Western Dressage clinics are rolling all over the nation. Here in the Pacific Northwest one clinic series has been endorsed by our USDF Region 6 Director, Donna Longacre. Her lifetime of experience in the dressage world combined with her judging experience in both dressage and western disciplines makes her uniquely qualified to comment on Western Dressage training and judging. I am so excited to have created a clinic series that carries such an endorsement as I continue to try to present...

Jennifer Alfano and Miss Lucy (Anne Gittins Photography) Wellington, FL - Jennifer Alfano rode Miss Lucy, an eleven-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Helen Lenahan, to the top of the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on the final day of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). The final round of competition was held on the grass derby field at The Stadium at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, FL. Alfano and Miss Lucy were fourth...

Lars Petersen and Mariett Loxahatchee, FL - Lars Petersen and Mariett proved they were consistently in the zone for the second time in two weeks when they delivered another one-two punch by taking the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle at the International Horse Sport Champions Cup CDI-W. The pair achieved the same laudable results just two weeks ago at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI-W, also at the IHS Champions Park at Equestrian Estates. Saturday's Freestyle impressed the judges...

McLain Ward and Zander (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - McLain Ward (USA) and his promising young mount Zander were the winners in Saturday night's $100,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Series Final during week eleven of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) in Wellington. The pair led a high-speed jump-off over second place finishers Janne Friederike Meyer of Germany aboard Cellagon Lambrasco and third place duo Pablo Barrios of Venezuela riding Zara Leandra....

Lars Petersen and Mariett claimed first place in the Grand Prix (Susan J. Stickle) Loxahatchee, FL - Lars Petersen and Mariett are making a habit of winning top honors at the International Horse Sport (IHS) show grounds. This time, the pair clinched today's Grand Prix at the International Horse Sport Champions Cup CDI-W with a 73.745%. Just two weeks ago, they were double winners in the same venue at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI-W, collecting first place in both the Grand Prix and...

Auburn finished up last weekend, and now all four SEC equestrian teams are through with regular season competition. Oklahoma State & Kansas State both picked up wins against South Carolina, setting up a season ending clash in Manhattan on Saturday. My quick recap of the weekend's NCEA action is below. No.8 Kansas State University def. No.4 South Carolina University Kansas State needed a win. After climbing to No.4 in the rankings, they had lost three straight, including a couple of ugly...

It was quite a weekend of NCEA action, with two of the top three teams losing. My brief recap of each match is below. No.2 Auburn University def No.1 University of Georgia 12-8 Senior Stephanie Rucci helped lead No.2 Auburn over No.1 Georgia on Saturday (Sophomore Danielle Long) It was a little closer than last time they met, when Auburn won 13-7, but the Georgia Bulldogs couldn’t take advantage of being at home to get a win over the Tigers. Auburn jumped out to a quick lead in this one,...

Ben Maher and Urico (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Week five of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) featured another exciting "Saturday Night Lights" event with over 4,000 spectators looking on as Great Britain's Ben Maher won his second grand prix in a row for the winter circuit. Maher jumped to victory in the $82,000 Adequan® CSI2* Grand Prix aboard Jane Clark's Urico after also taking top honors in last week's $100,000 Fidelity Investments® CSI 2*...

Lexington, KY - The popular helmet awareness campaign Riders4Helmets will be hosting the 4th Riders4Helmets Safety Symposium on Saturday February 2nd, 2013 at the Alltech Arena, Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, KY from 8.30am to 5pm. The symposium is being sponsored by Tipperary , Charles Owen , Troxel , GPA , One K , Ovation and High Visibility USA (Equisafety). Contributing companies include Adequan and Triple Crown . For those who cannot attend the symposium in person, videoed sessions will...

The twenty first in a series of blog post from Michelle Binder It was an exciting weekend for western dressage in the Pacific Northwest November 2-4. On Friday the Washington State Horsemen (WSH) voted to add Western Dressage as a new discipline on the roster of events offered by the organization statewide. WD has been added as a sub-category of dressage and will utilize NAWD Official Rules and Tests for the 2013 show season so WD classes may now be added to any WSH approved Dressage show...