Kent Farrington and Blue Angel (Spruce Meadows Media Services) Calgary, AB – The 2013 Spruce Meadows Summer Tournaments began Wednesday, and riding on new turf footing, riders contested four FEI-level competitions. For the third year in a row, Kent Farrington (USA) captured victory in the $33,000 ATB Financial Cup 1.50m, this year with Blue Angel. In the $33,000 Enbridge Cup 1.45m, McLain Ward (USA) was victorious with Super Trooper de Ness. Christine McCrea (USA) and Romantovich Take One...

Walk Tall II and Cian O'Connor (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Ireland's Cian O'Connor is back in Wellington for the remaining weeks of competition at the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival after an exciting 2012 season. Following a fantastic Florida circuit last winter, O'Connor and his top mount, Blue Loyd 12, traveled to London to earn an individual bronze medal in this summer's Olympic Games. Blue Loyd was recently sold to young Canadian rider Nicole Walker, and...

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Cantano (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - The $32,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic was held under the lights on Saturday night at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center with a win for Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Cantano. Twenty-six entries showed over a challenging course set by Michel Vaillancourt of Aiken, SC, and the pair completed the only clear round for the win. With just one faultless round, no jump-off was necessary....

Scott Brash and Sanctos van het Gravenhof (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Great Britain's Scott Brash guided Sanctos Van Het Gravenhof to victory in Saturday night's $200,000 FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix CSI 4* presented by The Bainbridge Companies at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). In a suspenseful jump-off, Brash beat out Richard Spooner (USA) and Cristallo, and Kent Farrington (USA) and Voyeur, who finished second and third. Sponsored by the Bainbridge Companies,...

Ashlee Bond and Wistful won the 1.40m Open Jumper class at the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show (Photo: Heather Bellock/PMG). Lexington, KY - It was cool and overcast for the start of the second day of the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park. While the highlights of the week include the $100,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals, the $25,000 CSI-W Hagyard Lexington Classic World Cup Qualifier and the $40,000 Bluegrass Festival Grand Prix, today's events in the Rolex...

Dressage Fresh from the Reem Acra/FEI World Cup Dressage Final, Jan Ebeling and Shawna Harding headed to CDI Hagen with their World Cup horses, Rafalca and Come On III. Ebeling led the charge for the U.S. finishing fifth in the Grand Prix on a score of 70.872%. Ebeling commandeered an excellent performance out of Ann Romney’s mare, and received four 8s on his riding. The pair was then eighth in the Grand Prix Freestyle on a score of 73.875%. Laura Bechtolscheimer, Great Britain’s...

Lexington, KY - Congratulations to Katherine Denny of Lafayette, LA for winning the National Junior Hunter Championships Grant. This grant of $1000 towards an educational expense is won by a rider who is eligible to participate in the USEF Junior Hunter Finals East or West and has written the winning essay demonstrating how the horse show experience has affected his/her life and what difference the grant would make to themselves or their family. Katherine stated that “Horse shows are a place to...

Lexington, KY - Week Two of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is in the books and it has been one for the ages. It was an extremely busy week for competitors and spectators alike as six of the eight disciplines represented held competitions during the second week of the Games, with most days seeing at least two competitions going on at once. DRESSAGE Grand Prix Freestyle Simply put, it was the greatest night of dressage action in the history of the sport on American soil. For the...

The purpose of the USEF Young Horse Dressage Training Sessions is to identify and develop top equine dressage talent in the United States for a future career at the FEI level and international competition on U.S. teams. Mirroring the existing high-performance development programs, horses should be actively training and competing and therefore may be invited to participate in training sessions with the aspiration of their participating in the 2008 Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Program (FEI...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) is pleased to announce and congratulate its new USDF Certified Instructors. The USDF Instructor Certification Program is designed to set a standard of excellence in dressage training and instruction in the United States and to educate dressage riders, instructors and aspiring instructors. New USDF Certified Instructors include; Meaghan Byrne of Beverly, MA; Nancy Burba of St. Gabriel, LA; Lisa Bukowski of Stillwater, MN; Jontelle Forbus of Staunton,...