Lexington, KY - Richard “Ricky” Neal, co-champion at the 2009 United States Hunter Jumper Association Emerging Athletes Program Finals, was named to the 2011 Show Jumping European Young Rider Tour. Neal, 19, Pasadena, CA, is one of five young riders selected to the squad by the United States Equestrian Federation. They include: • Neal with Transmission, a 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by the rider. • Reed Kessler, 16, Armonk, NY, with Onisha, a 12-year-old,...

Lexington, KY - For the first time in the history of the Western saddle sport of reining, a collection of the world’s best reining athletes slid into the Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, to contest the inaugural five-star reining competition known as the CRI5* - the Ariat Kentucky Reining Cup. When the dirt in the arena settled, it was Shawn Flarida and KR Lil Conquistador who laid down a spectacular pattern to take the title on a score of 226.5 in this the...

Lexington, KY - Eric L. Straus. (Photo courtesy Eric L. Straus) The National Horse Show Association of America Ltd. announced today that Eric L. Straus has been appointed to the Board of Directors to fill out the term held by the late Eugene R. Mische. Straus brings a wealth of talent and experience to the National Horse Show Board of Directors. Straus is a recognized USEF judge, steward and FEI show jumping steward. Recently, at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Straus served as...

Hunt Night Leading Lady Rider Award Winner Jill Wilson and All Aboard (Al Cook Photo) Harrisburg, Penn. - It was a night to remember for Jill Wilson as she swept the competition and claimed blue ribbons in the hunters over fences, under saddle, and team events at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show Hunt Night sponsored by Kinsley Construction. Wilson, of Louisa County, Va., also won the Leading Lady Rider Award for her overall performance aboard Sally Lamb's All Aboard, a 16-year-old...

Folks, the drought is over. With a score of 78.542%, Steffen Peters and Akiko Yamazaki's Ravel rode to the first individual dressage world championships medal for the US in...well, a long time. On a day when a number of horses looked a bit tired from the Grand Prix exertions of the past few days -- exacerbated, perhaps, by a temperature spike that pushed the mercury up around 80 -- some of the top competitors actually seemed more relaxed and able to deliver better performances. Ravel was...

Great Britain dominated the second individual qualifying round at the FEI World Reining Championship presented by John Deere, held Tuesday at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The top qualifying score of 217.5 went to Great Britain’s Lee Rutter riding Setting Off Sparks, while his countryman Doug Allen with Don Julio Whiz had the second highest score of 216.5. Twenty horses had been given this second chance at qualifying for Thursday’s individual finals. Sixteen horse and...

August, September, and October have been very busy months for the Oldenburg Horse Breeders' Society, a division of the Verband der Züchter des Oldenburger Pferdes. After having a successful Elite Foal Auction at the end of August, everyone headed to see many Oldenburg Horses and Weser-Ems Ponies crowned champions at the German Bundeschampionate. Oldenburgs such as the stallion Con Air, who won the six-year-old jumper division, and ponies such as the Weser-Ems stallion, Cyrill WE, who...

Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) has named the following horse/rider combinations to represent the U.S. at the CSIO**** Buenos Aires, November 4-8, 2009. Michelle Grubb will serve as chef d’equipe. The following horse/rider combinations have been named: Name/Age/Hometown Horse/Age/Breed/Sex/Owner Mario Deslauriers/44/New York, NY Vicomte D/11/Belgian Warmblood/G/Jane Clark and Paradigm /15/Belgian/G/Rider Danielle Torano/35/Ft. Lauderdale, FL...

Ailish Cunniffe is crowned Equisport Insurance/USEF Pony Medal Championship Final winner. (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY—By midday Sunday, the Kentucky Horse Park began to look vacant. Ponies were unbraided and cooled, loaded trailers rumbled toward home and the usually lively vendor row was filled with merchants striking their tents and packing their wares. After four days of fierce competition in the Pony Hunters and Jumpers, the whirlwind that is the 2009 USEF Pony Finals...

Maddy Darst (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY—There is a lot that goes into the makings of a champion pony. Just ask Ohio’s Meredith “Maddy” Darst. She would know. And to prove it, two of her mounts—Rock the Boat and Brownland’s Mr. Mac—jumped their way through the over fences phase of the 2009 United States Equestrian Federation Pony Finals National Championships to take the Medium Green Hunter Pony and the Small Green Hunter Pony champion...