Caen, France - The United States closed out the Dressage Team Championship at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games on Friday with exemplary performances by a World Championship rookie and a decorated team veteran in the d'Ornano Stadium. Laura Graves and Steffen Peters produced impressive tests Laura Graves and Verdades (SusanJStickle.com) before the Ground Jury of Stephen Clarke, Elizabeth McMullen, Isabelle Judet, Susan Hoevenaars, Francis Verbeek, Dietrich Plewa, and Liselotte...

Karl Cook and Farrari Del, Mar, Calif. - Kicking off the spotlight classes at Showpark Summer Festival, the $25,000 Markel Insurance Grand Prix welcomed an impressive 51 entries to compete for the top prize. With both green and seasoned horses in the class, course designer Linda Allen built a technical track that asked many questions at the 1.40m height. Featuring 17 efforts in a time allowed of 90 seconds, the intricate track required both speed and endurance from competitors to jump clean...

Kevin McCarthy claiming top honors with Jeffrey Welles (left) and Darren Granziano (Alex Lynch) Halifax, Mass. - Friday was speed day at The Silver Oak Jumper Tournament, but although many were speedy, few were clean in our main event. With an exciting Welcome Stake ending the day yesterday, today's featured class was the 1.30m Cross Insurance Speed Derby. Olaf Peterson Jr.'s unique Speed Derby course design made for an exciting afternoon at Silver Oak. In a field of 29 horse and rider...

Lexington, Ky. - Tori Colvin and Inclusive claimed victory in the Classic Hunter Round of the $180,040 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship. Their scores of 92, 90 and 95 for a 289 total was unmatched after a field of 75 horses contested today's course in the Kentucky Horse Park's Rolex Stadium. Jimmy Torano, the busiest rider with eight mounts in the class, saved the best for last as he guided Mindful to second place with 90, 92 and 94 for 288 total points. Liza Boyd and...

Lexington, Ky . – A week of competition at the 2014 US Pony Finals came to a close Sunday with the most coveted award of the championship. The Marshall & Sterling/US Pony Medal Finals took place in the Alltech Arena with 159 riders vying for top honors in front of judges Karen Healey and Stacia Madden. After riding Finders-Keepers to the Regular Medium Hunter Pony Championship title the day before, Taylor St. Jacques earned a Championship title of her own on Sunday. Taylor St....

U.S. Olympic gold and silver medalist Leslie Howard guided Tic Tac to victory in the $100,000 CSI2* Synoil Energy Services Cup on August 9 at the CSI2* Summer Festival at the Caledon Pan Am Equestrian Park in Palgrave, ON. (Ben Radvanyi Photography) Palgrave, Ontario – U.S. Olympic gold and silver medalist Leslie Howard topped an international starting field to win the $100,000 CSI2* Synoil Energy Services Cup at the CSI2* Summer Festival held August 6 to 10 at the Caledon Pan Am...

The victorious U.S. team. (Samantha Lamb) Hickstead, England - The USA team rode out as the winners of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ of Great Britain, held Friday at the All England Jumping Course, Hickstead. The quartet of McLain Ward (Rothchild), Reed Kessler (Cylana), Margie Goldstein-Engle (Royce) and Beezie Madden (Cortes C) led from the start in Friday's feature class of the Longines Royal International Horse Show. After the first round, they were the only nation to finish on a...

The winning U.S. Team in Hickstead (FEI/ Action Images) Hickstead, United Kingdom - The Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Team produced another impressive performance in Nations Cup competition on Friday. Two weeks after jumping to a second-place finish in the Mercedes-Benz FEI Nations Cup at CSIO5* Aachen, the United States went one better to win the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup of Great Britain presented by Longines at CSIO5* Hickstead. Led by Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland, the team of McLain...

Josephina Nor Lantzman and Chello Z (Captured Moments Photography) Del Mar, Calif. - The competition was fierce in Friday's $25,000 1.40m Markel Insurance Grand Prix at the Showpark Summer Festival. Thirty-nine entries competed for the top prize, with horses and riders ranging from seasoned competitors to greener mounts looking for experience. As the course required universal appeal while retaining grand prix technicality, veteran course designer Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela built a track...

Lucy Davis & Barron Were Double Clear in Thursday's Nations Cup at CSIO5* Aachen (Shannon K. Brinkman Photography) Aachen, Germany. - The four members of Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Team, all of them also on the Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Short List for the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, impressed the capacity crowd attending the Mercedes-Benz FEI Nations Cup at CSIO5* Aachen on Thursday with a hard fought second-place finish. Though they had a few missteps in the...