As every breeder has experienced, the process of breeding mares and raising foals has many highs and lows. So when those moments of success arrive, it is important to savor them. Anne Sparks, owner of Horses Unlimited, had 48 hours to remember when four of her young stallions earned prestigious accolades. Homebred Pikko del Cerro HU won the 2009 Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championship-Six-Year-Old. Two days later at the Rheinland Pfalz-Saar International (RPSI) inspection,...

Kirk Webby and Brando Du Rouet (Emily Riden/Phelps Media Group) Littlestown, Pa. - The win in Saturday evening's $25,000 Swan Lake Fall Festival Grand Prix all came down to the wire - and at the wire it all came down to just over a second in time. It was the last pair in the ring, Kirk Webby and Brando Du Rouet, who won the race against the clock to claim the victory in an exciting finish to the highlight event at the Swan Lake Fall Festival. In addition to Webby and Brando Du Rouet, four...

Rotterdam, The Netherlands - The Hermès U.S. Jumping Team produced a two-round total of 27 in Friday’s Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup presented by Longines at CSIO5* Rotterdam to finish in eighth place. Katie Dinan and Nougat du Vallet (Shannon Brinkman) Led by Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland, members of the Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Short List for the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Lucy Davis, Jessica Springsteen, Katie Dinan, and Lauren Hough composed the American...

Frances Land and Vienne (Phelps Media Group, Inc.) Lexington, Ky. - The Chansonette Farm $15,000 Amateur-Owner Jumper class was the first jumper event of the day, where Frances Land of Alpharetta, GA, managed to best a five horse jump-off with Vieanne. Despite adding not one but two strides down the final line, the pair's quick pace and turns to the other obstacles proved uncatchable with a time of 35.428 seconds. The 19-year-old sophomore at Emory University commented, "For the jump-off I...

Francie Steinwedell-Carvin and Lapsus du Lavoir were in competitive company yesterday, but rose to the top of the $33,000 HITS Desert Classic, presented by Pfizer Animal Health. The class introduced the first of the FEI class at HITS Desert Horse Park this season, which continues this weekend with the $54,500 Strongid® C 2X Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health (Flying Horse Photography) Thermal, CA - It was an explosive start to the HITS FEI series at Desert Circuit II, as Francie...

Monsieur du Reverdy and Victoria Colvin. (Shawn McMillen Photography) Upper Marlboro, MD – The $10,000 North American Junior/Amateur-Owner Challenge Cup Final Round highlighted the evening session Saturday at the Capital Challenge Horse Show. Fourteen-year-old Victoria Colvin of Loxahatchee, FL, sped to the win in the jump-off on Monsieur du Reverdy and captured first place, despite finishing the course with no stirrups. That also gave her the overall win for the North American...

Le Mans, France - The U.S. vaulters are off to a solid start at the FEI World Vaulting Championship. The U.S. representatives in the Individual Male and Female divisions started off the competition performing the first round of Compulsories on Thursday. In the Individual Male Championship division, Gabe Aniello (Redwood City, CA) currently sits in 11th place, leading the U.S. male vaulters. Vaulting on Forrest Cump and lunged by Agnes Forst, Aniello scored a 6.928 in his first round...

North Salem, NY - Eighteen-year-old Katie Dinan and Grant Road Partner’s Nougat Du Vallet were the best of a stellar field as they took the win in the $25,000 New York Welcome Stake at the Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Shows taking place at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, NY. Forty-seven entries showed in this afternoon’s welcome stake over a course set by Alan Wade of Tipperary, Ireland. Twelve horse and rider combinations were able to clear the first round course to advance to the...

Jordan MacPherson and Piccobello Du Val De Geer Top $15,000 Artisan Farms Young Riders Grand Prix, Erica Felder Guides Thumbs Up to Pine Hollow Short Stirrup Hunter Championship Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Checkmate 4 gallop to the win (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - A large field came to compete on Sunday in the $32,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic, and it was Olympian Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (GER) on Octavia Farms LLC's Checkmate 4 who came away with the win. Cian...

Shane Sweetnam and Little Emir. ManciniPhotos. Wellington, FL - Irish rider Shane Sweetnam and Spy Coast Farm LLC's Little Emir galloped to victory in the $31,000 G&C Farm 1.45m FEI ranking class on Friday at Equestrian Sport Production's Holiday and Horses event. The pair stopped the clock in 42.90 seconds to edge out Katie Dinan and Grant Road Partner's Nougat Du Vallet, who were the only other combination to make it to the jump-off. Dinan and Nougat Du Vallet finished second...