SusanJStickle.com (Steffen Peters on Floriano) Gladstone, NJ – There’s nothing better than a hat-trick, but how about a hat-trick times three…all three championships held at the USET Foundation Festival of Champions were clean sweeps by Rebecca Hart, Michelle Gibson and Steffen Peters. Hart was the winner of all three classes that make up the 2006 USEF National Para-Equestrian Championship, Gibson took the honors winning all three of her classes to in the 2006 Collecting...

Gladstone, NJ – Three was the magic number today at the USET Foundation Dressage Festival of Champions. Rebecca Hart won the USEF National Para-Equestrian Championship after she pulled off a hat-trick, winning all three classes three days in a row. Then, in the USEF Grand Prix Special, it was déjà vu with the top three riders in the same placings as Thursday, when they performed their Grand Prix. The third class that makes up the 2006 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National...

Brentina Cup Winner Elisabeth Austin and Olivier (SusanJStickle.com) Gladstone, NJ – The inaugural Brentina Cup was awarded to the winner of the USEF National Young Adult Dressage Championship today as part of the USET Foundation Dressage Festival of Champions. Elisabeth Austin of Williston, VT and her 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion, Olivier scored a 70.39% on their FEI Intermediaire II test despite it being only his ninth show ever and only his third recognized FEI competition....

Jan Byyny made her first win at the CCI*** level a memorable one by capturing first place on Task Force and second place on Waterfront. Byyny, who was already sitting in the top two places after stellar cross-country riding, stayed in front on June 6 with two solid show jumping rounds. Riding Waterfront first, Byyny jumped one of only two double-clear rounds. Although she had already secured the win, Byyny looked even more determined when she rode into the ring on Task Force. Despite a single...

Season tickets for the 2007 Las Vegas FEI World Cup Finals are available for sale to the general public as of June 16, 2006. Tickets are expected to sell quickly, so spectators are advised to purchase early. The FEI World Cup Finals in both show jumping and dressage return to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV, on April 18-22, 2007. In 2005, the FEI Budweiser World Cup Jumping Final and the FEI World Cup Dressage Final presented by Offield Farms, were held simultaneously in the same...

The USEF/Markel Young Horse Dressage Selection Trials concluded the 2006 qualifying season for the FEI World Breeding Championships at the CDI***/Y Raleigh and Capital Dressage Classic, June 2-4 in Raleigh, NC. Champion of the five-year-old division with an overall two-test score of 8.592 was Unitas, a bay Dutch Warmblood gelding (Niagara - Nellyzora by Harald; bred in The Netherlands), ridden and owned by Teresa Butta-Stanton of Glen Burnie, MD. Winning both the Preliminary and Final Tests...

The atmosphere at the Piazza di Siena, located in the parklands of the lovely Villa Borghese in the heart of the Italian capital, is very laid back indeed - except for the tension in the air over tomorrow's third leg of the Samsung Super League with FEI Nations Cup series - and it's the British that just about everyone's talking about. They are looking good and when Chef d'Equipe Derek Ricketts was asked today about their chances he said "yes, they're up for it - I think they should do well...

A mere 0.112 points separate second through fourth place in the current women’s World Equestrian Games (WEG) Vaulting rankings. Last weekend’s USEF Vaulting selection trial, held during the Garrod’s Spring Classic in Saratoga, CA, on May 20, was the fifth of six chances that U.S. vaulters have to improve their average score toward qualifying for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. From those six chances, the highest three scores are averaged, and a WEG ranking is established....

Sabina Louise Pierce/University of Pennsylvania (Barbaro in his stall after surgery at New Bolton Center) Less than one week after Barbaro's tragic career-ending injury in the Preakness, over 4,000 people have already e-mailed Matz, owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson and Barbaro their well-wishes. Just hours after Barbaro emerged from surgery, the USEF set up a means for people to send their regards. You can send your message to Barbaro, trainer Michael Matz, a three-time Olympic equestrian who...

When the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) announced its 2005 champions, the list included Hilltop Farm's elite Hanoverian stallion Contucci as the 2005 USEF Leading Sire Dressage Breeding. Contucci's accumulated points of 766 were more than double the #2 ranked sire, who accumulated 331 points. The title of USEF Leading Owner Dressage Breeding was also awarded to Hilltop Farm, likely due to many of Contucci's offspring successes. Since 2004, Contucci has been represented in the USEF...