The Western Dressage world is abuzz with dressage talk. The hot topic of the moment seems to be progressive training, especially as it has to do with pyramids and scales. Pyramids are extremely stable structures that rely on strong, broad foundations and which rise to a point, a pinnacle if you will that represents a point of focus. Without the foundation, the pyramid loses strength. The intrinsic nature of the structure itself necessitates culmination in a point. The pyramid is the perfect...

Lexington, KY - The Alltech National Horse Show, 128th edition, set to debut in Lexington, KY, beginning on November 2 and continuing through November 6th, announced today that Friday night will be University Night at the inaugural event. All college students, with a valid student ID and wearing school colors can purchase primetime tickets for the Friday night performance on a two-for-one basis. Buy one, get one free. Also, kids 12 and under are admitted free with the purchase of an adult...

Waco, TX - Auburn University claimed its second overall team national championship in the 2011 Varsity Equestrian National Championships at Waco, TX, April 14-16, in the Extraco Events Center. The Tigers, also winners in 2006, placed first in hunter seat competition and fourth in Western. University of Georgia claimed second place with second-place (hunter seat) and third-place (Western) finishes. Texas A&M University was awarded third place by finishing first in Western and sixth in Hunter...

Welcome to the fourth installment of a different kind of blog from WDAA! The purpose of this post is to allow the reader "into the heads" of both a trainer/judge/competitor, Karen Abbattista and her student, Deborah Herbert, a Florida WDAA member. We would like to share with you some moments in Deb's journey as she pursues her riding goals with her AQHA mare "GenuineArcticSpring", barn name "Belle". Please enjoy as you follow along with these posts that we consider interesting or...

Welcome to a different kind of blog from WDAA! The purpose of this post is to allow the reader "into the heads" of both a trainer/judge/competitor, Karen Abbattista and her student, Deborah Herbert, a Florida WDAA member. We would like to share with you some moments in Deb's journey as she pursues her riding goals with her AQHA mare "GenuineArcticSpring", barn name "Belle". Please enjoy as you follow along with these posts that we consider interesting or challenging moments on their journey...

Welcome to the fourth installment of a different kind of blog from WDAA! The purpose of this post is to allow the reader "into the heads" of both a trainer/judge/competitor, Karen Abbattista and her student, Deborah Herbert, a Florida WDAA member. We would like to share with you some moments in Deb's journey as she pursues her riding goals with her AQHA mare "GenuineArcticSpring", barn name "Belle". Please enjoy as you follow along with these posts that we consider interesting or...

Lili Hymowitz and Westside (Anne Gittins Photography) Wellington, FL - Lili Hymowitz dominated the Voltaire Design Large Pony Hunter division on the last day of competition for week three of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). Hymowitz was champion of the division with Scott Stewart's Westside, a ten-year-old Warmblood gelding. The pair won both over fences rounds on day one of competition for the division and placed second under saddle. On day two, Westside and...

See what Donna Ponessa had to say about her Grade 1a Team Test with Wesley Dunham's Western Rose. The pair scored 70.235%. On her first competition experience at the 2012 Paralympic Games: It was an amazing experience. At first I was a little overwhelmed the mare was a little tense. But all my teammates agree it’s another show with an Opening Ceremony and you can’t be thinking about anything but the foot fall and your job ahead so once I got that centered, it seemed to flow...

Lexington, KY - This weekend horses and riders will take their first steps toward earning a chance to represent the U.S. at the FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in Dressage, to be held in Verden, Germany, in La Cañada Flintridge, California. Six horses will contest the 2012 Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Western Selection Trials in the five-year-old division while one entry will show in the six-year-old division. These selection trials are being held in conjunction...

The first Laminitis West Seminar will be held on November 1, 2008, at the Monterey Convention Center in Monterey, CA. Presenters for the one-day seminar are James A. Orsini, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, of the University of Pennsylvania; Thomas J. Divers, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ACVECC of Cornell University; and Patrick Reilly, farrier, of the University of Pennsylvania. This seminar is an outgrowth of the International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot (ILC), which is held in West...