Norman Brinker, who served as an alternate with the United States show jumping team at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki, passed away due to pneumonia while on vacation in Colorado. Brinker was born in Denver, CO, on June 3, 1931, to Kathryn and Eugene Brinker. He helped his family at a young age by buying and selling horses and a variety of other jobs. He attended the New Mexico Military Institute in high school, served in the Navy, and graduated from San Diego State University in 1957....

McLain Ward and his two-time Olympic Gold medal partner Sapphire claimed their second grand prix victory in a row Saturday night by winning the $200,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix CSI**** presented by CN at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center during the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). In an exciting six-horse jump-off before a near-packed stadium under lights at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival, Ward, of Brewster, NY, and the 14-year-old mare owned by Ward and Blue Chip...

Para-Equestrian Trainers’ Symposium This two-day workshop, held April 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and April 19 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. will educate dressage trainers and therapeutic riding instructors alike about para-equestrian dressage rider development, the classification system and rider eligibility, competitions, and resources, both regionally and nationally. Through the use of lecture, videos and demonstration riders, examples will be given of how to bring riders along in your own program from...

Tickets are selling fast for the Exquis World Dressage Masters to be held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center on Friday and Saturday, January 29-30. Van Grunsven on IPS Painted Black, the USA's Steffen Peters on Ravel, Edward Gal and Hans Peter Mindehoud of The Netherlands, Ashley Holzer of Canada and another 15 riders from Europe and the Americas will compete for an unprecedented €100,000 (US$133,000) in prize money. Most fans from across North America and seven other nations are...

Bates Equitation year-end awards will be presented in Syracuse on Saturday, November 1. Riders have been accumulating points in equitation classes all year that are tabulated each week in the Bates Equitation Ranking computer list (available at www.batesequitationranking.com ). All year-end awards are based on ranking published on the Bates Equitation Computer Ranking list dated October 31, 2008. Equitation riders will take home the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for their overall performance...

A new round of major improvements focused on footing in the competition arenas has begun at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in preparation for 2008/2009 circuits including the showcase Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). Footing created by Olympic provider Bart Poels that was installed in PBIEC's International and DeNemethy arenas last year will be extended to the DeNemethy warm-up ring and the Mogavero arena. Footing in Rings 7 and 8 and the arenas at the South Grounds...

Tickets for the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament featuring the 125th National Horse Show in downtown Syracuse, NY, are now on sale to the public. One of the nation's premiere international equestrian competitions, the Sporthorse Tournament will feature the top-ranked U.S. riders and international competitors who will all vie for the Budweiser World Cup Qualifier of Syracuse and the Animal Planet Sporthorse Cup that will be broadcast on Animal Planet on January 10, 2009. This year...

The American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA) has announced plans for a new online auction to be held on EBay during early August prior to the Kentucky State Fair. In addition, a new live auction will be held on Friday evening at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds. According to Mary Anne Cronan, President of the ASHA, changes in the association’s schedule of traditional fundraisers at the World’s Championship Horse Show were made because of ongoing remodeling and construction at the Executive...

This year’s prestigious Lexington Junior League Horse Show opened Monday evening, July 7, with a star-studded cast of the best American Saddlebreds in the world, among nearly a thousand horses and ponies entered for competition at The Red Mile. Two of the three reigning Saddlebred World’s Grand Champions, Grande Gil and CH Along Came A Spider, will meet all comers in the first jewel of the breed’s Triple Crown of competitions. Other shows in the Triple Crown are the Kentucky State Fair World’s...

Attendees of the 2008 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day will have the opportunity to walk the only four-star cross-country course in America with two of the country’s top event riders. Kim Severson and Jan Byyny, veterans of four-star competition, will be hosting the SmartPak Course Walk at the event. For Severson, this will be her third year leading the popular walk and for Byyny, her second. Both riders will be addressing their strategies in riding the challenging cross-country course from start box...