William Woods University (WWU) will host the tryouts for the Saddle Seat Equitation World Cup,March 17-18. Many of the top saddle seat riders in the country, including a rider from WWU, will compete for the opportunity to represent the United States in the World Cup competition next December. The trials are free and open to the public and will be held in the equestrian science UPHA indoor arena. Both three-gaited saddle seat riders and five-gaited riders will compete. One of the five-gaited...

Lexington, Ky. – Youth saddle seat equitation riders are encouraged to submit their applications for the 2023 $10,000 Stephens College USEF Saddle Seat Medal Scholarship . This scholarship is open to high school juniors and seniors who will compete in the 2023 USEF Saddle Seat Medal Final at the UPHA American Royal National Championship Horse Show, or who have competed in and placed in the top four of a USEF Saddle Seat Medal qualifying class during the 2023 competition season. The...

The University of Kentucky’s (UK) College of Agriculture is celebrating national championships by two of its collegiate equine teams. Riders from its equestrian and dressage teams nabbed top honors in their respective competitions. The UK equestrian team bested 17 other hunt seat teams from across the country at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Championships, May 8-11, in Burbank, CA, to take home UK’s first team championship. This was only the second year the team’s...

San Juan Capistrano, Calif. – The 2023 Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals – West concluded on Sunday at the Blenheim International Jumping Festival with Phases III and IV. The youth athletes rode a jumper-style course in front of judges Linda Hough and Lauren Hough for Phase III, the jumping phase, which had a multiplier of two for the overall weighted scores of the competition. After the scores were calculated, Camilla Jerng, Paige Walkenbach, Zadie Stack,...

The tenth in a series of guest blog posts from Michelle Binder The development of Western Dressage as a discipline is very exciting to riders, trainers, breeders and exhibitors alike. North American Western Dressage is dedicated to finding common ground between the two disciplines, educating riders from all backgrounds, and to making dressage concepts accessible to western riders without minimizing the importance of the training pyramid nor sacrificing the principles that are fundamental to...

The Southern Methodist and New Mexico State teams opened their seasons on Thursday at SMU’s home field, BuckBranch Farm. It was SMU’s first ever competition with a western team, and that squad held its own. SMU took horsemanship 3-2 while the Aggies earned a 4-1 win in reining. The four points that they earned helped the Mustangs earn a season opening 10-9 win. "The win means a lot in our debut as a united team (with western and hunt seat),"said interim SMU head coach Natalie Burton....

Note to self: The Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared” applies to many things. When teaching a WD clinic be prepared for anything! This week’s blog comes from Vancouver Washington on the Columbia River where the “Discover Western Dressage” clinic is being held as a fundraiser for Silver Buckle Ranch. The Buckle is a non-profit youth ranch that houses Clark County’s disabled riding program. It is a pleasure to be here and to know that the clinic proceeds will be used...

The sixth in a series of guest blog posts from Michelle Binder When on a horse, I wear a riding helmet. My students wear riding helmets. I ride and show western and dressage. The helmet/hat quandary, style vs. safety, the tradition or common sense conversation is therefore a subject near and dear to my heart. On March 22, 2012, I went into the hay barn to get a bale of hay to feed lunch in the barn. To make a long story short, despite my usual care in tipping bales, as I turned to leave the...

Double Olympic Gold medalist Beezie Madden won her first grand prix of the 2009 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) on Thursday, March 12, aboard Onlight in Round X of the $30,000 Braman Motorcars WEF Challenge Cup Series. Madden of Cazenovia, NY, and Onlight, owned by Team Onlight, were the only double-clear round from the initial 49 entries for the class in the DeNemethy arena. Only four combinations made it to the jump-off on the the course designed by Guilherme Jorge of Brazil. The time by...

Lexington, Ky. - Peggy Thomas was a major contributor to U.S. dressage as a horse owner and supporter of the next generation of top athletes. Along with her husband Parry, Thomas helped U.S. athletes achieve top results on the world and national stages with their support of equestrian sport. Peggy Thomas (third from the left) during Brentina's retirement ceremony (Shannon Brinkman Photo) Thomas passed away on September 3, 2023, at the age of 97. She was born August 23, 1926, in Preston,...