Following their meeting on Tuesday, March 29, the members of the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Eventing Eligible Athletes Committee have requested another opportunity to interview the two short-listed candidates for the position of U.S. Eventing Chef d’Equipe/Technical Advisor.

Leslie Law and David O’Connor were named to the short list by the USEF Search Committee earlier this month. But the Eligible Athletes Committee considered the applicants and decided more research was necessary before they make their recommendation to the Eventing High Performance Committee.

The Eligible Eventing Athletes Committee and High Performance Training Listed Riders will have the opportunity to meet with and interview Law and O’Connor in a closed session during The Fork Horse Trials in Norwood, N.C., April 6-10. 

Nine applications for this position were received by the USEF. The Search Committee reviewed the applications, and of those, interviewed six. After those interviews, Law and O’Connor were short-listed. The USEF hosted an Open Forum at the Red Hills International Horse Trials on March 10, where Law and O’Connor made presentations and answered questions from the eventing athletes. 

Following the Forum at Red Hills, the Search Committee recommended both candidates to the Eligible Eventing Athletes Committee and the Eventing High Performance Committee for their consideration.

Bobby Costello and Phillip Dutton withdrew their joint application for this position on Monday, March 28. Dutton, as Vice-Chair of the Eligible Eventing Athletes Committee, is now chairing this committee in Amy Tryon’s absence.   

“We look forward to another round of interviews with Leslie and David at the Fork,” said Dutton. “We want to ask them some more questions in an easier environment for those participating. We are also reviewing other applicants that were not short-listed by the Search Committee and are considering them as well.”

USEF Search Committee:

Eric Straus, Chair

Kevin Freeman

Mike Huber

George Morris

Katie Prudent

Amy Tryon

Kim Severson

USEF Eventing Eligible Athletes Committee:

Amy Tryon, Chair

Phillip Dutton, Vice-Chair

Stephen Bradley

Jan Byyny

Buck Davidson

Lauren Hart O’Brien

Becky Holder

Marcia Kulak

Bonnie Mosser

Karen O’Connor*            

Kim Severson

*=Recused

USEF High Performance Eventing Committee:

Robert Costello, Chair

Jane Atkinson

Derek DiGrazia

Phillip Dutton

Mike Huber

Roger Haller

Karen O’Connor*

Marilyn Payne

Kim Severson

Amy Tryon

Jo Whitehouse

*=Recused