Monsieur du Reverdy and Victoria Colvin. (Shawn McMillen Photography) Upper Marlboro, MD – The $10,000 North American Junior/Amateur-Owner Challenge Cup Final Round highlighted the evening session Saturday at the Capital Challenge Horse Show. Fourteen-year-old Victoria Colvin of Loxahatchee, FL, sped to the win in the jump-off on Monsieur du Reverdy and captured first place, despite finishing the course with no stirrups. That also gave her the overall win for the North American...

Kaley Pratt and Tjardin. (Shawn McMillen Photography) Upper Marlboro, MD - There were 55 entries in the $10,000 Children's/Adult Jumper Challenge, and Kaley Pratt of Gainesville, FL, was able to win her second Challenge in a row. Last year, Pratt was the fastest to win with her horse Shane. The pair went on to win the Adult Jumper Championship at the Washington International Horse Show as well. After that, Shane was sold, and Pratt didn't find a new horse until February of this year....

McLain Ward and Esplanade sail away with the win in the Hallmark Feeds 1.40m (Parker/Russell-The Book LLC) North Salem, NY - The first day of The American Gold Cup FEI CSI 4* dawned clear and cool with a cloudless sky in North Salem, NY. The magnificent Old Salem Farm is the new home of the 2012 show after an off-and-on hiatus and it's back and better than ever. The American Gold Cup is one of the world's most prestigious show jumping events, now celebrating its forty-second year. The...

Team Germany, Hans Dieter Dreher, Daniel Deußer, Philipp Weishaupt andChristian Ahlmann, this year’s winner of the BMO Nations’ cup. (Spruce Meadows Media Services) Calgary, AB - In front of record crowds, the fourth day of the 2012 Spruce Meadows saw both the American and German flag fly above the international ring. With the sun was shining and 80,961 spectators watching in the stands, 25 horse/rider combinations saddled up for the Suncor Energy Winning Round, spread over 495 meters with 15...

Taylor Johnson and Legato Zionsville, IN - Taylor Johnson of Carmel, IN, dodged raindrops and caught some rays Friday while scoring big wins during day four of the Traders Point Hunt Charity Horse Show. Johnson, 14, racked up the ribbons in the Junior Hunter Classic, Junior Hunter Stake, the Child Hunter Classic (NAL and WIHS), and the Junior Hunter 15 and Under Stake. When asked if she thought she was having a good show, she just shrugged her shoulders and answered, "I guess." Johnson won the...

Laura Chapot and Quointreau Un Prince get some serious height over the CWD fence in Friday's $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, at HITS Saugerties. (ESI Photography) Saugerties, NY – Laura Chapot just extended her impressive mid-summer winning streak with another victory in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, at HITS-on-the-Hudson. Friday’s triumph marked the fourth consecutive win for Chapot in the last two weeks and the...

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...

Louise Serio and Corvine won the $5,000 Get Real Get RAW USHJA National Hunter Derby at the Brandywine Valley Summer Series (Rebecca Walton/PMG) Devon, PA - For the second time this year, Louise Serio piloted the five-year-old gelding Corvine to a National Hunter Derby victory. During their first derby at the Kentucky Spring Horse Show, Serio and Corvine held the leading score from start to finish, and during the Brandywine Valley Summer Series' $5,000 Get Real Get RAW USHJA National Hunter...

Office Managing Partner, PWC, presenting the winners trophy to McLain Ward. (Spruce Meadows Media Services) Calgary, AB - It was anybody’s game in the International Ring at Spruce Meadows today, with a rookie and veteran taking home first place ribbons during day two of the 2012 Spruce Meadows ‘North American’ ring. It was a first for Nayel Nassar (EGY), who beat out veterans like Beezie Madden (USA) and McLain Ward (USA) to take home the 1.50 meter Progress Energy Cup. The...

The fourth in a series of guest blog posts from Michelle Binder Every day I head out to the barn to work. Like other trainers, I work outside in temperatures from 0 to 100 7 days a week, almost 365 days a year, from dawn till dark and sometimes longer. As a professional trainer and riding instructor I am called on to muck stalls, fix fence, buck hay, dump grain, rake footing, fill water buckets, sweep the aisle, clean tack, change bandages, medicate, lead beginners, longe riders, heft children...