When the 35th Edition of the Winter Equestrian Festival kicked off at 8:00 a.m., the sun was already high, conditions were perfect and the ground lush. The course designer this week in the Internationale Arena is Luc Musette, whose father, Jean-Paul, was national show jumping chef d’equipe for Belgium for many years until he retired to take charge of juniors and young riders. Musette was not originally scheduled to build until later in the tournament, but stepped in to deputize for Uliano...

Lexington, KY - Seventeen equestrian vaulters from across nation arrive in the San Francisco Bay area this weekend, January 20 and 21, for a vaulting high performance training session conducted by the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF). The participants are among the finest vaulters in the country and are invited to participate by the USEF. On Saturday the 21st the clinic will be held at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement 3455 Edison Way, Menlo Park, CA from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm and...

American Quarter Horses take center stage Sunday, January 7, on NBC Sports Television at 1:30 p.m. Eastern/10:30 a.m. Pacific for the America’s Horse Championships presented by Ford Trucks. The one-hour special is based at a portion of the FedEx Open competition at the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) World Championship Show in Oklahoma City and highlights the reining and cutting competitions along with other features. “We were so pleased with the response from viewers and NBC last...

The 34rd Annual Paso Fino Horse Association (PFHA) Grand National Championship Show and Sale brings together the best of the Paso Fino breed to compete head-to-head for various titles during the week-long event, which takes place September 17-23, at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agri-Center in Perry, GA. The schedule includes 120 classes ranging from versatility and Western, to performance and Fino. In addition to the competition, with amateur, youth and open divisions, the event...

The American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) Board of Directors recently approved expenditures of up to $25,000 for an expansion of the Morgan horse exhibit at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. This is considered Phase I in the mission to increase the size of the Morgan display at the Park from 400 square feet to approximately 800 square feet. AMHA is currently working on a development timeline in order to complete this expansion prior to the 2010 Alltech FEI Games. AMHA will work...

Matt Mills and Easy Otie Whiz (Waltenberry) Lexington, KY – It was a night of upsets at the Kentucky Horse Park during the 2006 Adequan®/United States Equestrian Federation® Open Reining Championship, which was also the selection trial for the U.S Reining Team for this summer’s World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. Twenty-seven of the finest reiners our nation has to offer competed in what many believed was one of the most competitive reining competitions ever held. The...

(Lexington, KY) - The family of Mary Lutz will announce memorial plans for Mary in the next several days. A specific date has not yet been determined, and information on these arrangements will be announced by the USEF when available. Surviving Mary are her parents, Mary B. and Michael Lutz. The family requests that expressions of sympathy be made in the form of gifts to the USET Foundation programs for Endurance and Para-Equestrian. Mary was a respected friend, colleague and mentor to so many...

Arnd Bronkhorst (Brentina, the 2005 Farnam®/Platform™ USEF Horse of the Year, now has the Brentina Cup named after her, which will be awarded to the winner of the USEF National Young Adult Dressage Championship this weekend. ) Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation® (USEF) is pleased to announce the qualifiers for the USEF National Young Adult Dressage Championship, whose winner will be awarded the Brentina Cup (formerly the Passage Cup). The inaugural 2006 Brentina Cup will be...

Sabina Louise Pierce/University of Pennsylvania (Barbaro in his stall after surgery at New Bolton Center) Less than one week after Barbaro's tragic career-ending injury in the Preakness, over 4,000 people have already e-mailed Matz, owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson and Barbaro their well-wishes. Just hours after Barbaro emerged from surgery, the USEF set up a means for people to send their regards. You can send your message to Barbaro, trainer Michael Matz, a three-time Olympic equestrian who...

The World Equestrian Festival, perhaps the largest single week's horse show in the world, began Wednesday in Aachen, Germany, with the United States announcing a top team for the Samsung Super League. Aachen CHIO has added championship vaulting to the lineup of show jumping, dressage and four-in-hand driving that will be contested by 145 athletes from 23 nations on more than 400 horses, in front of what is expected to be well above 300,000 spectators during the five days of competition. For...