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...

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...

Leslie Howard and Lennox Lewis 2 Win $15,000 Equine Insurance Speed Stake Presented by Great American Insurance Group Candice King and Kismet 50 (Tammy Hardy Photography) Hampton Falls, NH – More than 5,000 spectators came to watch the final day of The Jumper Classic®, presented by Fidelity Investments® and Audi of America. Held at the Silver Oak Equestrian Center, The Jumper Classic had their two final highlight classes of the week. In the $75,000 Fidelity Investments Grand Prix,...

Lexington, KY - Week Two of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is in the books and it has been one for the ages. It was an extremely busy week for competitors and spectators alike as six of the eight disciplines represented held competitions during the second week of the Games, with most days seeing at least two competitions going on at once. DRESSAGE Grand Prix Freestyle Simply put, it was the greatest night of dressage action in the history of the sport on American soil. For the...

So here it is, my 13th time at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. Who would have thought that when I went to my first Rolex in 1997 that I would end up only missing one between then and now (the 2009 event). My Rolex experiences started out as a day-trip jaunt from Western Kentucky University where I was attending school. It was my first year of college and an equine photographer that my friend, Laura, and I had met told us about the event. Since I was studying photojournalism at the time, I...

USEF Chief of Sport David O’Connor, University of Kentucky Equine Science professor and member of the FEI Equine Ethics and Welfare Commission, Dr. Camie Heleski, and Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare, Roly Owers, spoke to the USEF Annual Meeting about equestrian sport and the social license to operate. Here are five takeaways from their presentation. 1. Social license to operate is an unofficial but essential piece of the puzzle. Owers describes social license to operate as...

Rome, Italy – The NetJets U.S. Jumping Team finished just off the podium with a two-round total of eight faults in the FEI Nations Cup of Rome CSIO5* at Piazza di Siena, taking fourth place behind France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The team of Lillie Keenan, Laura Kraut, Brian Moggre, and Chloe Reid were led by Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland in the two-round competition which featured 10 teams and served as the first Observation Event ahead of team selection for the 2022 FEI...

Wellington, Fla . – The U.S. U25 Dressage Team took second place on the podium today following team competition in the FEI Intermediate II Test during the FEI Dressage Nations Cup Wellington CDIOU25 competition, finishing on a final team score of 129.50. The team placed just behind Canada, who took the top placing on a 133.323. The team was led by Chef d’Equipe Charlotte Bredahl and comprised of Quinn Iverson aboard Beckham 19, Nicole Scarpino and Lambada 224, and Kaylee Christensen...

Mill Spring, N.C. – Twelve athlete-and-horse pairs contesting the Perrigo CPEDI3* at Tryon Summer Dressage completed their FEI Individual Tests on Friday night under the lights at the Tryon International Equestrian Center. This event serves as the final observation event ahead of team selection for the Tokyo Paralympics. Roxanne Trunnell and Dolton. ©Leslie Potter/US Equestrian Roxanne Trunnell (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) and Karin Flint and Flintwoode Farms LLC’s Hanoverian...

Dear US Equestrian Members, As a followup to our communication in the September 24 Equestrian Weekly newsletter , please be aware that US Equestrian has continued to receive reports of a phone scam where unknown individuals are contacting exhibitors and members, posing as show representatives or feed/bedding suppliers, and requesting credit card information over the phone for feed/bedding orders, which has led to fraudulent charges. In an effort to protect our members and spread awareness about...