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 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...

Kathleen Raine & Breanna win the Grand Prix Special at the Mid-Winter Dressage CDI. (Terri Miller) Burbank, Calif. - Another full schedule of intense dressage competition across three arenas marked the second day of California Dreaming Productions' Mid-Winter Dressage CDI-W/Y/J/U-25, being held February 20 - 22 in Burbank, Cal. Highlighting the day's CDI action in the Equidome were victories by hometown favorites Kathleen Raine aboard Breanna in the Grand Prix Special as well as...

Steffen Peters & Legolas 92 on their way to a personal best Grand Prix score. (Terri Miller) Burbank, Calif. - The West Coast 2015 CDI season got off to a hotly-contested start on Friday as top riders and horses from the U.S. and Canada sought valuable qualifying scores for this year's Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final and the Pan American Games at California Dreaming Productions' Mid-Winter Dressage CDI-W/Y/J/U-25, being held February 20 - 22 in Burbank, Cal. Despite the tough...

Coming on the heels of a wildly-successful inaugural season in 2014, California Dreaming Productions has now announced its 2015 CDI schedule, which includes the renewal of three international dressage competitions. The Mid-Winter Dressage Fair CDI-W/Y/J/U-25 will be held February 20 - 22 in Burbank, as well as back-to-back shows in San Juan Capistrano with the Capistrano Dressage International CDI-W/Y/J/U-25 on March 20 - 22 and the Festival of the Horse CDI 3*/Y/J/U-25, March 26 - 28. For the...

Lexington, Ky. - Intense head-to-head dressage competition across 30 championship divisions concluded on Sunday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington for the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®. Surrounded by friends and family, emotions ran high for competitors as they rode their way into history and celebrated their success with joyous victory laps before packing for their long journeys back to homes across the country. The appropriately-named Dutch Warmblood Eye Candy (Weltmeyer x...

Lexington, Ky. - Kentucky women seemed to claim home field advantage as they swept the top spots in the Satuday evening's Intermediate I Open Freestyle Championship. Angela Jackson earned her second national title of the day, this time aboard Kerrin Dunn's lovely Dutch Warmblood Allure S. Even though the mare wasn't feeling quite like her normal self on Thursday, when she entered the arena as the first combination down centerline for the class, "she rebounded and put her game face...

Lexington, Ky. - One of the highlights of the day Saturday was the presentation of the new Calaveras County Perpetual Trophy (by artist Olva Stewart Pharo) to the very first US Dressage Finals Grand Prix Freestyle Adult Amateur Champion, Janne Rumbough of Palm Beach, Fla. (Region 3). The crowd went wild and clapped to the beat of Rumbough's Mary Poppins-themed music as her gray PRE gelding Junior (by Gaucho III x La Nina by Brioso VI) seemed to relish the electric atmosphere of Alltech...