Sunday is not end of show -- After congratulations are given, ribbons handed out and horses in the boxes, the work continues. Horses are washed, the barn broken down and the camps are disassembled. Slowly competitors start to leave and the feeling of the win gets lost in the rush to get packed. It's a strange feeling to be a member of a team that just won the most prestigious driving event leading up to the world games. It feels almost surreal. The team was turned out in flawless fashion...

Sunday: American Driving Standard raised Sunday morning always brings a mix of emotions. The adrenaline from the marathon has passed and has been replaced by a feeling of certainty for the last phase of competition. The morning routine seems to drag a little for all grooms are feeling the pressure of the week and hoping no unpleasant surprises await. An in barn vet check takes place for American team drivers to make sure all horses are fit after the marathon. Luckily there were no serious...

Lexington, KY – It wasn’t easy, but Chester Weber never wavered and netted his seventh straight USEF National Four-in-Hand Driving Championship at the Kentucky Cup and Lexington Driving Classic. Weber’s win also bodes well for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, as this event served as the test event for next year’s WEG also to be held at the Kentucky Horse Park. Weber beat long time teammate Tucker Johnson (and another driver going for a record seven wins) by 10 points, but the...

Lexington, KY – There were a handful of changes on the leaderboards today as the marathon proved a fair but demanding challenge at the 2009 USEF National Driving Championships at the Kentucky Cup and Lexington Driving Classic which is also serving as a test event for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The USEF National Four-in-Hand Championship remains in Chester Weber’s grasp, after a second place marathon performance – less than a point behind Australia’s Boyd Excell – was good...

Wednesday: skies were gray, but horses shone bright. -- Aside from the world championships in Gladstone NJ, never before has a driving competition had the turnout it had today. Three nations were represented and a total of 16 four in hand teams were present. Over a handful of competitors from the West Coast came to compete in pony, single, pair and team divisions. 97 competitors in total came ready to compete. The Canadians had a bit of a rough begining with two horses being held from one team...

Six USEF National Driving Championships Draw Quality Competition to the Kentucky Horse Park Lexington, KY – For the first time ever, all six USEF National Driving Championships are running con Chester Weber Leads USEF National Four-in-Hand Driving Championship (Picsofyou.com) currently, and the first day got off to a fantastic start at the 2009 Kentucky Cup and Lexington Driving Classic which is also serving as a test event for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. All six FEI...

Two Champions "Three-Peat" as Breed Show Wraps Up When individual breed classes took center stage on day three of Dressage at Devon 2009, two horses who had dominated the news in the prestigious show's first two days continued to grab headlines. Perfect Qredit, a yearling colt by Quaterback, added an 83.80% win in the Oldenburg (GOV) division to his Grand Championship, Young Horse Championship, Colt Championship, and Yearling Colts and Geldings title for owner Michelle Coursin, an air-traffic...

The Showplace Fall Classic Championship Horse Show came to a close on Sunday at the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL. Saturday morning began with an exciting victory going to Maggie Jayne and Thomas Edison in the $25,000 Tapestry Farm Leading Rider Series Final Grand Prix. The top three open jumper riders in the 2009 Showplace Leading Rider Series battled against the clock as the only entries to qualify for the jump-off, and Jayne was the fastest by almost four seconds to take the top...

Kassandra Barteau and GP Raymeister at 2009 NAJYRC (Flashpoint Photography) Lexington, KY – Three-time USEF National Champion and NAJYRC Gold Medalist Kassandra Barteau has topped the United States rankings for the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final for Young Riders and has earned an invitation to Frankfurt, Germany for the Final, to be held December 17-20. Twenty-one year-old Barteau of Maple Park, Illinois and her mount GP Raymeister (a 10-year-old bay Holsteiner stallion owned by...

In a major new initiative, the American Hanoverian Society (AHS) is pleased to announce a new foal life recording partnership with the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF). The USEF, which serves as the National Governing Body for Equestrian Sport in the U.S., licenses equestrian competitions of all levels across the United States each year and maintains the points and standings for the annual USEF Horse of the Year (HOTY) Awards in its comprehensive database. Through cooperative efforts...