Nick Skelton and Carlo 273 (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Nick Skelton of Great Britain continued his winning ways at the 2012 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) with a victory in Sunday afternoon's $150,000 Wellington Equestrian Realty Grand Prix CSIO 4* riding Beverley Widdowson's Carlo 273. The pair beat out Laura Kraut (USA) and Cherry Knoll Farm Inc.'s Cedric and Richie Moloney (IRL) and Equinimity LLC's Ahorn Van De Zuuthoeve, who finished second and third...

Paul O'Shea and Primo Level (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - The FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival had a very exciting day of competition on Saturday with a full schedule of hunters and jumpers. In the International Arena, the night session hosted two classes that highlighted power and speed. In the $35,000 Hermès Puissance, Paul O'Shea (IRL) rode Primo Level, owned by Michael Hayden, to win in four rounds of the high jump competition. Lauren Tisbo and Welinde were the fastest...

Wellington, FL - The inaugural event of the 2012 Global Dressage Festival (GDF) was a great success featuring the $50,000 Wellington Dressage CDI-W, presented by Magnolia Farm, and National Show, which took place February 2-5. The GDF continues with the Florida Dressage Classic CDI-W and National Show, presented by the United States PRE Association, February 16-19 at the newly constructed venue that extends the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) show grounds. Opening day of the...

Driving The U.S. Pony Drivers drove three confident phases to secure a Team Bronze medal at the 2011 FEI Pony World Driving Championships in Lipica, Slovenia. Their three-phase total of 402.3 guaranteedBronze behind driving powerhouse nations, Germany, who won on 359.4, and The Netherlands on 375.4. Additionally, Suzy Stafford - driving as an Individual for Team USA - drove an impeccable cones phase to move from fourth to third and secured her second consecutive Individual Bronze medal. Single...

An all-star cast heads to this week’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR), second last leg of the HSBC FEI Classics™ 2011 (1-4 September). It is a particularly special year for Burghley, as it is 50 years ago that the historic Lincolnshire estate hosted its first competition by invitation of the 1928 hurdling Olympic gold medallist, the Marquess of Exeter. Since then, Burghley has hosted eight championships, including the first ever World Championships in 1966, and riders...

Dublin, Ireland - The French are drawn first to go in tomorrow's crunch leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ 2011 series at the Discover Ireland Horse Show in Dublin, Ireland. It's getting down to the wire with just one more leg remaining following the Irish fixture, and the draw took place this morning at the gracious Royal Dublin Society showgrounds which is widely recognised as the birth-place of the sport of show jumping. The order-of-go is as follows: 1, France; 2, The Netherlands; 3,...

Falsterbo, Sweden - The American team has the unenviable task of being first into the ring when the FEI Nations Cup™ 2011 resumes at Falsterbo, Sweden, tomorrow afternoon. The draw took place this evening, and the order of go for the competition which begins at 14.30 local time is as follows: 1. USA; 2. Belgium; 3. The Netherlands; 4. Germany; 5. Great Britain; 6. Sweden; 7. Ireland; 8. Denmark; 9. France. The draw for the fourth leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ 2011 series took place at...

Lake Placid, NY — Jonathan McCrea gave Ireland its second consecutive win in the $75,000 Mirror Lake Inn Grand Prix of Lake Placid, presented by Intercat, Inc., when he rode Colorado to victory on the final day of the 42nd annual Intercat, Inc. Lake Placid Horse Show. McCrea’s win, for the Whitney Perpetual Challenge Trophy, follows the win of last year by countryman Darragh Kenny on Gael Force. Only five of the starting field of 24 reached the tiebreaking jump-off by riding without...

The Irish team are hot favorites to win the second leg of the 2011 FEI Nations Cup™ series in Rome (ITA) tomorrow, but they got the worst of the draw today and so will be first into the ring as the action gets underway in the stunning surroundings of the Piazza di Siena. A total of nine teams will line up in this leg of the elite eight-nation tournament, as the host country makes a guest appearance on home turf. The American Team of Charlie Jayne, Christine McCrea, Margie Engle and Rich...

Yesterday was a whirlwind. I started off the day with my first train ride ever. My seat faced backwards but it was such a smooth ride you would never have known it. So smooth I actually fell asleep and didn't even realize we had arrived in Brussels! The nice stewardess woke me up and said in a nice English accent: "Excuse me ma'am, I don't mean to wake you, but we have arrived in Brussels..." Startled, I jumped up and realized I was the only one left on the train. Oops! I arrived at...