Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos (Photo by Shannon Brinkman for USEF) Lexington, KY - The FEI Eventing World Championships, presented by Reem Acra, are officially underway at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Eighty horses passed the veterinary inspections yesterday, and the first forty performed their dressage tests today. With such decorated riders as Mark Todd of New Zealand, William Fox-Pitt and Pippa Funnell of Great Britain, and Ingrid Klimke of Germany taking to the arena today,...

Folks, the drought is over. With a score of 78.542%, Steffen Peters and Akiko Yamazaki's Ravel rode to the first individual dressage world championships medal for the US in...well, a long time. On a day when a number of horses looked a bit tired from the Grand Prix exertions of the past few days -- exacerbated, perhaps, by a temperature spike that pushed the mercury up around 80 -- some of the top competitors actually seemed more relaxed and able to deliver better performances. Ravel was...

There are few things in life I get more excited about than cheering on Team USA, and not just in equestrian events. I can get behind any sport if there’s a USA title or medal on the line; I even watched soccer this year. The Olympics consume my life every two years, I rarely come out from behind a television or computer screen and end up feeling void and lost when they’re over. Needless to say, WEG has been quite the adrenaline rush for me. If you have never seen a US Team win a medal you need...

Steffen Peters Celebrates a Bronze Medal. (Photo by Shannon Brinkman for USEF.) Lexington, KY - The brilliant United States dressage duo, Steffen Peters of San Diego, CA, and Ravel, owned by Four Winds Farm and Akiko Yamazaki, won the bronze medal at the FEI World Dressage Championship in the Grand Prix Special. They received a score of 78.542%, the best Grand Prix Special score that they have ever received. It was quite an accomplishment for Peters; an American rider has never won an...

On my list of things I find to be riveting I usually would not rank watching dressage among the top, but in the last two days I have really gotten into it. I found myself glued to the monitors that had the live feed playing all day yesterday, watching intently and calculating scores trying to determine what teams were in medal contention. Over the two days of the team competition, it seemed as though each rider that went down centerline set a new standard of excellence. In any sporting event it...

Karen O'Connor and Mandiba. (Photo by Shannon Brinkman for USEF.) Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) has named Karen O'Connor and Mandiba to the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, following the withdrawal of Tipperary Liadhnan by Kim Severson (that story is available here: https://usef.org/_IFrames/newsdisplay/viewPR.aspx?id=6225). The following horse/rider combinations will represent the U.S. on the Team: Buck...

Great Britain dominated the second individual qualifying round at the FEI World Reining Championship presented by John Deere, held Tuesday at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The top qualifying score of 217.5 went to Great Britain’s Lee Rutter riding Setting Off Sparks, while his countryman Doug Allen with Don Julio Whiz had the second highest score of 216.5. Twenty horses had been given this second chance at qualifying for Thursday’s individual finals. Sixteen horse and...

Steffen Peters and Ravel. (Photo by Shannon Brinkman for USEF.) Lexington, KY - The U.S. Dressage Team has finished fourth in the FEI World Dressage Championship. This was the Team Grand Prix competition, and today's riders - Tina Konyot on Calecto V, owned by Tina Konyot, and Steffen Peters with Ravel, owned by Four Winds Farm and Akiko Yamazaki - completed tests that helped the team finish fourth. The two other combinations rounding out the team are Katherine Bateson-Chandler on Nartan, and...

The U.S. Event Team and Team GBR at the Land Rover Test Drive (Glen Davis) Lexington, KY - Today was a day for horsing around at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. In a light hearted competition, the U.K. based Team GBR beat the local favorites from the U.S. as they took top-honors in today’s Land Rover Test Drive Challenge. The two teams swapped their customary single horsepower for an entirely different kind of horsepower, behind the wheel of identical 375 hp Land Rover LR4...

Adequan U.S. Reining Team Wins Gold! (Photo by Shannon Brinkman for USEF.) Lexington, KY - The Adequan U.S. Reining Team kicked off the opening week for the United States with a spectacular performance at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games for the Team Gold medal. Tim McQuay/Hollywoodstinseltown, Craig Schmersal/Mister Montana Nic, Tom McCutcheon/Gunners Special Nite, and Shawn Flarida/RC Fancy Step all gave electric rides to take the U.S. to a large winning margin. Today's FEI Reining...