Lexington, KY – Riding Topsail Ma Cee Blair, 13-year-old Jordan Brown of Selma, North Carolina, took home the Championship title and Gold medal in the 13 and under division at the inaugural 2005 USEF Youth Reining Championship, presented by Markel and Hagyard-Davidson-McGee on Sunday, August 28, at the Kentucky Horse Park, with a winning score of 210. “It was exciting!” said Brown. “It’s a big honor to win. It’s something I’ll remember all my life....

Craig Schmersal and Tidal Wave Jack, Winners of the 2005 Adequan/USEF Open Reining Championship (Waltenberry Photography) Lexington, KY – With swift and calculated moves, amazing 360-degree spins and stop-on-a-dime sliding stops that left an unabashed crowd going wild, Craig Schmersal and Tidal Wave Jack claimed their landmark USEF Gold medal and trophy in one fell swoop at the 2005 Adequan/USEF Open Reining Championship on Saturday, August 27, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington....

Aachen, Germany - August 25– Tucker S. Johnson of the United States drove his team of four horses to third place in the dressage musical freestyle on Thursday at the World Equestrian Festival. Johnson, of Hobe Sound, Florida, was enthusiastic about the consistent performance of his team of relatively young horses that also finished third in the regular dressage test Wednesday, the first of five days of four-in-hand driving at Aachen. He is the sole U.S. competitor in the driving competition....

Michael Bowling (Carlswald Prince's Dominoe and Lionel Ferreira) Carlswald Prince's Dominoe, trained and ridden by Lionel Ferreira, defeated 11 others in Wednesday night's Five-Gaited Gelding Stake, a class in which defending Five-Gaited World's Grand Champion CH Boucheron did not place, at the Saddlebred World's Championship Horse Show. Carlswald Prince's Dominoe won the Lexington Junior League Horse Show Five-Gaited Grand Championship in July. CH Boucheron had not shown...

Aachen, Germany - The United States dressage team finished in third place behind a history-making Dutch team that beat Germany on Thursday to win the nations’ team competition at the World Equestrian Festival. The U.S. riders, Steffen Peters of San Diego, CA, on Floriano; and George Williams of Delaware, OH, on Rocher, had led the standings in the grand prix after the first of two days of competition. But, the powerful Dutch and German teams, which included Olympic Individual and Team Gold...

The deadly outbreak of equine herpes virus at Churchill Downs this spring threatened to limit movement of horses between racetracks during the Triple Crown series of races. Frequent travel is also common for sport horses and such an outbreak could hamper participation at major shows. A Cornell University virologist says his preliminary research indicates that vaccines containing weakened live viruses, called modified live vaccines (MLV), appear to be more effective in preventing horse herpes...

Under the sweltering New Jersey sun, red hot Laura Chapot burned up the jump-off track and soared to a one-two finish in the $30,000 Stillwell-Hansen Grand Prix as the 110th Annual Monmouth County Horse Show came to a close at East Freehold Park. Forty starters went to the post in the 1:30 p.m. main event at the Stillwell-Hansen Arena. Blake Alder of Germantown, TN, designed the course. Memphis and Caitlyn Shiels led off the tiebreaker with a clear go and a jump-off time of 27.719 seconds to...

Ramiro Quintana won the testing Speed Challenge at the American Gold Cup last year, and he will return with the same mare, Carousel, to defend his title at this year’s event, September 15-18, at the Devon show grounds in Devon, PA. The Speed Challenge is a very exciting class, which pits professionals against juniors and amateurs, and Quintana, who also won this event four years ago, placed first and third in last year’s event. The five top professionals from their qualifying class on Fast...

United States Olympic Silver medalist McLain Ward was back in the saddle for the first time since breaking his collar bone three weeks ago while competing for the United States at the Samsung Super League in Hickstead, England. Ward, of Brewster, NY, rode in two classes on the opening day of Aachen’s World Equestrian Festival, the host for the seventh of eight Samsung Super League events on Friday. Aachen will be the site of the quadrennial World Equestrian Games next year. “I’m still sore,”...

Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation has announced the team for the eighth and final leg of the 2005 Samsung Super League, CSIO Barcelona, Spain, September 15-18. The team members are listed below in alphabetical order: Lauren Hough of Wellington, FL, with Casadora (1996 Dutch Warmblood mare, owned by Laura Davies Mateo). Laura Kraut of Oconomowoc, WI, with Anthem (1991 KWPN Dutch Warmblood gelding, owned by the Summit Syndicate). Christine Tribble of Wellington, FL,...