Lexington, KY - The Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Selection Trials concluded the 2010 qualifying season with competitions held across the country in Illinois, California and Virginia to select the U.S. representatives for the 2010 FEI World Breeding Championships to be held in Verden, Germany, August 5 - 8, 2010. The first Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Selection Trial was held at CDI 3*/Y/J Wayne & Dressage at Lamplight in Wayne, IL, May 21 - 23, 2010. Dominating the Five-Year-Old...

Photo Courtesy Epona and Hassler Dressage (Lauren Spreiser and Ellegria with Kyra Kyrklund.) This week several horse-and-rider combinations were privileged to participate in clinics given by Kyra Kyrklund. Kyrklund, who lives and trains out of her farm in West Sussex, Great Britain, is a world-class dressage trainer and has represented Finland in six Olympic Games. Kyrklund is a heavily sought-after coach who has trained multiple Olympic medalists; at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games she had...

Photo by Dr. C. Mike Tomlinson (Mary Jordan, a Grade IV Para-Dressage rider used this competition as a practice before the selection trials at the end of June.) This year is the most exciting calendar year for the United States Para-Equestrian Team in history. It will be the first time ever that the para-dressage team will compete with all of the equestrian disciplines at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ (WEG) in Lexington, KY. The hopeful WEG riders first stop this summer was May...

Photo by SusanJStickle.com (Mikala Gundersen and Leonberg ) Victories continue to accumulate for Horses Unlimited's Leonberg and his Danish rider Mikala Munter Gundersen. The latest victory was a 70.79% in the Kentucky Cup Grand Prix Special over a field that included World Cup Finalists, European medalists, Olympians and Pan American Games medalists. The Kentucky Cup was the test event for the dressage world championships at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games that will be held at the...

Photo courtesy of Holly Wilmoth, Kingland Farm (Sakrementer, ridden by Rick Rockefeller-Silvia.) It was dual wins for the promising young Oldenburg gelding, Sakrementer, at the recent CDCTA Summer Dressage show at Morven Park in Leesburg, VA. Sakrementer was ridden by Rick Rockefeller-Silvia, of Dream Street Stallions, and is owned by Deborah and Rex Howe of HRH Holdings. Sakrementer’s success included placing first in the Materiale Class with a score of 84.7% and winning the FEI Four-Year-Old....

Photo by Waltenberry (Wimpys Little Step ) Wimpys Little Step made history at this year’s Carolina Classic Derby, held May 13-16, in Williamston, NC, when his offspring surpassed two million dollars in National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) earnings. The flashy palomino sire joins eight of NRHA’s leading stallions as a Two Million Dollar Sire*. To achieve this elite status is no easy feat, yet Wimpys’ offspring went above and beyond expectations when they earned enough to make him the...

Rising to this year's "Let the Games Begin!" theme, the Wisconsin Morgan Horse Club (WMHC) had a winning presence at the 2010 Midwest Horse Fair. Preliminary numbers show that Friday's attendance set a record (18,500) and the total attendance for this year's three-day event exceeded last year's by 4,000 for a total attendance this year of 54,000. This is a great venue for promoting the Morgan breed. The WMHC booth was located near the front of Barn #1, so a maximum number of visitors had the...

Equestrian Sport Productions had five strong weeks of their Spring Circuit through April and May, which included three "AA" rated, one "A" rated and one "C" rated shows. It featured three $25,000 grand prix classes, the $2,500 Derby Style Huntland Pony Classic, Low and High Junior/Amateur classes on the grass at The Stadium, and the $5,000 Driftwood 3' Derby Style Hunter Classic. While the spring shows have finished, exhibitors who want to compete in the summer months at the best horse show...

Photo by James Leslie Parker (Georgina Bloomberg and Metropolitan jump to victory in the the $75,000 Empire State Grand Prix.) The two weeks of world-class equestrian competition held at the Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Shows attracted crowds of spectators eager to watch many of the nation's best horses and riders in action. Impeccably groomed horses, stylish and talented riders and the pristine facilities at Old Salem Farm all merged together to make the Spring Horse Shows two of the best weeks...

As anyone who’s familiar with Colorado weather knows, May can be an interesting month. Such was the case during the first of three weeks of horse shows at the Colorado Horse Park where a mid-May snowstorm (yes, you read that right) forced the High Prairie Spring Preview (May 13-16) to have a noon start on the first day. “I love the people at the Colorado shows,” said Show Manager Charlotte Skinner of Langer Equestrian Group. “They were much more accepting of the schedule modifications than I...