Alison Cooney and Wittewa (Shawn McMillen Photography) Upper Marlboro, MD – The Capital Challenge Horse Show began today at the Prince George's Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD. This is the first day of the Capital Challenge Equitation Championship Weekend, presented by Bigeq.com. The Capital Challenge Horse Show runs through Sunday, October 6. The equitation age divisions were held today with over fences classes in the outdoor and indoor rings, joined by a flat class indoors....

Christian Ahlmann and Asca Z (Spruce Meadows Media Services) Calgary, Alberta - Saturday at the Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ is always full of national pride, and this year was no different. Eight top teams from around the world went head to head, and the winning nation for the second year in a row was Germany with teammates Hans Dieter Dreher/Colore, Christian Ahlmann/Asca Z, Daniel Deusser/Evita van de Veldballe, and Lars Nieberg/Leonie. Earlier in the day, the $125,000 Suncor Winning...

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...

Pablo Barrios and Zara Leandra (Phelps Media Group, Inc. International) Lexington, KY - Venezuelan rider Pablo Barrios is proving to be unstoppable with his talented young mare Zara Leandra. With a speedy double clear during tonight's jump-off, the duo won their third $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic. Only four horses advanced to the tiebreaker in the Rolex Stadium during the Kentucky Summer Classic, and Aaron Vale was the only other rider to leave all the fences intact a second time to...

Lexington, KY - At the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Board of Directors mid-year meeting on Monday, July 22nd, some significant rule and bylaw changes were brought to the table. The changes concerned horse welfare, the structure of the USEF Board of Directors, and the discipline of western dressage. Each of the changes brought forth received a majority vote to approve and a summary of each change is detailed below. Horse Welfare Changes Two important Proposed Extraordinary Rule...

Hillary Simpson guided Arkansas to victory in the $30,000 Mount Equinox Grad Prix, on Saturday, July 27, at the Vermont Summer Festival in East Dorset, VT. (David Mullinix Photography) East Dorset, VT - Arkansas’ racing days may be far behind him, but he is still quite the speed demon. Hillary Simpson piloted the 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding to victory in the $30,000 Mount Equinox Grand Prix Saturday afternoon at the Vermont Summer Festival. Simpson was only one of two double clear...

Tatiana Dzavik and Dahlia Lexington, KY - Perfect weather greeted riders as competition got underway during the Kentucky Summer Series at the Kentucky Horse Park. The Open Jumper riders gathered at the Rolex Stadium, where the first 1.40m Open Jumper class focused on speed and Tatiana Dzavik had the winning key with Dahlia. She topped Shane Sweetnam and Fineman by just 3/10ths of a second to claim the blue ribbon. The final event of the day was the 1.40m Open Jumper Table 2 Section 2b jump-off...

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 her journey...

Ian Millar and Dixson (Spruce Meadows Media Services) Calgary, Alberta - The 'Canada One' Tournament had three feature competitions in the Meadows on the Green today with winners from three different countries. Canada's 10-time Olympian, Ian Millar, took the win in the $33,000 Duncan Ross Cup 1.50m with Dixson. In her first international win at Spruce Meadows, Lauren Crooks (USA) and Navare D'Oriolles were fastest in the $33,000 Westjet Cup 1.45m. Conor Swail of Ireland rode...

Western horses jog. English horses trot. Dressage horses trot. Everyone knows that. What does that mean for the western dressage horse? The western jog was a gait that could be ridden for long distances over the range or on the trail that horses could sustain without exhaustion and which could be sat comfortably. The trot is a gait that covers more ground at a reasonable tempo. To deal with the dynamics of the gait and to unload the horses back, some riders learned to post. Western riders bred...