The second in a series of guest blog posts from Michelle Binder I started formal riding lessons when I was four years old. English riding lessons. The doctors told my mom it would be good for me. It was 1969. The Academy where I learned is now a national historic landmark. By the time I was 6, I was riding with double reins. My introduction to western riding came when my parents purchased a POA stallion for me the summer of my sixth year. That pony could buck my dad off! ‘Nuff said. When...

Allison Springer and Arthur (Photo by Shannon Brinkman) Lexington, KY - Derek di Grazia's 29 obstacle cross country course proved extremely influential Saturday at the 2012 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Bridgestone and caused a tremendous shake-up of the leaderboard. The top of the standings saw an exchange of first and second positions as William Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk now lead the field while dressage leaders Allison Springer and Arthur sit in second. Fox-Pitt...

Wellington, FL - Riders from the United States and several nations competed in the $15,000 Wellington Dressage Classic CDI3*, presented by the Chesapeake Dressage Institute, and National Show held March 15-18 at the Global Dressage Festival (GDF)Stadium show grounds in Wellington, FL. On Thursday, March 15, the first day of the National Show, Anna Marek, of Morriston, FL, rode Voyager to victory in the Intermediare 1- Open class with a score of 68.816%. Marek was also the high score winner of...

Fairfield, CT — St. Andrews University Equestrian Program director and Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) coach, Peggy McElveen, is promising quintessential Southern hospitality when the Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. Horse Complex hosts the 39th Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships, May 3-6, 2012, in Raleigh, NC. Think rocking chairs. Magnolia blossoms. White picket fences. “A Taste of Raleigh” from its finest five-star restaurants. And...

We have landed at the 2011 Pan American Games. Well four of us have. Jim Wolf, the Chef d'Mission, Christy Baxter the world's most organized executive assistant, Doug Hannum, stable manager to the stars, and me, Joanie Morris - I'm the press officer. I hope you don't get tired of hearing from me. I will be (attempting) to use twitter, press releases, the USEF Network so choose your poison and keep up to speed with what the teams are up to. We are getting the lay of the land,...

As Annette Bevelhymer and her son, Kory, walked the grounds of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games on Saturday afternoon, looking for tips that would help Kory with his American Quarter Horse, Korys Miracle Spirit, it truly was a miracle they were even there. Annette shared their story as she stopped by the booth AQHA is sharing with the National Reining Horse Association in the WEG trade show. “When Kory was 5 years old, he had to have a bone marrow transplant down in Cincinnati,...

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...

As a member of the press, I especially enjoy press conferences. Of course, prior to these events I try to think of things that I’d like to ask or have explained in more detail than what is on the surface. Today, the World Equestrian Games Foundation held a press conference during a lunch break of the first day of dressage at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event to bring the press up-to-date on preparations for the big event. One thing I especially enjoy about press conferences is the...

Artesan+++// (Khemosabi++++// x Obsession JD), a nine-year-old purebred Arabian gelding owned by Susie McArthur of Kentfield, CA, ranked as the top horse among a field of more than 3,000 Arabians, Half-Arabians and Anglo-Arabians to become the 2006 Arabian Horse Association (AHA) High Point Horse. To reach this pinnacle, the gelding had to accumulate the highest number of points in the Horse Achievement Awards program during 2006. He racked up 457.5 points in his year of competing in dressage,...

Gladstone, NJ – Three was the magic number today at the USET Foundation Dressage Festival of Champions. Rebecca Hart won the USEF National Para-Equestrian Championship after she pulled off a hat-trick, winning all three classes three days in a row. Then, in the USEF Grand Prix Special, it was déjà vu with the top three riders in the same placings as Thursday, when they performed their Grand Prix. The third class that makes up the 2006 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National...