The 2009 American Saddlebred Reference Directory , the breed’s most comprehensive publication each year, goes into the mail this week and is now also available electronically on the association’s website to all active ASHA members. Just visit www.saddlebred.com/members/reference.php and log in. Once a member has logged in, instructions are provided. The reference directory physical copy has been mailed to all active ASHA members by USPS book rate mail. In the meantime, the association is...

The 2009 HITS Ocala Winter Circuit started off with a bang for Kyle King. The Ocala resident posted the fastest double-clear round aboard Paola to secure the top prize in Sunday's $25,000 HITS Grand Prix to close out the Ocala Pre-Circuit 1 at HITS Post Time Farm in Ocala, FL. King and his 12-year-old mare outlasted a field of 24 horses in the first round and an additional four pairs that advanced to course designer Jerry Dougherty's jump-off track to secure the first-place check of $7,500 in...

Looking for something new, exciting, and challenging for you and your horse? Well, mark your calendars for the upcoming clinic at Capriole Farm in Catlett, VA, presented by Kimberly Garvis, on the sport of working equitation, which is presently making its way to the United States and Canada. Currently a little-known discipline in North America, working equitation competition is divided into three phases that are designed to test through a range of activities. It combines flatwork movements and...

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...

The American Saddlebred Horse Association’s 2002 Breeders Hall of Fame Inductee, Glyndle Tabor of Scottsville, KY, passed away yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, January 14, 2009. Tabor owned and operated 3-T Farm in Scottsville, KY, one of the better known American Saddlebred breeding operations of the 20th and 21st centuries. He raised his own family in the house he was born and raised in, and was the first of his family to venture into the Saddlebred world. He broke his first pony when he was...

Lexington, KY - To go halfway around the world and win is a monumental achievement – especially on a borrowed horse. No one told show jumper Taylor Land. The 16-year-old from Atlanta, GA peaked at the perfect time and came home with the Individual Gold medal at the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival. Taylor Land was part of the team that was fourth in the Nations Cup on Sunday and rode Tom McDermott’s Markovitch to win Gold. “I couldn't have won this with out the support of my team and...

Gene Mische and Jessica Montezuma (Geoff Oliver Bugbee/USEF) Cincinnati, OH – The philosophy is pretty simple: “If you take care of this sport, it will take care of you.” Gene Mische is a lifetime of living proof. Mische was honored by legions of fans and friends for decades of involvement in the equestrian world. At the Pegasus Awards Ceremony, Mische was presented with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement award at the 2009 USEF Annual Meeting. “I’m...

Mavis Spencer (USEF/ Jennifer Haydon) Lexington, KY – The US show jumping riders got off to a fantastic start at the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival on January 16, 2009. Led by 16-year-old Kylie Wright from Sparks-Glencoe, MD, the US filled the top two spots in the Individual Qualifier. She went first out of the 24 riders and produced one of only six clear rounds. No one went clear in the jump off but Wright, riding Pacific Wave, was the fastest of the four faulters with a time of...

Stadium Jumping, Inc., one of the nation's leading horse show production companies, is pleased to announce the official dates of the 2009 Tampa Equestrian Festival and 37th Annual $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational. This year the festival will host three weeks of equestrian competition with the world's best riders, horses and Olympians. The show will run from March 18-April 4 at the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, FL. The Tampa Equestrian Festival...

Margie Engle rode Hidden Creek's Tosca in the Dutch Warmblood mare's sixth grand prix Thursday to claim the inaugural $30,000 Braman Motorcars WEF Challenge Cup at the 2009 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. The nine-year-old mare on whom Engle, of Wellington, FL, won the seven- and eight-year-old championship in Kentucky last year, won by 1/10th of a second over Georgina Bloomberg and Curius at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Laura Bowery on Henry Jota Romano placed third....