Steffen Peters (shown here on Rosamunde) will be one of the West Coast Grand Prix Riders competing this weekend at California Dreamming Production's LA Winter Dressage CDI-W. (Jennifer M. Keeler) Burbank, Calif. – With the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro fast approaching, the West Coast's top dressage prospects are getting a head start on qualifying for the U.S. Team during this week’s Los Angeles Winter Dressage CDI-W/Y/J/U-25, being held January 28-31 in Burbank, Calif....

Olympic fever is building as some of the nation’s top dressage riders and horses begin their quests to earn a spot on the U.S. Dressage Team for this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In response to this excitement as well as overwhelming demand from exhibitors and enthusiasts at all levels of the sport for more opportunities to compete at showcase dressage events on the West Coast, the renowned organizing team of California Dreaming Productions has announced dates...

Wellington, Fla. - Mark your calendars! Reserve the date! The United States Equestrian Team Foundation presents the party of the season, Rockin Rio, an Olympic and Paralympic Games benefit event on Friday, January 22, 2016 in Wellington, FL. Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen, honorary chairpersons for the benefit, will make sure it is a fun night, and a generous evening as well. This all supports the USET Foundation's effort to raise much needed funding to further support the United...

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...

Most competitors dread having to be the first rider to enter the arena in any class, let alone the first rider down the centerline on Day One of national championship competition First in the ring, Rachael Hicks & Fabio Bellini set the standard for the rest of the class and won the Intermediate I Adult Amateur Championship. Photo by Susan J. Stickle at the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, a unique national head-to-head competition being for exhibitors of all levels held...

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...