When 15-year-old Chelsea Dowdy entered one of Kentucky’s many county fairs in 2009 with El Diamante, she could feel their usual synergy. With all the fun she had, it was an easy decision to enter another. And another. By season’s end, they had not only claimed top honors and a collection of garlands and ribbons—they had amassed a respectable college fund totaling $10,799.31. That hefty chunk of change came courtesy of the Kentucky Breeders’ Incentive Fund (KBIF), earmarked for a...

Photo by ESI Photography (Emma Kennedy, the owner and rider of Summer Hill, captured Sunday's $5,000 Pony Commotion. ) The Ocala Winter Finals wrapped up another exciting week of show jumping that included two of the four remaining qualifying grand prix classes this winter for the Pfizer Million at HITS Post Time Farm in Ocala, FL. Maryland’s Tracy Magness captured the win in the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, aboard Mr. and Mrs. John Barko’s Tarco Van Ter Moude for...

Be a Part of the Team (Waltenberry) Lexington, KY – With the 2010 Adequan FEI North American Junior/Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North four months away, Reining teams from the various US regions and breed associations are in need of Regional Coordinators and Chef d’Equipes to help facilitate the success of these Reiners at the SmartPak North American Young Rider Reining Championships. Help these Youth Reiners fulfill their potential at the only international championship held...

Photo Courtesy Pics of You The Live Oak International Combined Driving Event, the premiere driving event in North America that attracts competitors from around the world, will host the Single and Four-In-Hand National Championships during the 2010 competition, March 25-28. Held at the picturesque 4,500-acre Live Oak Plantation in Ocala, FL, the U.S. Trust returns again as the title sponsor, and thousands of spectators are expected to attend. “Since this is the year of the World Equestrian Games...

Photo Courtesy Kentucky Horse Park The largest and most comprehensive collection of exotic Near Eastern and Arabian equine art and artifacts ever assembled will soon be on view when "A Gift from the Desert: The Art, History and Culture of the Arabian Horse" is presented May 29-October 15 in the Kentucky Horse Park's International Museum of the Horse—a Smithsonian Affiliate. "A Gift from the Desert" will be the first major exhibition to explore the impact of the horse on Near Eastern...

Mario Desluariers and Urico (Randi Muster/Mustphoto.com ) Dressage The prestigious Palm Beach Dressage Derby got underway on Thursday, March 4th with some of the nation’s top riders competing in Loxahatchee, FL. Tina Konyot and her Danish Warmblood Calecto V triumphed over the field of elite horse and rider combinations in both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special. In the Grand Prix Freestyle Mikala Gundersen and Leonberg put in a winning performance with a score of 72.250%; Canadian...

Photo Courtesy Showplace Productions (The beautiful Lamplight Equestrian Center will host several of Showplace Production's horse shows this year. ) Showplace Productions, one of the top horse show production and management companies in the United States, is pleased to announce the dates of their 2010 horse shows. Returning to the beautiful Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL, Showplace Productions will host Spring Warm-Ups, April 29-May 2 and May 6-9; the Showplace Spring Spectacular I...

Photo by Randi Muster (Laura Kraut and Cedric) Lexington, KY – Following the completion of the USEF Selection Trials for the US Show Jumping Team in Wellington, FL, the United States Equestrian Federation's Ad Hoc Committee on Selection has approved naming the following 15 horse/rider combinations to the Show Jumping Long List for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY September 25-October 10, 2010. As per the Selection Procedures, the top nine horse/rider combinations are...

Photo Courtesy FEI (Mara Dean and Nicki Henley) Mara Dean has become the first rider to post a winning score on the HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing leaderboard, following an emotional pillar-to-post victory in the Florida sunshine at the Red Hills International CIC***-W in Tallahassee, FL. Riding her veteran 15-year-old Irish-bred Nicky Henley, who was coming back into competition after sustaining a tendon injury at the 2007 Pan American Games, Virginia-based Dean held off the always serious...

Bridle Creek Equestrian Development and Phillip and Evie Dutton are pleased to announce the third annual Olympic Gala in Aiken, SC, Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. Supported most generously by Bruce Duchossois and Jack Wetzel, the Olympic Gala gives the Aiken community a chance to come together in support of the U.S. Eventing High Performance Programs as a portion of the proceeds will go to the United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation. "Partnering with Bridle Creek Equestrian...