(Austin, TX) – The Texas Animal Health Commission has set up an emergency hotline to provide pet owners with information on available shelters by county. The number is: (800) 550-8242 and operates Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pre-selected shelters are currently open and have been receiving evacuating horses and other animals. Lists of available shelters/stabling are also available thru local emergency management and the Texas Animal Health Commission. These are published on their web...

Reiners and reining enthusiasts from all over the world are pouring into the little town of Manerbio, Italy, where, in the wonderful Palasturla facility, the finals of the second $100,000 FEI World Reining Masters Finals, presented by the Arcese Group and the Italian Equestrian Sports Federation (FISE) will be held on Saturday 24 at 9 p.m. The event is run concurrently with the 2005 Italian Reining Horse Association Maturity. On Friday afternoon at 5.30 pm the FEI Strategic Plan Open...

Lexington, KY – The 2006 United States Equestrian Federation Annual Meeting, previously scheduled to take place in New Orleans, has been relocated to Cincinnati, OH, at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. The dates for the convention will remain January 11–15. “We were very much looking forward to meeting in New Orleans but USEF was one of hundreds of organizations that had to relocate their convention as a result of the devastating hurricane. The Netherland Plaza is a beautiful Art Deco...

Courtesy University of South Carolina (University of South Carolina's equestrian team after winning the NCAA National Championship.) Winning the Hunt Seat Division with 40 points, the University of South Carolina’s (USC) Equestrian team clinched its first national title in varsity equestrian on April 16. Overall, South Carolina tallied 60 points to second place University of Georgia’s 51 points (the two-time defending champion). Texas A & M University finished third, and...

Despite a previous week of sunshine when the field of 30 competitors began the Gulf Coast Mid Winter $10,000 Open Welcome, Mother Nature decided to add another challenge to Anthony D’Ambrosio’s course. A deluge of rain began as the first horse passed judges Fred Brown and Mike Christian. David Q Wright’s Step Right Up did just that. After a clear first round the 14-year-old Thoroughbred gelding from Murfreesboro, TN, gave a repeat performance in a jump-off field of eight with a speedy 34.494...

Red Hills Horse Trials is preparing to host a major international event with an FEI World Cup Qualifier as well as being part of the USEA Gold Cup Series at the Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park near Tallahassee, FL, March 11-13, 2005. A total of seven divisions will be held during the three days with prize money reaching $20,500. Now in its eighth year, Red Hills welcomed over 37,000 visitors to the event in 2004 to watch some 200 competitors and is anticipating another hugely successful event. Over...

USEF Archive ( ) For the past nine months the USEF Competition Date Approval Task Force has worked on a major overhaul of the current “Mileage Rule” which dictates how competition dates are awarded to horse show organizers. As the Task Force examined the process it became apparent that several other important issues involved in the awarding of dates were critical to the improvement of equestrian competition in the United States. These involved the licensing of competitions; establishment and...

The American Horse Council reports that approximately 160,000 postcard invitations have been distributed asking people to participate in the national economic impact study of the horse industry. Those selected should receive the invitation in mid-October. The glossy postcard includes an Internet link that will direct the recipient to an online survey, where the information requested can be provided in a secure website. “We hope that this electronic approach will make it easy for people to...

We’ve all heard the old adage, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." It's one of those time-tested pearls of wisdom that never fails, right? Well think again, because people like Sally Yacka, Business Manager of Derby Down, Inc., will tell you there are exceptions. Big exceptions. When Sally first saw the flyer from the United States Equestrian Federation’s (USEF) purchasing program, detailing how she could get big discounts on products the farm already used, she thought she might...

Royal Kaliber, the stallion that took Chris Kappler to the Olympic team silver and individual bronze medals at the 2004 Olympic Games, is stable as he continues to recover from colic surgery performed in the Netherlands on Monday, September 27th. Dr. Jack Snyder, the veterinarian who performed the surgery, reports that Royal Kaliber is eating, sleeping and drinking normally for this stage of recovery. “Although there is still much concern and he is not out of the woods yet, all of Roy’s...

The United States won more equestrian medals than any other team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens with a total of 5 medals from six possible opportunities. For the second time in US Olympic Equestrian history, and the first time in an Olympic games outside of the United States, the US Equestrian Team won team medals in each discipline, Eventing, Dressage and Show Jumping. This was achieved only once before in the 1996 Atlanta Games. 2004 was also the third time the US has won 5 Olympic...