The twenty third in a series of blog post from Michelle Binder I began this Western Dressage Blog specifically as a blog for NAWD to help raise public awareness about WD groups other than WDAA. I saw a need for publicity specific to that organization. I also saw a need for a forum that presented the reality that other organizations with different missions and goals regarding WD existed. USEF has not licensed Western Dressage as an independent discipline so at this time there is no officially...

Friday morning dawned cold and rainy as the CIC3* and Advanced Division A both got underway at 8:00 AM at The Fork Horse Trials in Norwood, North Carolina. The 60 competitor strong CIC3*, which is running as part of the PRO Tour Series, had split dressage days with half running on Thursday afternoon and the remaining this morning. Michael Pollard and Jude’s Law held the overnight lead on a 41.1, but the very first rider of the morning, Will Faudree, upset that lead by scoring a 39.6 with...

Pierre St. Jacques and Lucky Tiger (Susan J. Stickle) Wellington, FL - Pierre St Jacques and his mount Lucky Tiger won the FEI Olympic Grand Prix Special in the $120,000 5* West Palm Beach, presented by Diamante Farms on Friday. St Jacques, who hails from Anthony, FL, took the blue ribbon with a score of 67.311% at the Stadium show grounds of the Global Dressage Festival. (GDF) David Marcus, of Campbellville, Ontario, was second with Chrevi's Capital scoring 67.022% and Christopher Hickey...

Wellington, FL - Clear rounds were the way to win at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center as 10 countries took part in the $75,000 FEI Nations Cup presented by G&C Farm. The US team jumped to an equal fourth place finish with the team from Great Britian over Anthony D ‘Ambrosio’s 12 obstacle course. They finished on a 22 fault total. Of the 10 nations to contest America’s only Nations Cup, the top six tea Lauren Hough and Quick Study (Sportfot) ms from the first...

USEF High Performance Vaulting Clinic. Photo courtesy Tom Hogye. Saratoga, CA - “Sit on your butt! Move with the horse. Enjoy the movement of his canter. Use your ankles when you mount”. “If you can do that a wee bit more... Lovely.” And so it was with Petr Eim, 2008 Men’s Individual World Champion, from his home in Brno, Czech Republic, and Joanne (Joey) Eccles, from Great Britain, 2010 Champion, World Equestrian Games, as they brought their remarkable talent of...

Meg O'Mara and Sinatra IV. Photo: Phelps Media Group. Harrisburg, PA – An action-packed junior weekend continued to wow the crowd at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show tonight, as Phase III of the Randolph College/USEF Individual Championships culminated in a triumph for junior jumper Meg O’Mara. Riding out of Romson, NJ, O’Mara and Sinatra IV had one of only two clear rounds of the evening, emerging victorious through a steady, controlled approach. Earning the silver medal...

1st in Advanced - Allison Springer and Arthur (Photo: Emily Daily/USEA). Fairburn, GA - The first day of the 2011 Nutrena/USEA American Eventing Championships, presented by Bit of Britain, was the perfect start to the competition week at beautiful Chattahoochee Hills owned by Carl Bouckaert in Fairburn, Georgia. Rain early this week improved the footing and dropped the temperature to a comfortable low-70s average with nice cloud coverage for upper-level dressage on...

Goldstein and Levistano 2 won the $20,000 Bluegrass Classic at the Kentucky Spring Classic (Photo by Rebecca Walton/PMG). Lexington, KY - Early this morning, riders gathered at the Rolex Stadium to compete in the $20,000 Bluegrass Classic, as the Kentucky Spring Classic comes to a close. After late thunderstorms last night, the sun had come back out this morning at the Kentucky Horse Park, where four horse and rider combinations were able to advance to the jump-off. The fastest of the day...

Joel Kiesner. (Photo by Stuart Vesty.) Welcome to the second of many features profiling various people in equestrian sport - athletes, trainers and more. The profiles are published regularly in the United States Equestrian Federation's Week in Review e-newsletter. This week meet Joel Kiesner, whose lifelong experience has evolved into training methods focused on maximizing the best assets and talent of the Arabian horse. His exceptional talent and abilities have resulted in numerous awards -...

Photo by SusanJStickle.com (Canada's Belinda Trussell and Anton won the opening class in the WEF Dressage Classic, the FEI Grand Prix CDI***. ) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) featured four disciplines in its tenth week of competition on March 17-21. The week featured the $75,000 Equine Couture/TuffRider Grand Prix CSI** and the WEF Dressage Classic, CDI***, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week ten title sponsor was Equine...