For Immediate Release August 25, 2004 Athens, Greece - On another windy day at the Markopoulo Equestrian Center, Debbie McDonald of Hailey, ID finished in fourth place and Robert Dover of Lebanon, NJ and Wellington, FL in sixth place in the Dressage Individual competition which concluded today. Today’s final phase of competition was the Grand Prix Freestyle. The individual scores are compiled from three days of competition which include the Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix...

Samantha Schaefer, 11, of Westminster, MD, rode her pony Sham’s Lognaberry to win the 2004 Wild Horsefeathers/USEF National Hunter Pony Championship. The championship was held August 8 at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, VA, as part of the USEF Pony Finals. As champion, Schaefer was awarded the International Jumping Derby Perpetual Trophy, a Triple Crown Custom cooler, a 10 inch Revere bowl keeper trophy and a saddle. American Dreams owned and ridden by Jennifer Waxman, 12, of Chagrin...

Kevin Ferguson, 13, of Parkland, FL, won the 2004 USEF Pony Jumper National Championship individual competition aboard Krome. The championships were held August 6 in Lexington, VA, at the Virginia Horse Center. Ferguson was awarded the Swann Creek Perpetual Trophy and the Gold Medal. The USEF Pony Jumper National Championship has been designated as a USA Junior Olympic – Equestrian event. The Silver Medal was awarded to: Hot Fudge ridden and owned by Stephanie Fialco. The Bronze Medal was...

Sleigh Ride, owned and ridden by Kelsi Robinson of Westchester, PA, walked away with the Show Circuit Magazine Perpetual Trophy and the Show Circuit Magazine Trophy. This crystal piece is given to the winner to take home for one year, along with a Triple Crown Custom cooler, a 10-inch Revere bowl keeper trophy and a bridle. Acarell, owned and ridden by Jane Ehrhart of St. Louis, MO, was named Overall Reserve Champion. The Overall Small Junior Hunter was The Frog Prince, owned by Christy Russo...

For Immediate Release Lexington, KY - Hummingbird Nest Farm in Simi Valley, California will be the site of the 2004 FEI Children's Jumping Final, November 22-28, which hosts competitors from around the world who have qualified in their native country. Due to the expense of shipping horses, the riders will not bring their own mounts. Since the U.S. is the host nation for this international competition, which is contested on borrowed horses, we must provide enough horses for the 32 riders. The...

Equestrian fans can follow the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team like never before. The networks of NBC: NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Bravo, Telemundo and NBC HDTV will broadcast an unprecedented 1,210 hours – more than the past five Summer Olympics combined. The 24-hour coverage will include action from all 28 Summer Olympic sports for the first time, with equestrian events featured on NBC, USA, Bravo and CNBC. Over the 17 days of the Athens Games, the networks of NBC will average more than 70 hours of...

LEXINGTON, KY (July 8, 2004) Governor Ernie Fletcher announced today that the Commonwealth of Kentucky, on behalf of the United States, will submit a formal bid to the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) to host the 2010 World Equestrian Games (WEG). These games are the most important high-performance equestrian competition in the world, and are held every four years in a country designated by the FEI, the international governing body for equestrian sport headquartered in Lausanne,...

Lexington, KY – At their semi-annual meeting yesterday, The Board of Directors of the United States Equestrian Federation unanimously re-elected David O’Connor as USEF President. His new term will run from January 2005 to January 2009. O’Connor has served as USEF President since July, 2003. The USEF was created by the joining of the former USA Equestrian and the United States Equestrian Team and O’Connor has been instrumental in the transition to the new organization. He has an extensive list...

San Juan Capistrano, CA – Steffen Peters and Marlando won the Prix St. George today at the USEF Intermediaire I Championship at Oaks Blenheim with a score of 73.750%. Leslie Morse on Tip Top 962 was second scoring 72.450%. Peters and Morse distanced themselves from the field as the third place score of 67.200% was shared by Heather Blitz on American-bred Arabella and Nicole Perry on Rubino Bellissimo. The test was the FEI Prix St. Georges 2000. California resident Peters described his ride as...

San Juan Capistrano, California – Again today Robert Dover and FBW Kennedy demonstrated masterful consistency and solidity, the hallmarks of their vast experience. They won the Grand Prix Special in the Selection Trials with a score of 78.640%, with two judges scoring them just over 80%. Dover summed up his two very different rides on Kennedy and Ranier, “honestly, I was actually really relaxed going into the ring today, and excited about especially riding Kennedy today, because I...