Photo by Randi Muster (Farewell and Rachel Koggan capture the Amateur-Owner Hunter 18-35 Championship at the 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. ) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival had a very successful opening week of competition. New faces from across the country and around the world came to show at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, and close to 1,600 horses showed in the first week of the circuit. That is a 21% increase in horses that showed during the same week at last...

2009 USEF Farnam/Platform Horse of the Year (Shannon Brinkman/USEF Archives) Louisville, KY – Annually, five of the USEF’s 130,000 registered horses achieve so much in a year that they are named USEF Horses of Honor and enter the running for the title of Farnam®/Platform™ Horse of the Year. In 2009 all five of these horses were nothing short of remarkable. But one forever changed the face of his sport, and with that, Ravel was voted the 2009 USEF Farnam®/Platform™ Horse of the Year. It began in...

Courtesy Mancini Photos (Kelley Farmer and Habana) Kelley Farmer and Habana repeated their victory in the Baby Green Hunter division, sponsored by Draper Equine Therapy, at the Equestrian Sport Productions New Year’s Show. It was the second victory in the Baby Green Hunter Championship during the winter show circuit for Farmer and the four-year-old gelding Habana, who is owned by the Spencer Ranch, home of Popeye K, the 2008 and 2009 USEF Hunter Breeding Sire of the Year. “It is very exciting...

Photo by Amy McCool (Kassandra Barteau and GP Raymeister ) Lexington, KY – Before a packed house at the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final for Young Riders in Frankfurt, Germany, American rider Kassandra Barteau saved her best performance for last with GP Raymeister and finished second in the ‘B Group’ of the Freestyle. In her last year of Young Rider competition, the 21-year-old from Maple Park, IL and the 10-year-old Holsteiner stallion owned by Grand Prix Equestrian and Ginna Frantz, scored 68....

Lexington, KY – US dressage Young Rider Kassandra Barteau placed ninth in the Individual test at the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final for Young Riders in Frankfurt, Germany on Friday, December 18. Riding GP Raymeister, a 10-year-old Holsteiner stallion owned by Grand Prix Equestrian and Ginna Frantz, the 21-year-old from Maple Park, IL is contesting her first FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final for Young Riders. She improved on her 10th place position in the Team test – to go forward to Saturday’s...

The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) and Markel Insurance once again hosted three sales during the 2009 NRHA Futurity & Adequan® North American Affiliate Championship Show in Oklahoma City. The top seller from all three sales was Mister Montana Nic (Reminic x Mollie Montana, by Montana Doc), an eleven-year-old stallion consigned by Craig Schmersal for Montana Nic Syndicate. Ericka Alcorn of Gardner, KS, bought the NRHA money earner of $121,000 in the NRHA/Markel Insurance Marketplace...

Iron Spring Farm's important KWPN stallion Rampal passed away last week, November 11, 2009, due to the infirmities of old age. The 26-year-old stallion was known not only for his incredible competition record, which included being short listed for the United States Equestrian Team, but also for his contributions to the sport horse world as a sire. His offspring have been competitive through the international levels of both show jumping and dressage. His son Ovation ISF won at such shows as CSIO...

American Quarter Horse Racing World Champion Be A Bono has moved to the Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions. Be A Bono earned American Quarter Horse racing’s top honor when he was named the World Champion of 2004. He also earned champion three-year-old and champion three-year-old gelding honors for 2004. Owned and bred by the late Spencer Childers of Fresno, CA, the sorrel gelding was trained by Dan Francisco. Be A Bono was foaled February 22, 2001, and retired from racing as a...

Though the Spalding Labs United States Eventing Association (USEA) Young Event Horse West Coast Championships ran until the sun set at the Galway Downs International Three-Day and Horse Trials, spectators were treated to performances by some of the best young event prospects in the country. Robyn Fisher rode Rose Sullivan’s Clair de Lune SE, a Holsteiner Stallion by Contendor and out of L’Vienna Z, and scored an 83.90% to win the Five-Year-Old Championship, while she also rode her own Dutch...

Melissa Jackson and Wellington Capture Grand Prix Win Sponsored By the Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center Melissa Jackson and her 12-year-old Hanoverian, Wellington, captured the win in the Grand Prix at the Wellington Classic Dressage’s Autumn Challenge of Champions show, held in conjunction with the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Region 3 Dressage Championships. The Grand Prix was sponsored by The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center, and...