HITS, Inc., is pleased to announce that the Arizona Winter Circuit will be AA-rated for hunters during the final week of the circuit. The first five weeks of the circuit will continue to be A-rated. The Arizona Desert Finals will take place March 10-14 to close out the six-week HITS Arizona Circuit, which starts its first week on February 3. The new AA-rating will feature increased prize money for nine different hunter divisions as well as increased prize money offered in the Fast Lane Farms...

McLain Ward and his Beloved Sapphire at the 2009 Rolex/FEI World Cup Final (Shannon Brinkman for USEF) Gladstone, NJ -The USET Foundation is pleased to announce that the Whitney Stone Cup has been awarded to McLain Ward of Brewster, NY. The Whitney Stone Cup is awarded annually by the USET Foundation Executive Committee to an active competitor who displays consistent excellence in international competition, high standards of sportsmanlike conduct, while also serving as an ambassador for the...

Registration is now open for one of the finest annual training opportunities in the U.S. for first responders, emergency medical technicians, veterinarians, firefighters, and other emergency/rescue personnel—the Technical Large-Animal Emergency Rescue (LAR) Training provided cooperatively by USRider and Eastern Kentucky University (EKU). Two rescue training seminars have been scheduled for March 2010. The first course, scheduled for March 22-24, 2010, is open to the public, with emphasis...

Lady Calido's first time was a charm as she and Robyn Fisher took home the big win in the mare's inaugural CIC*** this past weekend at Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, CA. The CIC*** also served as the final event in the 2009 $10,000 Adequan/United States Eventing Association (USEA) Gold Cup Series, where top horses and riders across the country competed for cash, prizes, and leaderboard points. Needless to say, Fisher, 29, of Topanga, CA, was thrilled with "Callie's" performance. "She was...

On Sunday at HITS Culpeper Tracy Magness was back to her winning ways riding Tarco Van Ter Moude to the blue in the $30,000 HITS Grand Prix to conclude the Winston National at HITS Commonwealth Park in Culpeper, VA. Magness got the best of 19 pairs that challenged course designer Jerry Dougherty’s first-round course and the additional six that advanced to the jump-off en route to collecting $9,000 in first-place prize money. With the victory, Magness and Mr. and Mrs. John Bartko’s Tarco Van Ter...

HITS, Inc., is pleased to announce the dates for the 2010 HITS Desert Circuit, held at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, CA. The horse show circuit will run for six weeks and will also include an off week. There will be four World Cup qualifiers during the circuit, and it will feature special classes for riders of all levels in equitation, hunters, and jumpers. An added bonus for exhibitors this year is special circuit pricing packages, which will help exhibitors make their showing plans....

Abby O’Mara, a 16-year-old junior from Rumson, NJ, earned more than $6,000 in prize money after riding to a first- and third-place finish in the $15,000 The Chronicle of the Horse /USHJA International Hunter Derby at the State College Classic on June 26. The talented junior rode Don Stewart’s Walk Away to victory and finished third with her seven-year-old Irish Sport Horse, Terrapin Station. The State College Classic Derby held at Kocher Farm in Pennsylvania Furnace, PA, was O’Mara’s second...

The 2008/2009 ASG Software Solutions/United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) International Hunter Derby Qualifying Series was brought to a close this past weekend at the Devon Horse Show in Devon, PA, and the Memorial Day Classic in Burbank, CA. The 18-month series will culminate at the Hunter Derby Finals on August 21-22, 2009, at the Kentucky Horse Park. The top 75 horses based on earnings will be invited to Lexington to compete for an unprecedented $100,000 in prize money. Forty-five...

A century of sporting history will be celebrated when the much-anticipated first leg of the inaugural Meydan FEI Nations Cup™ series takes place in La Baule, France, this weekend. It was in 1909 that the indoor London Olympia and outdoor San Sebastian shows first hosted military team jumping competitions and, 100 years on, the honor and distinction of representing one's country in the battle for team supremacy has lost none of its edge. The advent of new sponsors, the Dubai-based development...

Wilhelm Genn became the first rider to reach the World Equestrian Brands/United States Hunter Jumper Association’s (USHJA) Rider Recognition Program’s elite $1 Million Club after a successful campaign at the Lake St. Louis Hunter Jumper Show, April 1-5, 2009. Genn rode Happy Z, Chantal and Loredo, to third-, fourth- and sixth-place finishes in the $25,000 Grand Prix, to push him over the $1-million mark. “It’s a great program that World Equestrian Brands sponsors,” Genn said of the USHJA Rider...