Photo Courtesy Highlife Farm (Highlife's Burberry) Highlife’s Burberry, a Weser-Ems pony stallion bred by Highlife Farms, has made history as the first U.S.-bred Weser-Ems pony to be licensed as a breeding pony. Burberry’s sire is Highlife’s Bodyguard, a Weser-Ems German Riding Pony that stands at Highlife Farms, home to world-class sport horses and one of the country’s most prominent breeding farms. “It is really exciting to have bred a pony that turns out to achieve a ‘first ever’ title,”...

For Derby fans, the first Saturday in May will have passed, but the scent of roses will linger, May 6-9, as the Kentucky Horse Park hosts the blossoming talents of the best college-age riders in America for the 43rd Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) National Championships. Now in its 43rd year, the IHSA was the 1967 brainchild of a then-18-year-old sophomore named Bob Cacchione, and his Fairleigh Dickinson University professor, Jack Fritz, the quintessential Captain John “Jack” H....

Photo by Sport Fot/Thierry Billet (Louis Jacobs on Kachina in the 1.45m.) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) had a successful third week of competition on January 27-31. The week featured the $75,000 Nespresso Grand Prix, CSI** and the $55,000 Nespresso Battle of the Sexes, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week three title sponsor was Nespresso. In order to provide the best coffee to riders at the FTI WEF, Nespresso is the official coffee at...

Photo by Robbi Meisel (Aaron Vale and Platinum) The $25,000 Jacksonville A-Z Grand Prix sponsored by North Florida Hunter Jumper Association on January 30 closed out Week IV of competition with one of the most successful riders in show jumping, Aaron Vale, adding another win to his illustrious career. After a week of observation, course designer Allen Rheinheimer put all he learned about the starting field into a lengthy and technical 13 obstacle-16 effort test with a time allowance of 96 tight...

Photo by Ken Braddick (A frisky Satchmo with rider Isabell Werth during the vet check.) All 16 horses that were presented for veterinary inspection were passed Wednesday to start in the €100,000 (US$138,000) Exquis World Dressage Masters at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Three German combinations, three Dutch, six from the U.S., three from Canada and one pair from Denmark will perform in the €10,000 (US$14,000) Nürnberger Versicherungsgruppe Grand Prix at 1 p.m. It is the only...

Show jumping will never be the same. The first Pfizer Million Grand Prix qualifier and the $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Derby made a big impact on the show jumping circuit, in what will be a mainstay throughout this year's HITS Ocala Winter Circuit. The winner of the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health and first prospective Pfizer Million qualifier was Callan Solem on Allison. With 32 horse and rider teams eager to win, it was a competitive field. "She [Allison] invented me,"...

Photo by Susan J. Stickle (Todd Flettrich and Otto.) Dressage trainer Todd Flettrich and his mount Otto, owned by Cherry Knoll Farm, had an exciting victory in Friday afternoon's FEI Grand Prix de Dressage at the Gold Coast Opener Festival in Wellington, FL. Competing in the main arena at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center, Flettrich and Otto completed their Grand Prix test with a score of 67.8% for the overall victory, and qualified to compete in Saturday's Grand Prix Special following the win....

A talented American Paint Horse stallion, Gunnatrashya, captured the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Open Futurity title in Oklahoma City recently, outscoring over 400 horses entered in the open division of this event, according to NRHA officials. The Paint stallion won with an outstanding score of 228.5, earning $125,000 in prize money. This is only the second time in history that an American Paint Horse has won this prestigious event. Gunnatrashya now joins RR Star, who won the...

Ivanhoe FQ is undoubtedly one of the most decorated purebred Friesian stallion's of our time, and he will now be standing at stud at Heavenly Gaits Farms, owned by Deb Goldmann, in Elkhorn, WI, for the 2010 breeding season. Ivanhoe FQ is bred and raised by four-time USEF Leading Friesian Breeder Friesian Quest, located in Murrieta, CA. Ivanhoe FQ is by the deceased KFPS World Champion Wicher, also two-time USEF Leading Friesian Sire, out of Jaclyn a Ster Friesian Mare. As quoted by Friesian...

The Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center hosted a very successful teaching clinic recently with George H. Morris, world-renowned trainer, rider, and U.S. Show Jumping Chef d'Equipe. The clinic was also a United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) Trainer's Symposium. The clinic, held November 6-8, 2009, was scheduled and organized by Susie Schoellkopf, Executive Director of the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center and head trainer of SBS Farms, Inc., at the Buffalo Equestrian Center. The clinic...