I guess the beginning is a great place to start. I grew up in Maine, the oldest of five, to a father who was in the military and a mother who was a housewife until the youngest of my siblings was in Junior-High school. We grew up on the other side of middle-class, OK, we were poor. I grew up watching spaghetti westerns in black and white on Saturday afternoons. I always loved the intrigue of being a Cowboy, pushing cattle up the Chisholm Trail, fighting bad guys and Indians. Next to the pony...

Richie Moloney and Slieveanorra (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Whether it was the luck of the Irish on St. Patrick's Day or just natural skill and talent, the Irish riders were on a roll on the final day of competition for week ten of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF), sponsored by Horseware Ireland. Richie Moloney and Equinimity LLC's Slieveanorra jumped to victory in the $33,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic to conclude the week's jumper...

Jessica Springsteen and Vindicat W (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Twenty-one-year-old Jessica Springsteen of Colts Neck, NJ, guided Stone Hill Farm's Vindicat W to the winning round in Sunday's $82,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic to conclude week nine of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF), sponsored by The Bainbridge Companies. Showing on a beautiful afternoon at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL, Springsteen...

Cian O'Connor and Walk Tall II (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Week seven of the 2013 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival continued on Saturday afternoon with the $25,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic featured on the grass derby field at The Stadium at PBIEC. Richard Jeffery, of Bournemouth, England, is the course designer on the derby field for the week. On Saturday afternoon, Jeffery set the track for 31 entries in the $25,000 Suncast 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic. Only three...

Alise Oken and Teirra (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Twenty-one -year-old Alise Oken and Hi Hopes Farm, LLC's Teirra kicked off Friday's competition at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival with a win in the $2,500 RCG Farm High Amateur-Owner Jumper Power and Speed class in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC). Week three of the FTI WEF runs January 23-27. The week will feature the FTI Consulting Great Charity Challenge (FTI GCC),...

Peter Wylde and Zidane. (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Week three of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) began with the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m speed class on Wednesday morning at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC). The win went to Olympic gold medalist Peter Wylde (USA) aboard Windward Farm and Jessica Suida's Zidane, a nine-year-old KWPN gelding by Sam R x Cantos. Week three of the FTI WEF runs January 23-27. The week will feature the FTI Consulting...

Lexington, Ky - The second edition of the Alltech National Horse Show in Lexington, KY, is set for October 30 through November 4, 2012. The show will once again be held at the Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park. In addition to world-class show jumping and the country's best and most competitive hunter divisions, the show will also feature one of the nation's longest running and most coveted national championships, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty...

Samantha Schaefer and Lyn Pedersen's Mahalo on course during the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final (ESI Photography). Saugerties, NY – All bets were off Sunday morning as judges cards were wiped clean from Saturday’s first two rounds of the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final and the top 25 riders advanced to the final two rounds in the Strongid® C 2X Grand Prix Stadium at HITS-on-the-Hudson. With an impressive fourth-round score of 92.33 and a total score of 178.08,...

Andre Thieme on course with his own Aragon Rouet at the 2011 Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix (ESI Photography). Saugerties, NY - As the rain subsided at HITS-on-the-Hudson on Sunday, some of the best equestrians in the world took to the course of the second-ever Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix. But, after a plane-ride from Germany, upwards of $20,000 in travel expenses and a long week of nerves it was Andre Thieme who will cash the coveted $350,000 winner’s check. During the qualifying season...

McLain Ward captures his second victory of the week at HITS-on-the-Hudson in Sunday's $100,000 Strongid® C 2X Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, aboard Grant Road Partners' Antares (ESI Photography). Saugerties, NY — McLain Ward and Grant Road Partners’ Antares F had another impressive week of show jumping at HITS-on-the-Hudson Week VI with back-to-back wins to dominate the competition in the Strongid® C 2X Stadium. They took the blue in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand...