Beginning in 1995 as part of the Volvo World Cup Finals, the Festival of the Horse (March 30–April 2) has become one of the largest dressage shows in Southern California. Cornerstone Event Management strives to combine top competition with special activities surrounding the show. “The sponsors play a large part on the success of the Festival,” said Glenda McElroy, Festival manager. “We try to find a niche for all our sponsors; Markel Insurance, a longtime partner, sponsors the high-point...

Photo by Flying Horse Photography (McLain Ward and Phillipa) Two-time Olympic Gold medal winner McLain Ward raised the roof during the $50,000 Strongid® C 2X CSI-W Grand Prix when he rode Sagamore Farm's Phillipa to the triumph before an enthusiastic crowd that filled the indoor arena at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, CA. Ward traveled from Brewster, NY, to get a jump start on qualifying for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix that will take place at HITS-on-the-Hudson, in Saugerties, NY,...

Photo by Sport Fot/Thierry Billet (Louis Jacobs on Kachina in the 1.45m.) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) had a successful third week of competition on January 27-31. The week featured the $75,000 Nespresso Grand Prix, CSI** and the $55,000 Nespresso Battle of the Sexes, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week three title sponsor was Nespresso. In order to provide the best coffee to riders at the FTI WEF, Nespresso is the official coffee at...

The Old Dominion Horse Show in Manakin Sabot, VA, was the site for the inaugural competition for ponies nominated to the North American Pony Futurity (NAPF) Registry incentive program. A parade of lovely young ponies competed in hand, divided by ages and genders. USEF “R” Hunter Breeding judges Joe Dotoli (of Vermont) and Beth Neilsen (of Colorado) evaluated the youngsters at the walk and trot prior to standing for conformation. Amateur and pro handlers were equally represented with Tim Foster...

Besides delighting my readers with scintillating stories (we writers like to use words like "scintillating" because we think it makes us sound writerly), my main purpose for being at Sport Horse Nationals here in beautiful, damp Kentucky is to help out (in other words, provide slave labor for) my good friend and mentor, Patience Prine-Carr. This means that I get a lot of mane pulling and braiding practice every day. While it's good for me to get the practice, it's frustrating because...

Taylor Ann Adams bested the top junior talent in the nation by winning the 2009 Essex Classics/United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) Hunterdon Cup Equitation Class in Saugerties, NY. Adams of Memphis, TN, secured her victory in the third and final round of the prestigious equitation class after switching mounts with reserve champion Quincy Hayes. “Quincy helped me out in the schooling area before the final round,” Adams said. “Her horse was a lot of horse for me to ride and completely...

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...

2008 was the 25th anniversary for the National Show Horse (NSH) Finals. The show was held September 17-20 in Springfield, IL. The weather could not have been better, and with over $200,000 in prize money available, you can almost always guarantee a good time with a lot of quality horses. This year was no exception. The judges were Cari Bartz, Gayle Lampe and Richard Petty. The National Show Horse Registry (NSHR) was very pleased with the addition of the Hackney Futurity, Hackney Pony and...

Twenty-six riders from first grade through twelfth grade trotted into the ring for the Riding For Reading Class at the Golden Gate Classic held at the Horse Park at Woodside, July 4. This is the first class of the summertime Riding For Reading Classes, and the organizers could not have been happier. “It was great to see so many riders in the class,” said Riding For Reading Treasurer Kelly Scarinci. “The classes have grown and the riders seem to really like it.” If smiling faces were any...

Equestrian Sport Productions, LLC, announced Wednesday a preliminary plan for a new round of major improvements at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) to be completed by the "Celebration of the Horse" event in early December and well before the start of the 2009 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). The improvements are the initial next stage in the top-to-bottom rebuilding of the PBIEC that began last December when Equestrian Sport Productions (ESP) took over management of the...