Bob Langrish (Vaulter Megan Benjamin won an Individual Gold medal.) (Aachen, Germany) – It all came down to one minute. It was years in the making, but it came down to one minute in Aachen, Germany, and when that one minute was over, 18-year-old Megan Benjamin of Saratoga, CA, was the first female American vaulter ever to take a world championship. For the past 20 years, a German woman has always held the title of World Champion, and Germany has also won 23 of the last 30 world championships....

Amber Siegelman and The Waterboy Sailing To The Gold Medal (PhelpsPhotos.com/USEF Archives ) Lexington, KY – When Amber Siegelman was the last to go in the jump-off at the 2006 Adequan/USEF National Pony Jumper Individual Championship, you would have thought you were at a Western event by the sounds of the crowd. All night the crowd was clucking on horses to help them over the fences. But, when Siegelman’s ride looked to be the only clean of the five in the jump-off, the crowd got...

The nine-year-old Brazilian-bred mare Shakira Do Jacare beat both the field of 32 and the stormy weather to take first prize in the Week Two Horses Helping Horses Lucky Sevens Welcome Classic. The Classic, presented by The Plaid Horse Magazine , was a repeat victory for Shakira and owner/rider Sergio Campos, having bested last week’s field of 35. “The course was a lot of fun,” Campos said of Buddy Brown’s challenging field, which utilized natural obstacles, such as hills and banks, causing many...

The Colorado Horse Park Two-Star Three-Day Event has been postponed. The event, usually held over the Memorial Day weekend holiday, typically draws several hundred horses and riders from beginner novice to Olympic medalists. Yet, even with its success, the volunteer Eventing Committee recommended postponement of the event in order to upgrade the footing, update the course and to find funding to make these improvements. Ideally, enough enhancements can be made to hold the Fall Horse Trials,...

Showcase, Ltd., based in Canton, GA, ended their 2005 show season on a high note as owner-rider Terry Brown, partnered with her 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding Sequel, were awarded Farnam®/Platform™ USEF National Horse of the Year titles in Second Year Green Working Hunter, Regular Working Hunter and Horse of the Year Grand Champion in Regular Hunters. They seem to be headed right back to the top in 2006 as their winning continued with the championship in the Regular Working Hunter division for...

Jennifer Wood/PhelpsSports.com (Margie Engle onWyndhurst Stables’ horse Quervo Gold) Wellington, FL - Another day of summer temperatures, subtract the wind from yesterday and add better footing and what do you get…another fantastic day for Margie Engle and Lauren Hough. Engle and Hough were two of only four clean rounds, on another challenging Leopoldo Palacios-designed course, with only one total fault each at the end of day two. Today’s course consisted of 16 jumping efforts and...

William Woods University (WWU) will host the tryouts for the Saddle Seat Equitation World Cup,March 17-18. Many of the top saddle seat riders in the country, including a rider from WWU, will compete for the opportunity to represent the United States in the World Cup competition next December. The trials are free and open to the public and will be held in the equestrian science UPHA indoor arena. Both three-gaited saddle seat riders and five-gaited riders will compete. One of the five-gaited...

Lexington, KY – When asked to choose one word that best describes who she is, Teal Dowling pauses, laughs a little and gives a word that all who know her would heartily agree with. The word would have to be “original,” she told the panel of judges in her interview as a finalist for 2005 USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year. The delightful 18-year-old from Spring Prairie, Wisconsin does her best to live up to that word, charting her own course as she navigates life and the world...

The 2006 All American Cup and Bluegrass Futurity stallion service auctions are both set for January, and feature several prominent Saddlebred sires. The 2006 All American Cup Stallion Service Auction will take place Saturday, January 21, at 4:30 p.m. at Claudia Sanders Restaurant in Shelbyville, KY. A total of 175 stallion services will be available, in which the offspring produced by these stallion services are eligible for the All American Cup. The 2005 All American Weanling Cup awarded...

For the second year in a row, the United States hosted the FEI Children’s International Jumping Final. Held at the lovely Hummingbird Nest Ranch, just north of Los Angeles, 32 of the highest ranked riders aged 12-14 congregated for a week of competition and camaraderie from November 22-27. Venezuela’s Noel Vanososte conceived of the idea to have children’s jumper riders compete in a championship format as he watched developing riders in South America. After experimenting with various formats,...