Gladstone, NJ – The second leg of the National Intermediaire I Dressage Championship at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions closed out the second day of competition in the Dick and Jane Brown dressage ring at the USET Foundation Headquarters in Gladstone, NJ. The hallowed grounds have been the proving grounds of champions for decades and although a facelift has led to brand new footing in the competition and warm-up areas, the historic relevance is impossible to ignore. Fresh...

Kassie Barteau Thanks Toscano (SusanJStickle.com) Gladstone, NJ – The 2010 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions got off to a flying start on Friday afternoon as the Intermediaire I National Championship kicked off a competitive two weekends featuring the best dressage riders in the United States. Highlighted by the National Grand Prix Dressage Championship which is also serving as the USEF Selection Trial for Dressage for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, these...

Lexington, KY - July 30, 2010 - The show jumping team competition for the USHJA Jumping Championships was held Friday night at the 2010 Adequan FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park. After a grueling Nations Cup competition, Team Alberta proved victorious in the Junior Riders section, while Zone 10 took home the Gold medal for the Young Riders division. Olaf Peterson, Jr., designed a demanding test for each group of...

SusanJStickle.com (Young Rider Dressage Team Gold) Lexington, KY - July 28, 2010 - It was dueling dressage riders today in the gleaming parallel lines set on the field of the Kentucky Horse Park’s new Main Stadium. Junior competitors (ages 14-18) and Young Riders (ages 16-21) performed side-by-side to kick off the 2010 Adequan FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North. Today’s event, The Platinum Performance/USDF Dressage Championship Team Test represented...

The Chagrin Valley Hunter Jumper Classic Grand Prix Weekend began with an exhilarating jump-off round in Friday night’s Welcome Stake and ended with an awe-inspiring performance in Sunday’s Cleveland Grand Prix. Along the way there were also canine exhibitions, carriage rides, family fun activities, Grand Prix festivities, the International Hunter Derby and many local champions in the multiple hunter/jumper divisions that competed from Wednesday, July 14, up through Sunday, July 18. The $10,000...

Photo by Flashpoint Photography (Shakira do Jacare and owner Sarah Owen during the retirement ceremony.) Shakira do Jacare, the brilliant 14-year-old Brazilian-bred chestnut mare owned by Sarah Owen and Muny Sunk Stables officially retired from the sport of show jumping in an emotional ceremony during the 2010 Atlanta Summer Classics. Dubbed the “Queen of Speed” by her competitors, Shakira’s presence alone at many a grand prix was enough to rattle the nerves of most seasoned jumpers. However,...

Photo by Flying Horse Photography (Michelle Parker and Socrates de Midos) In honor of the Fourth of July holiday weekend and to wrap up four weeks of competition managed by Blenheim EquiSports, the $25,000 Red, White & Blue Grand Prix presented by the St. Regis Monarch Beach, invited 19 horse-and-rider duos onto the Michel Vaillancourt-designed course at the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park. Vaillancourt remarked, “I think today’s course dimensions are very worthy of this class. It is...

Photo by Flying Horse Photography (Mandy Porter and LaMarque) The $30,000 Copa de Amistad Grand Prix, presented by EquiFit, Inc., welcomed 24 horse-and-rider teams onto the Peter Holmes-designed course at the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park. With seven riders, six of them women, earning spots in the jump-off, it was the second to last duo of Mandy Porter and Wild Turkey Farm’s young stallion, LaMarque, who led the victory gallop. Porter also qualified her other mount, Chesapeake (Wild Turkey...

The United States Equestrian Team Foundation welcomed internationally renowned dressage rider and United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Developing Dressage Coach Debbie McDonald to Hamilton Farm for the second of three Developing Dressage Clinics this past weekend, June 12-13, 2010. Aiding the development of this nation's up-and-coming dressage riders, the two-day clinic led by McDonald provided important guidance and insight to the nine riders who were invited to participate based upon...

Peter Cashman was born the youngest of nine in 1951. He was raised in Garden City, NY, where his father, John Cashman, Sr., a harness racing judge, introduced him to horses. He began to ride at the age of six. It was not until he was 12 that he fell in love with harness racing. His brother-in-law, Billy Popfinger, saw Peter's interest in Standardbreds and hired him as a groom at Monticello Raceway. He spent his summers at the raceway getting familiar with the care and maintenance that a barn...