The dressage justice in the world continued last night. In a fiercely difficult freestyle, Ravel and Steffen delivered a World Cup Championship performance. It was one of those nights where the planets aligned. How lucky are we to have been a part of it? Ravel got better, and better, and better throughout the Freestyle and they brought down the house for the US. To the music of the Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil, Ravel, who had an introduction to the world in Hong Kong last summer,...

Las Vegas, NV – After defending Rolex FEI World Cup Champion Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum broke the timing beam at 32.04 seconds with Shutterfly at the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup Final, the question remained: how do you beat this horse? US superstar McLain Ward tried with Sapphire, the pair looked phenomenal. Foot perfect, lightning fast and with some seriously bold moves, Ward went with two remaining in the 13 horse jump-off and there was reasonable consensus that Sapphire’s effort...

Las Vegas, NV – 44 riders from 22 nations went to task this evening in the Thomas & Mack Arena, 12 of them American. By the time the music died down and the last pair of feet landed on the arena floor, it was the reigning Rolex FEI World Cup champion, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly who proved to be the fastest in the First Leg of the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup Final: the Speed Class. Again. The German pair were quickest by just less than a second with a time of 56.48. “I thought the...

The 2009 Vermont Summer Festival in East Dorset, VT, is gearing up for another exciting summer of equestrian competition. The six-week circuit will run from July 1-August 9 at Harold Beebe Farm, and in addition to great hunter and jumper competition, the Manchester and the Mountains area will play host to all of the exhibitors and their families. The Vermont Summer Festival offers six consecutive weeks of competition, which makes it the longest horse show circuit offered in the Northeast. Many...

George Lucas’ Storm Troopers from the blockbuster Star Wars films were created as an elite army with no fears, just a determination to be victorious. This week saw a new breed of Storm Troopers at the Atlanta Spring Classics finale. Shaker Heights, OH-based David Jennings and partner Marcus Aurelius triumphed over Mother Nature in the Lucky Sevens Welcome Stake and the Atlanta Spring Grand Prix, both presented by Classic Company. Despite torrents of rain that came and went throughout most of...

The Washington International Horse Show (WIHS), a major equestrian event based in Washington, DC, since 1958, generates nearly $7 million in economic impact to the District of Columbia annually, according to a recent study conducted by Stephen S. Fuller, PhD, Dwight Schar Faculty Chair and Director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. “During these difficult economic times, it was important for the show to evaluate its spending and its positive...

The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) of Aurora, CO, has established an Arabian Horse Association task force on genetic diseases. The task force was created under the direction of and announced by AHA President Lance Walters. “The purpose of the task force is to have a group of AHA members regularly focused on genetic diseases. The end result will be an Arabian horse community that is educated about genetic diseases and knowledgeable about testing and disclosure. The task force will guide the...

The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) of Aurora, CO, is proud to name its top point-earning amateurs for 2008. Natacha Lesburgueres of Louisville, KY, earned 532 points, becoming the adult amateur winner, while Collier McLeod of Augusta, GA, earned 522.5 points for the youth amateur top spot. The AHA Amateur Achievement Award program began in 2002 and has since tracked the points that individual riders, handlers and drivers earn each year. In 2008 the program was adjusted to recognize adults and...

The inaugural $50,000 CN Palm Beach Jumping Derby will be held Sunday, February 15 with some of the world's top riders racing around a 1,000-meter course that includes a Devil's Dyke and a newly created signature obstacle called the Palm Maze. Built on top of the world-famous grass Polo Field One at the original Palm Beach Polo Stadium—considered by many to be among the finest grass surfaces for horse sports anywhere in the world—the course offers 19 obstacles (23 efforts) over...

It was a perfect day for the 2008 Olympic duo of Sharn Wordley and the brilliant Rockville, the winners of the Lucky Sevens Jumper Welcome Classic presented by ShowNet.biz on January 22. Wordley’s one mount bested 27 contenders for the top spot, including Wilhelm Genn, who dominated the circuit last year with his three mounts, Chantal, Loredo, and Happy Z. But as the sun began to set on the swift jump-off round, Wordley had survived the trials and tribulations put before them courtesy of course...