Lexington, Ky. - Adult amateur riders showing off their Third Level freestyles were first in the Alltech Arena early Sunday morning, but it was the final competitor down centerline who impressed the judges the most on the last day of national championship action at the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, held November 5-8, 2015 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. Julie McCrady won the Third Level Freestyle Adult Amateur Championship with her home-bred Hanoverian mare...

Earlier this week, things weren’t looking good for Catalina Sherwood as she pursued her dream of riding at the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, a unique national head-to-head competition for adult amateur and open riders of all levels being held November 5-8, 2015 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. After a long van ride from Tucson, Ariz., her eight-year-old RPSI mare Razmitaz wasn’t her usual self. “She wasn’t feeling well when she came off the...

Molly Schiltgen and Leisl TF earned their first ribbon today from the 2015 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®. Photo by Susan J. Stickle Under glorious skies and with unseasonably warm temperatures the third edition of the annual US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® got underway Thursday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Riders took advantage of a full day of open competition with Dressage in the Bluegrass classes to prepare for their Championship performances over the...

Cecilia Cox works all year to be able to make her annual trip to the U.S. Dressage Finals by Adequan a reality. (SusanJStickle.com) Lexington, Ky. - Competitors are now arriving on the hallowed grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park for this week’s U.S. Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, and these horses and riders represent a myriad of both physical and personal journeys in traveling from across the country to take part in this unique national head-to-head dressage competition. For...

Three years ago, the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) launched an innovative Developing Driver Program to provide supplemental training opportunities for American combined drivers who demonstrated a commitment to the goal of competing at the USEF/FEI level and who were in pursuit of competitive excellence. The eventual goal was to increase the number of drivers and their horses/ponies competing at high performance levels, therefore developing the drivers that could become be future...

September marks the traditional end of summer but it also rings in the start of the fall championship season as the first round of Great American Insurance Group/United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Regional Championships get underway across the country, with almost 950 competitors preparing to ride down the centerline this weekend in USDF Regions 2 (Michigan), 7 (California), and 8 (New York). While plenty of ribbons and awards will be on the line, many riders have an even bigger goal in...

Intermediaire I Freestyle winners Tracy Roenick & Apassionata. (Terri Miller) San Juan Capistrano, Calif. - Until earlier this season, Tracy Roenick hadn't cantered down centerline in a dressage competition since 2005. But on Saturday she showed no sign of being out of practice as she and her elegant black Oldenburg mare Apassionata (Sir Donnerhall x Amelie by Friedensfuerst) decisively claimed the CDI Intermediaire I Freestyle victory with 72.625% over second-placed Susan Martin and...

Intermediaire I Freestyle winners Sabine Schut-Kery & Sanceo. (Terri Miller) San Juan Capistrano, Calif. - After a fifth-place finish in Friday's hard-fought Prix St. Georges class, Sabine Schut-Kery and Alice Womble-Heightman's bay Hanoverian stallion Sanceo (San Remo x Rivera by Ramiro's Son II) returned to winning form in the Intermediaire I Freestyle on a score of 73.950%. Despite this being the first time Schut-Kery had performed the new freestyle (which was created with...

Steffen Peters & Legolas 92 (Terri Miller) San Juan Capistrano, Calif. - Steffen Peters successfully punched his ticket to return to the site of his 2009 World Cup glory by winning the CDI-W Grand Prix Freestyle with Legolas 92 in an exciting conclusion to California Dreaming Productions' Capistrano Dressage International CDI-W/Y/J/U-25, held March 19 - 22 in San Juan Capistrano, Cal. Peters' new personal-best score of 80.925% aboard Four Winds Farm's Westphalian gelding...

Steffen Peters & Legolas 92 win the Grand Prix at the Capistrano Dressage International CDI (Terri Miller) San Juan Capistrano, Calif. - The world was watching as thousands tuned in to CDP Live's wildly-popular online video streaming service to see two incredibly impressive fields of Grand Prix and Prix St. Georges competitors fight it out for top marks on the first day of competition at California Dreaming Productions' Capistrano Dressage International CDI-W/Y/J/U-25, being held...