The American Trakehner Association (ATA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Futurity Awards. These awards are presented to the top young Trakehner horses who have achieved the highest scores for their disciplines during the 2009 season. Over $500,000 has been paid out in the ATA Futurity to date. American Trakehner Horses born in 2005 or later are eligible for nomination for the upcoming futurity competitions. Horses nominated for the futurity have several opportunities to win. As...

Lauren Hough and Quick Study (Randi Muster/Mustphoto.com ) Wellington, FL, – The second USEF Selection Trial for the US Show Jumping Team for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games got underway as part of the $75,000 Fidelity Investments Grand Prix. Thirteen horse/rider combinations came into the second Trial tied atop the rankings on a score of zero. After there were only two. Two of the stalwarts of the US show jumping circuit cruised to polished efforts. Lauren Hough and Laura Kraut,...

The second week of show jumping at HITS Ocala wrapped on Sunday with warm weather and exciting action, proving that the "Horse Capital of the World" is also the "Land of Opportunity," as the Grand Prix Arena saw some new faces emerge in the winner’s circle. In Thursday’s $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, Lacy Morrone-Cramer from Pittstown, NJ, earned her first grand prix win of the season riding Ulysses Van De Krekebeke, owned by Equi Sport, LLC. The duo bested 36...

Photo by Don Stine (One More Round++// with Alexis Doughty riding, shown with trainer Ben Flynn and Bill Doughty.) One More Round++// (Al Jassur Laddin x Winifred), owned by Bill and Alexis Doughty of Cape Charles, VA, was named the 2009 Arabian Horse Association (AHA) High Point Horse of the Year. The 2004 bay gelding earned 467 points in 2009 by competing in over 200 classes at 20 shows. The rigorous show schedule, which was carefully balanced with rest time, began in January and ended in...

The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) had a fantastic sixth week of competition on February 17-21. The week featured the AHJF Hunter Classic Spectacular of Palm Beach and the $50,000 CN Palm Beach Jumping Derby along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week six title sponsor was Bainbridge. Charles Jacobs of Boston, MA, captured the top prize in the $50,000 CN Palm Beach Jumping Derby on Quidditch II, owned by Deeridge Farm of Wellington, FL. They sped to...

Photo Courtesy AHA/Conley Driediger (Conley Driediger with gelding, Winning Afire+//.) Alexis Starer Doughty of Cape Charles, VA, and Conley Driediger of Yarrow, BC, Canada, were named the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) Adult and Youth Amateurs of 2009, respectively. Doughty earned an impressive 646 points at 22 AHA-recognized shows in 2009, while Driediger earned a whopping 485.5 points from 17 shows. The AHA Amateur Achievement Award program began in 2002 and tracks the points of individual...

Photo by Diana DeRosa (Liza Boyd and Brunello) "He is my Olympic hunter," commented Liza Boyd after she nailed her third victory in the 14th Annual American Hunter-Jumper Foundation (AHJF) Hunter Classic Spectacular in Wellington FL, aboard her seasoned mount, Brunello. She won the very first one riding Monday Morning in 1997 and then in 2008 tasted victory again on Fiyero. Now just 3½ months after the birth of her first child (Ellen) it was important to prove she still had what it takes. Yet,...

Photo by Robbi Meisel (Wilhelm Genn and Chantal) Lebanon, OH-based Wilhelm Genn had a stellar second week at the 2010 Gulf Coast Winter Classics with victories in both Thursday’s $5,000 Welcome Open Jumper Stake aboard Happy Z and Sunday’s $25,000 Gulf Coast Grand Prix with Laura Ryan-Barnaclo’s Chantal. Deciding the path this week’s jumpers would take was one of the sport’s most revered course designers, Michel Vaillancourt, who began testing their limits on Thursday with a curvy 15-effort...

Waiting to Jump (Shannon Brinkman/USEF) Lexington, KY – Thirty-three of the country’s best riders are going to line-up for a nod to represent the United States at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The Road to Lexington will run through the Winter Equestrian Festival when the USEF Selection Trials for Show Jumping grace the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Club. Five trials over 11 days means an action-packed time in Wellington, FL – further highlighted...

Photo Courtesy Highlife Farm (Highlife's Burberry) Highlife’s Burberry, a Weser-Ems pony stallion bred by Highlife Farms, has made history as the first U.S.-bred Weser-Ems pony to be licensed as a breeding pony. Burberry’s sire is Highlife’s Bodyguard, a Weser-Ems German Riding Pony that stands at Highlife Farms, home to world-class sport horses and one of the country’s most prominent breeding farms. “It is really exciting to have bred a pony that turns out to achieve a ‘first ever’ title,”...