Team Gold medalists—Zone 8—from the Team Jumper competition. (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY —Last night the joint was, as they say, jumpin’. Day three of the five-day USEF Pony Finals National Championships kicked off this morning with Phase I for the Regular Pony Hunters (model and under saddle), moved on to the Small Pony over fences class, and segued by sunset into the rousing 2009 USEF National Pony Jumper Team Championship. This year’s Small Pony Hunter title...

Fans of dressage were on point and the stakes were high as the Young Riders returned to perform a battle royale in the USDF/Platinum Performance NAJYRC Dressage Individual Championships. After battling the rain in the Team competition, the riders now had to deal with the heat as they prepared their horses for the next step in their journey at the 2009 Adequan FEI North American Junior & Young Riders Championships (NAJYRC) presented by Gotham North. After receiving a 66.474% from the judges...

Gladstone, NJ – The first leg of the 2009 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Grand Prix Dressage Championship, which was rescheduled to Friday morning after Thursday’s deluge, showcased some of the top horse/rider combinations in the US. But it wasn’t until the final ride of the class that anyone could break 70%. Veteran Olympic rider Leslie Morse and her classy 15-year-old stallion, Tip Top 962, put in a very focused and expressive effort to take a commanding lead with a...

Hong Kong, China – A collective sigh could be felt in the Sha Tin venue as the final day of competition at the 2008 Paralympic Games got underway this morning. For everyone who has put so much time, money and work into the last six weeks – all that remained was 15 hours. The British made the best of those hours, winning 10 medals. The competition kicked off with the Grade III riders performing their Individual Freestyle tests. Barbara Grassmyer was the first US rider in the ring...

Burbank, CA - The first of the two Platinum Performance USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals provided top-class competition despite a nasty battle with Mother Nature which resulted in lots of cancelled classes and some creative competition management by the Los Angeles International Horse Show. Held in Griffith Park, the horse show was abbreviated by a powerful storm on Friday night which knocked out power to the show grounds and over 25,000 homes in the surrounding area. This warranted the...

Washington, D.C. – The nation’s top junior and pony riders will face off in a challenging battle of horsemanship skills in the 2006 Washington International Horse Show Equitation Classic and WIHS Pony Equitation Classic, at the Washington International Horse Show, to be held October 24-29, 2006, at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington, D.C. The Washington International Equitation Classic is sponsored by Tad Coffin Performance Saddles. Tad Coffin said that this class and his saddles are the...

Aaron Ralston (left) and Tim McQuay (right) were awarded the Bronze and Silver Individual reining medals at the 2006 WEG. Canada's Duane Latimer took the Gold. (Bob Langrish ) (Aachen, Germany) —It ended like it began, with wind and rain. But, it was a wet, windy and wonderful finale to an amazing two weeks of equestrian sport at the 2006 Aachen World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. By all accounts, it has turned out to be the biggest and most impressive equestrian competition in...

The final roster of entries for the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) reining competition is in. There will be 16 teams with an additional six countries represented by at least one rider. Teams include Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden and the U.S.A. There will be one or two riders representing the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Norway, Poland and South Africa. Reining...

Bob Langrish (Steffen Peters aboard Floriano finished in fourth place in the grand prix special during Friday's dressage competition in Aachen.) (Aachen, Germany)—To say it was tough competition today in the dressage grand prix special at the 2006 World Equestrian Games (WEG) would be a gross understatement. But two Americans made it look like a walk in the park. American’s Guenter Seidel and Steffen Peters, who are now both poised to enter a showdown among the top 15 dressage...

When the dust settled after the record-breaking NRHA Derby Finals on May 20, 2006, in Oklahoma City, OK, one more milestone was added to the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) record books. Topsail Whiz became the second stallion to achieve the NRHA Four Million Dollar Sire distinction. Owned by Bob Loomis Quarter Horses, Inc., of Marietta, OK, Topsail Whiz first became an NRHA Million Dollar Sire in 2001. In 2003, he earned Two Million Dollar Sire status and was inducted into the NRHA...