Amber Siegelman and The Waterboy Sailing To The Gold Medal (PhelpsPhotos.com/USEF Archives ) Lexington, KY – When Amber Siegelman was the last to go in the jump-off at the 2006 Adequan/USEF National Pony Jumper Individual Championship, you would have thought you were at a Western event by the sounds of the crowd. All night the crowd was clucking on horses to help them over the fences. But, when Siegelman’s ride looked to be the only clean of the five in the jump-off, the crowd got...

PhelpsPhotos.com/USEF Archives (Pony Finals First-Timers Zone 10 Take Home Gold) Lexington, KY – On day three of the 2006 USEF Pony Final National Championships, Samantha Schaefer and Zone 10 walked away with the top prizes. The 13-year-old Schaefer, of Westminster, MD, rode her seven-year-old German Riding Pony gelding, Rockport, to their first Pony Finals win. This was their first time riding indoors, after the competition had to be moved inside today due to the torrential rainstorms...

SusanJStickle.com (Steffen Peters on Floriano) Gladstone, NJ – There’s nothing better than a hat-trick, but how about a hat-trick times three…all three championships held at the USET Foundation Festival of Champions were clean sweeps by Rebecca Hart, Michelle Gibson and Steffen Peters. Hart was the winner of all three classes that make up the 2006 USEF National Para-Equestrian Championship, Gibson took the honors winning all three of her classes to in the 2006 Collecting...

The 61st annual Del Mar National Horse Show wraps up its third and final week with Hunter/Jumper Week, May 2–7. Coming on the heels of Western Week (April 20-23) and Dressage Week (April 27-30), Hunter/Jumper Week features the Del Mar National’s showcase event, the $100,000 HBO Grand Prix of Del Mar, an American Grandprix Association event, on Saturday, May 6, at 7 p.m. All Hunter/Jumper Week events are open to the public and staged at the Del Mar Equestrian Center on the Del Mar Fairgrounds....

To enhance the safety of horses and those who travel with horses, USRider has worked with Drs. Tomas and Rebecca Gimenez, experts in large animal emergency rescue, on a research project to gather and analyze data about horse trailer accidents. Conclusions and recommendations from this study will be released to the public soon. However, during the course of the study, USRider and Drs. Gimenez noticed a hazardous trend involving gooseneck horse trailers, of which they want to caution the public...

The American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC), the national governing body for endurance riding in the United States, will hold its annual convention in Texas for the first time in 2006. The two-day program of seminars, informational meetings and a free trade show is set for February 24-25 at the Crowne Plaza Riverwalk in San Antonio. Leading experts in equine health care and endurance-related fields will be featured at several seminar sessions. Other highlights of the AERC's convention will...

In a brilliant display of skill and finesse, Sara Schmitt, of Glen Gardner, NJ, drove her Morgan stallion, High Country Doc, to one of only a few clean and clear rounds in the cones phase at The Laurels at Landhope and her first national championship. The last in the order of go on Sunday, September 11, Schmitt had some wiggle room. Ahead by only four points under the new rules where a ball down is now a three-point penalty instead of five. This gave her a small margin of error, one that could...

Courtesy of Karina Benish (Karina and Hawkeye) He was the ugliest male I had ever seen in my life. He had a bloody wound on his nose, hair six inches long on his chest, and he weighed about 700-800 pounds—400 shy of his best weight. His name was Hawkeye, and he was my partner for more than 14 years. Hawkeye was a mustang horse, and it was he who taught me what it is to trust. Horses, in my opinion, given good care and a little attention, are high up in Maslow’s hierarchy. Since...

Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) is excited to announce the judges for the 2005 Adult Amateur Saddle Seat Medal Finals taking place at the Lexington Junior League Horse Show on Friday, July 15. The three judge panel will consist of Michael Craghead of Livermore, California, Kim Crumpler of Simpsonville, Kentucky and Tim Lockard of Russell, Iowa. The USEF would like to remind all adult amateur Saddle Seat Equitation riders that there are several competitions...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) are once again available through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). These grants are available to livestock facilities, including horse farms, ranches and other equine operations. CIG is a voluntary program intended to stimulate innovative conservation projects in conjunction with agricultural production. CIG enables NRCS to work with public and private entities to promote the use of...