At exactly 8:08 p.m. on August 8, the official one-year-to-go countdown to the 2008 Olympic Games was launched. Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture. In general, eight is an auspicious number for Buddhists. In front of 10,000 people gathered on Tianan’men Square, with the Forbidden City as a backdrop, a sumptuous ceremony took place where Chinese culture and traditions were clearly on show. The International Olympic Committee President handed out the official invitations to the...

Lexington, KY—The United States Equestrian Federation is seeking an individual to fill the position of Endurance Chef d’Equipe. The successful candidate will be provided with a contract for the 2008-2010 biennium and possibly longer. A Search Committee has been appointed: -James Wolf - Executive Director, Sports Programs -Mark Phillips - USEF Chef d’Equipe for Eventing -Tony Benedetti - Endurance High Performance and Active Athlete Committee member. -Kathy Brunjes - Endurance High...

The USEF is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a Para Equestrian Training Session with Sharon Schneidman September 5-6, 2007 at the Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Canter in Woodville, Washington. Para Equestrian stands for Equestrians with disabilities that compete in parallel competitions from National programs through the Olympics. This Training Session is designed to help riders who have various disabilities learn more about competing in Dressage at a National or International Level....

Laura Kraut and Cedric won the grand prix at the CSI*** Hachenburg in Germany on August 5 over a very competitive field of 53 horses and riders from across Europe. Kraut, who is based in Middleburg, VA, and Cedric, a 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by K and H Enterprises were more than three seconds faster in the jump-off than runner-up Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and Ninja La Silla. The win follows up the very successful Nations Cup effort by the U.S. team at Hickstead on July 27. Kraut...

The World Games 2010 Foundation, Inc., announced Lloyd Landkamer, of Hamel, MN, as the Para-Equestrian Discipline Manager for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Landkamer becomes one of nine managers responsible for planning, managing and directing the World Championship competitions in eight equestrian sports, communicating with the high-performance community and related organizations, and overseeing development and administration of the discipline’s budget. The nine managers will...

The region’s top dressage talent converged at the Colorado Horse Park for Dressage in the Rockies August 3-5, 2007. The event, which offered three separate shows for riders to earn three sets of qualifying scores and points, featured classes for professionals, amateurs and juniors, from training to the FEI levels. With more than $7,500 in prize money and awards, the events drew riders not only from Colorado, but also throughout the region. Fifteen-year-old Evan Hills from Holladay, UT, was one...

At its meeting on Tuesday, July 31, the Executive Committee of the American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA) designated regional championship competitions throughout the United States for 2008. The first official regional championship was held in 2005 at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, PA, for the Northeastern region. That competition was selected again, but in this instance for Region 11 only, encompassing the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) announced that three Olympians will headline a stellar group of speakers for the USDF/USEF Young Rider Graduate Program, to be held January 18-20, 2008, in West Palm Beach, FL: Debbie McDonald, USEF National Developing Rider Coach, 2004 U.S. Olympic Dressage Team Bronze medalist and winner of the 2003 World Cup Dressage Final; Lisa Wilcox, 2004 U.S. Olympic Dressage Team Bronze medalist and 2002 World Equestrian Games Team Silver medalist; and Carol...

The Samsung Super League with FEI leaders from Germany will be last into the ring for Friday's seventh leg of the 2007 series in Dublin following Thursday's draw at the Royal Dublin Society showgrounds. The order of go will be as follows: 1. Belgium; 2. France; 3. Switzerland; 4. Ireland; 5. USA; 6. The Netherlands; 7. Great Britain; 8. Sweden; 9. Germany. Belgian Chef d'Equipe Lucien Somers failed to arrive in time for the Draw Press Conference, but his team's unfavorable starting position had...

The United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation's Equestrian Application to field a squad of 12 Olympic riders in the 2008 Rose Parade has been officially accepted by the Equestrian Committee of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses. The USET Foundation will select four Olympians from each of the three Olympic disciplines (dressage, show jumping and eventing) to ride in the 119th Rose Parade on January 1, 2008, in Pasadena, CA. The USET Foundation squad will lead the floral float entered by the...