, were named to a short list by the Search Committee.

O’Connor and Law will now answer questions in an open rider forum on March 10 at Red Hills Horse Trials (Fla.) and undergo a second round of interviews with the USEF Eventing Eligible Athlete Committee. Afterward, that committee will issue a final recommendation to the Eventing High Performance Committee, and the new chef d’equipe will be named.

But since this announcement, riders and other eventing enthusiasts have expressed disapproval of a process in which only two applicants have the chance to present their plans to the Eligible Athletes.

Jim Wofford led by a huge margin in unofficial public opinion polls on the Chronicle Forums and EventingNation.com. Meanwhile, riders like Boyd Martin and Jennie Brannigan have blogged about their disappointment that Phillip Dutton and Bobby Costello in particular weren’t given a chance to advance to the second round of interviews.

Wofford, of Upperville, Va., chose not to speak on the record about his reaction, but stated on his blog, jimwofford.blogspot.com, that, “Naturally, I am deeply disappointed. However, throughout this process, I have been touched by the encouragement and support I have received from around the country. Thank you for all your comments, letters, phone calls, emails, and blog posts. They meant more to me than I can say.”

Dutton spoke more candidly about the application he submitted in partnership with Costello.

“Obviously I’m pretty shocked and surprised, not so much that we didn’t get the job, but that we didn’t get the chance for the riders to hear our proposal and our plans and our vision for the team,” said Dutton, West Grove, Pa. “That’s disappointing.”

Dutton said he and Costello, of Southern Pines, N.C., had outlined an all-encompassing strategy to initiate a horse and rider pipeline in the United States, with support for riders just breaking in to the one-star level all the way up to four-star.

“We’d also like to create a national team competition to mirror what happens in Europe, where those countries get to practice a lot more as teams,” he said, referring to the European Championships, nations cups and young rider competitions offered in Europe. “We planned to instigate that so that before [our riders] go overseas, they’re a lot more practiced and a lot more experienced at that whole process.”

The pair’s plan also included multiple ways to attract new owners and sponsors to the sport, which would “make it possible for riders to put more time into their careers,” Dutton said. 

As a member of the USEF Eventing Eligible Athletes Committee, Dutton recused himself from engaging in any headhunting duties when he applied for the job.

“I’m not sure where that stands now,” he said. “Obviously I had to step off of it because I was an applicant. And now I’m not an applicant, so maybe I get to quiz these guys.”

Dutton noted that he believes O’Connor and Law are both excellent horsemen, and that if he continues riding on the team, “There won’t be any faction on my behalf. They’ll get my support if either of them get the job.”

“I think it’ll be interesting to see whether the riders accept the first committee’s recommendation to interview the two,” he continued. “I believe that at the end of the day, the [Eventing Eligible] Athletes Committee is in charge of the hiring of the coach.”

The Search Committee is comprised of Chairman Eric Straus, Kim Severson (who replaced Costello when he applied for the position), Kevin Freeman, Mike Huber, George Morris, Katie Prudent and Amy Tryon. According to USEF Eventing Managing Director Sara Ike, the Athletes Committee does not have to accept the Search Committee’s recommendations.

“I think the whole process seems a bit flawed in that it was constantly made clear and bragged about that the riders would get to choose their next coach,” Dutton said. “Well, they’re only getting to choose between two, and there were nine applicants. So it’s not really a true representation of everybody there.”