In recognition of the current economic climate, promoters of all the major winter circuits are examining ways to help exhibitors minimize ancillary expenses in an effort to maximize their opportunities to show and enjoy their winter circuit experiences. While United States Equestrian Federation rules do not mandate braiding, the winter circuit managers from Gulfport, HITS, Jacksonville and the Winter Equestrian Festival have decided to go on record advising all judges that exhibitors who opt...

Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Executive Committee approved the specifications for the Eventing Watch List on November 17, 2008. Born out of discussions at the USEF/USEA Safety Summit in June, the goal of the Watch List is to notify riders at USEF licensed and USEF endorsed Eventing competitions that their riding is potentially dangerous. The Watch List is a list of horse/rider combinations that could be regarded as displaying a pattern of potentially dangerous...

The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) would like to extend thanks and gratitude to the Eventing Selectors who have served the US Eventing program from 2005-2009. Chairman Peter Green, Bea DiGrazia, Ann Getchell, Ann Taylor, and Mark Weissbecker have selected three championship teams. They chose the horse/rider combinations that made up the fourth placed team and earned an individual bronze at the 2006 World Equestrian Games. The following year they selected the team that went to Rio de...

The American Saddlebred Registry (ASR) Sweepstakes total payout of over $210,000 in 2008 tops the 15-year high of $199,424 in 2007 and is the most prize money awarded in one year since the Sweepstakes’ all-time high set in 1992. Coupled with its futurities, American Saddlebred Registry prize programs distributed close to half-a-million dollars ($473,744) over the course of approximately three weeks during the Kentucky State Fair (August 17-23) in Louisville and the All American Horse Classic...

Mark your calendars for the Challenge of the Americas and the Challenge Gala dinner dance, which will be held on Saturday night, March 7, 2009, at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, FL. This spectacular equestrian evening event returns for its eighth consecutive year as an annual fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The Challenge, a one-of-a-kind team competition, highlights the Olympic sports of grand prix dressage and grand prix show jumping. Competing...

On November 13-16, 2008, the American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA) will sponsor a breed booth at the East Coast Equine Affaire event, being held at the Eastern States Exposition Center in West Springfield, MA. Equine Affaire, the nation's premiere national equine exposition and equestrian gathering, organizes four days of clinics, seminars, demonstrations and exhibits, with an expected attendance of tens of thousands of horse people. "The ASHA booth will feature the versatility of the...

It was an exciting weekend for Hasbrouck Donovan as she and her horse Levity bested 40 of the region's top competitors to capture the ASPCA Maclay Regional Championship for Region 3 (the Southeast), held during the final weekend of the 2008 North Florida Hunter Jumper Association's Labor Day Horse Show. This marks the second year the prestigious Region 3 Championship was held at the Agricultural Center in Green Cove Springs, FL. "He's awesome! I just love him," said Donovan of her mount Levity,...

The record books for the sport of reining have seen several additions this year, including the most recent change moving Topsail Whiz to the top of the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) All-Time Leading Sire standings, the creation of the first-ever International Equestrian Federation (FEI) World Reining Championships and the first-ever consecutive champions of the NRHA Open Futurity, National Reining Breeders Classic (NRBC) and NRHA Derby with Arcese Quarter Horses USA’s Wimpys Little...

Statement by David O’Connor: Recent injuries and the media coverage of those injuries and our sport give us all reason to pause and reflect on the evolution and safety of equestrian sport and in particular Eventing. Many of us have devoted our professional lives to the joy of partnering with the horse and skillfully riding a course. Underlying the fun and excitement of the sport, for that matter any sport, is reasonable risk with the assumption of reasonable safety. In fact, our sport is...

In what promises to be a new highlight of the Fidelity Investments Jumper Classic, to be held for the first time at Silver Oak Equestrian Center in Hampton Falls, NH, a Derby class, sponsored by Mohegan Sun, will offer competitors $15,000 in prize money. The Mohegan Sun Derby will challenge show jumpers with a unique course of 14-16 obstacles, some of which are natural jumps that may include a bank, ditch, water jump, liverpool, hedge or a grob. The Derby will be held on Saturday, September 6,...