The fourth in a series of guest blog posts from Michelle Binder Every day I head out to the barn to work. Like other trainers, I work outside in temperatures from 0 to 100 7 days a week, almost 365 days a year, from dawn till dark and sometimes longer. As a professional trainer and riding instructor I am called on to muck stalls, fix fence, buck hay, dump grain, rake footing, fill water buckets, sweep the aisle, clean tack, change bandages, medicate, lead beginners, longe riders, heft children...

Rebecca Hart and Lord Ludger (SusanJStickle.com) Gladstone, NJ - The 2012 USEF National Para-Equestrian Championships held in conjunction with the USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage Paralympic Selection Trials came down to the slimmest of margins this afternoon as riders performed their Freestyle tests at the Pine Meadow location of the USET Foundation. Heading to the final test of the championships only a few marks separated the top three riders and the remaining 20% of the final score would be...

Faye Wuesthofen aboard Kiss of the Zodiac (Photo by Howard Schatzberg) In what many are describing as a historic event, the United States Equestrian Federation’s (USEF) Saddle Seat Medal Final came down to a workout of the top two riders—Faye Wuesthofen and Ellen Medley Wright—on exchanged horses. Add to that the fact the top two riders shared the same trainer, DeLovely’s Lillian Shively, and it was one for the record books. The arena erupted with excitement and...

It was Maggie McAlary--all day, all the way, from morning till night. The 16-year-old, from Amherst, NH, rode 11th in a cavalcade of 271 junior riders vying for the 2006 prestigious Pessoa/United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Hunter Seat Medal Final presented by Becker College. This was McAlary’s third year qualifying for this national championship. “My horse, Mid-Accord, was nervous before the first round,” she said. “This is his first year doing equitation.” She topped the first...

Ella Fruchterman and Holts Le'Mans. ©KTB Creative Group Traverse City, Mich. – A phenomenal week of equestrian competition concluded on Sunday at the 2022 FEI North American Youth Championships with the Juniors and Young Riders presenting their freestyle tests. Ella Fruchterman (Woodbury, Minn.) and Holts Le’Mans struck gold in the Junior division, while Erin Nichols (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Handsome Rob AR topped the Young Riders podium. 2022 FEI NAYC Junior Dressage...

Well wasn’t that just an interesting 36 hours… Sorry I have not been in touch for a while but Friday, for us was about finishing up at the venue and then trying to pull together a bunch of loose ends in other areas prior to a hydrogen bomb going off under our world of semi serenity – i.e. the Team and the horses starting to arrive. For other Nations, Friday evening through to Saturday morning marked the first horse flight arrivals at times that would have made the Special...

Charlie Jayne & Chill R Z were the only pair to jump double clear Friday night (Spruce Meadows Media Service) Calgary, Alberta - Two U.S teams were in Canada at CSIO5* Spruce Meadows 'Continental' Friday for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup presented by Scotiabank. Called Stars and Stripes, one team (Stars) was riding for Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Final qualifying points, both were riding for a measure of redemption after finishing behind Team Canada at Nations Cup competitions in...

USA Riders at the Golden State Dressage Classic CPEDI3* (Left to Right) Elizabeth Traband, Holly Bergay, Deborah Stanitski, Kate Shoemaker, Susan Treabess, Ashleigh Flores-Simmons, Chef d'Equipe Kai Handt, and up front is U.S. Air Force Veteran Derrick Perkins. (John Stevenson) Rancho Mureieta, Calif. - The pressure was on at the Golden State Dressage Classic CPEDI3* for many U.S. para-dressage athletes looking to qualify for the World Equestrian Games. From April 4-6, 2014, riders from Grade...

Lexington, KY - Team U.S.A after finishing second in Friday's Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup presented by Longines (Shannon Brinkman) The U.S. string of top Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup performances continued Friday in an exciting showdown at CHIO Rotterdam. Eight teams took on the 12 obstacle challenge of Dutch course designer Louis Konickx and the formidable all female team of Americans Beezie Madden, Laura Kraut, Lauren Hough, and Lucy Davis finished second. With a total score of five faults they...

Hi Lite and Madeline Schaefer Live the High Life, Taking Grand Pony Hunter Championship Lili Hymowitz and Rafael Pose for the Grand Pony Hunter Reserve Championship Photo Lexington, KY – It was the crowning of the champions today at the Kentucky Horse Park as the 2012 US Pony Finals and US National Pony Hunter Champions completed their fifth day of competition. It was the Large Pony Hunter Over Fences that dawned on the Walnut Arena early this morning, and Madeline Schaefer and Hi Lite...