Jackie Smith and Diego won the Mini Prix at Spring Warm Up Week II at the Colorado Horse Park. (iHorse Photo Media) Parker, CO - Amateur rider Jackie Smith and her own Diego earned the victory gallop around the Kathy and Brad Coors Family Grand Prix Arena for their win in the Mini Prix during Spring Warm Up Week II at Colorado Horse Park. In an exciting jump-off round, Smith just edged out her trainer, Armando Hassey, who rode Taggert Enterprises LLC's Eminem. Six horse and riders left all...

Lexington, KY - Applications are now being accepted for consideration to participate in the 2014 U.S. Saddle Seat Equitation World Cup Team Selection Trials. The trials will be held at William Woods University in Fulton, MO, on December 7, 2013, with the team being announced that evening. The Saddle Seat World Cup is a bi-annual international competition that includes both three- and five-gaited sections. Teams from as many as five nations now compete for the coveted World Cup titles. The 2014...

Lexington, KY - On April 5 and 6, 2013 USEFNetwork.com presented by SmartPak will broadcast the U.S. Saddle Seat Invitational live from William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. The broadcast will include three-gaited and five-gaited competition from each day, as well as the awards ceremony on Saturday evening. The U.S. Saddle Seat Invitational is an international Saddle Seat Equitation competition that will include three-gaited and five-gaited teams of riders from the United States,...

Breitling and Stephanie Riggio (Anne Gittins Photography) Wellington, FL - February 22, 2013 - Week seven of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF), sponsored by Hermès, continued on Friday in Wellington, FL, with World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) competition featured in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC). Today's classes were for amateur-owner hunters. Week seven of the FTI WEF runs February 20-24, 2013. The...

Quotable and Holly Orlando (Anne Gittins Photography) Wellington, FL - The hunters have officially taken over the International Arena during week seven of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). Week seven showcases hunter competition at its finest as riders and horses go head-to-head as they battle to qualify for Saturday night's USHJA World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular. Holly Orlando and Kelley Farmer took home an...

Alexandra Lawson is a 19-year-old freshman at Purdue University from North Salem, Indiana. She is a member of the three-gaited section of the 2012 U.S. Saddle Seat World Cup Team. I've spent most of my life in the small farm communities of Danville and North Salem, Indiana. My parents and maternal grandparents are grain farmers - farming about 5,000 acres in the surrounding area. When you grow up in farm country, you just naturally get involved with FFA and 4-H, and it was through 4-H that...

With a clean sweep of the Regular Conformation Hunters over fences, Elizabeth Boyd piloted Casallo to the prestigious Professional Hunter Grand Championship. Lexington, KY - The Grand Champion Professional Hunter title at the Alltech National Horse Show, 129th Edition, is one of the country's most coveted awards, and this year it went to Elizabeth Boyd aboard Casallo. The pair swept the over fences classes in the Regular Conformation Hunters for the division's championship award, and...

Selena Pape and Vanity (Kathleen Landwehr/USEF) Lexington, KY - Three national titles were claimed at the USEF National One-Star Eventing Championships held over the weekend at the Hagyard Midsouth Three-Day Event & Team Challenge at the Kentucky Horse Park. Selena Pape (Louisville, KY) had a stellar weekend leading the field from start to finish claiming not only the USEF National One-Star Championship but also the USEF National Amateur One-Star Championship title. With her seven-year-old...

Nick Maupin is a 19-year-old student at the University of Wisconsin majoring in Business Marketing and plans to graduate in 2015. From Sussex, Wisconsin, he is on the five-gaited section of the 2012 U.S. Saddle Seat World Cup Team. It would not surprise any member of the Saddle Seat world to hear me say that the discipline is generally, along with Saddle Seat Equitation, a female dominated sport. Quite possibly the only time one will see a male majority in a class is in the Open divisions. Not...

McClain Ward & Pjotter Van De Zonnehoeve (Curtis Wallis) New Albany, OH - The New Albany Classic Invitational Grand Prix & Family Day celebrated 15 years of support for the fight against family violence at the home of Abigail and Les Wexner in New Albany, Ohio today, attracting a crowd of 18,000 people to cheer on the participants in the Grand Prix competition. U.S. rider McClain Ward prevailed again aboard Pjotter Van De Zonnehoeve (PJ), whom he won the class on in 2011, as well. Ward...