Lexington, Ky. - Perhaps no competitor had more fun with her performance than the Second Level Open Freestyle Champion Morgan Barrows (Monroe, Wash., Region 6) riding Janice Davis' Oldenburg gelding San Corazon. Their Billy Idol-themed freestyle was rewarded with a top score of 74.678%. "I had a blast! I want to go out there again," said Barrows, who has been partnered with her mount for less than a year. "I originally saw him at a friend's farm in Sweden when he was three. Later when...

Lexington, Ky. - Starting off the day were competitors showing off their Second Level Freestyles, and in the Adult Amateur division, crowd favorite and hometown girl Cariann Wlosinski (Lexington, Ky., Region 2) earned the unanimous win with 70.567%. A full-time middle school teacher who "teaches by day and rides by night," Wlosinski attended the inaugural Finals last November and was "determined to try to get back here this year." She danced to a Beatles medley aboard her own Oldenburg mare...

Lexington, Ky. - Region 2's Jacqueline Beasley may have only had a 15-minute drive from her home in Lexington to the Finals, but her journey to winning Friday's Intermediate I Adult Amateur Championship has been much longer. She purchased her now 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding Winston (by Worldly) as a three-year-old in Germany and together the pair has risen through the levels, culminating in today's winning ride with a score of 67.632%. "I never thought we'd come so far," said...

Lexington, Ky. - Mette Rosencrantz of Topanga, Cal. was grinning from ear to ear as she accepted congratulations for becoming the first Finals champion crowned in 2014. Her long journey all the way from the West Coast ultimately proved worthwhile as she guided Anne Solbraekke's elegant black Hanoverian gelding De Noir 3 (De Niro x Maharani by Matcho) to a resounding victory in the Open Intermediate I Championship, earning the unanimous win under all three judges for a total score of 72.632%....

Lexington, Ky. - Patti Blackmore (Louisiana, Mo., Region 4) placed third at last year's Finals in the First Level Adult Amateur division, and this year she improved upon that performance to claim the Second Level Adult Amateur Championship aboard her own Hanoverian gelding Rubico (by Rotspon). As the only combination to break seventy percent, they earned a decisive win with a total score of 71.905%. "I breathed a sigh of relief after our counter canter portion of the test," laughed...

Lexington, Ky. - Exciting head-to-head dressage competition got underway on Thursday at the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® in Lexington, KY, November 6 - 9, 2014. Nearly four hundred Adult Amateur and Open riders from Training Level to Grand Prix have come to the Kentucky Horse Park in their quests for national championship honors, and many of them made their final preparations today by competing in one of the multitude of open and warm-up USDF Dressage in the Bluegrass classes....

Lexington, Ky. - Sunny skies, rolling green fields, and the iconic four-board fences of the Kentucky Horse Park welcome the droves of horse vans arriving in Lexington, Ky. for this week's US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, a unique national head-to-head competition showcasing riders and horses competing for top honors at all dressage levels from Training to Grand Prix as well as musical freestyles. This year's competitor roster includes over 400 entries for the US Dressage...

Devon, Pa. - The rides on Sunday at Dressage at Devon, were of top quality, and featured the Young Rider Freestyle, the Grand Prix Freestyle (ages 16-25), the fantastic Grand Prix Special, and the Intermediaire 1 Freestyle. Allison Brock and Rosevelt, a black stallion owned by Claudine and Fritz Kundrum, won the FEI Grand Prix Special. It was Alison’s second trip to Devon, but the first time she rode in the Grand Prix. She was thrilled that Rosevelt handled Devon’s charged...

Jan Ebeling and Santo Domingo (Jennifer M. Keeler) Burbank, Calif. - After four days, six rings, and nearly 1500 rides scheduled to come down centerline, final championship titles were awarded Sunday and the competition officially entered the record books as the largest edition in the 47-year history of the Annual California Dressage Society (CDS) Championship Show, held in conjunction with the Great American Insurance Group/USDF Region 7 Dressage Championships, September 25 - 28, 2014 in...

Kelly Casey rode Golden State NRW win the Great American Insurance Group/USDF Region 7 First Level Freestyle Championship on the first day of the 2014 CDS Championship Show (Jennifer M. Keeler) "Every time I come out to the West Coast, I am amazed at the quality of dressage horses and riders out here," said FEI 4* judge Sarah Geikie of Connecticut on the first day of the 47th Annual California Dressage Society (CDS) Championship Show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, Cal.,...