Photo by Lauren Fisher/PMG (Mary Ann Grant and Tamaro will perform in the brand new figure skating and dressage exhibition at the 2010 Challenge of the Americas. ) The Ninth Annual Challenge of the Americas is excited to announce a very unique new dressage and figure skating performance to the Challenge lineup. Held in Wellington, FL, on Saturday, March 13, 2010, the evening will get under way at 5:30 p.m. with musical grand prix team quadrilles, four-bar jumping and a figure skating dressage...

Photo Courtesy Louise Burton (Am I Blue +/ and Louise Burton) The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) announced Am I Blue+/ (Red Wings Royalty x Petrovna), owned by Louise and Bruce Burton of Okmulgee, OK, as the 2009 Distance Horse of the Year. The notable award recognizes an Arabian or Half-Arabian with significant accomplishments in distance riding sports. Am I Blue, known as “Ducky,” topped off an excellent year with a championship at the AHA National Championship 100-Mile Endurance Ride in the...

Kent Farrington and George Morris talk shop (Shannon Brinkman/USEF) Wellington, FL – Four horse/rider combinations have been named by the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) to jump at the $75,000 FEI Nations Cup presented by CN on Friday, March 5. The following horse/rider combinations have been named: Ashlee Bond/24/Hidden Hills, CA/Apache/10/Selle FrancaisxTB/Little Valley Farm Kent Farrington/29/Chicago, IL/United/9/Dutch Warmblood/G/RCG Farm Lauren Hough/32/Wellington,...

Laura Kraut and Cedric (Randi Muster/Mustphoto.com ) Wellington, FL - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Ad Hoc Committee on Selection has approved naming the horse/rider combinations of Lauren Hough/Quick Study and Laura Kraut/Cedric to the Show Jumping Long List for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games to be held in Lexington, KY, September 25-October 10, 2010. As per the USEF Selection Procedure for the Show Jumping Team, the Selectors have the discretion to recommend up...

Lauren Hough and Quick Study (Randi Muster/Mustphoto.com ) Wellington, FL, – The second USEF Selection Trial for the US Show Jumping Team for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games got underway as part of the $75,000 Fidelity Investments Grand Prix. Thirteen horse/rider combinations came into the second Trial tied atop the rankings on a score of zero. After there were only two. Two of the stalwarts of the US show jumping circuit cruised to polished efforts. Lauren Hough and Laura Kraut,...

Todd Mikikus and Pavarotti (Randi Muster/Mustphoto.com ) Wellington, FL – Forty-four of the nation’s best horse/rider combinations lined up for the first of five USEF Selection Trials for US Show Jumping Team for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The jumping got underway on Thursday evening in low temperatures – at least by Florida standards. But the jumping standard was high and out of the 44 starters - 13 jumped clear over Guilherme Jorge’s track. In the Selection Trials which are...

Photo by Sue Stickle (Arlene "Tuny" Page and Wild One won the Grand Prix Musical Freestyle during the 2009 Palm Beach Dressage Derby.) The best dressage riders in the world will soon descend on Loxahatchee, FL, all with the goal of becoming a winner at one of the country’s most prestigious dressage competitions—the 27th Annual Palm Beach Dressage Derby. This year’s Palm Beach Dressage Derby, March 4-7, has an added bonus for attracting top riders as it is a qualifier for the Selection...

Photo by Don Stine (One More Round++// with Alexis Doughty riding, shown with trainer Ben Flynn and Bill Doughty.) One More Round++// (Al Jassur Laddin x Winifred), owned by Bill and Alexis Doughty of Cape Charles, VA, was named the 2009 Arabian Horse Association (AHA) High Point Horse of the Year. The 2004 bay gelding earned 467 points in 2009 by competing in over 200 classes at 20 shows. The rigorous show schedule, which was carefully balanced with rest time, began in January and ended in...

Photo Courtesy AHA/Conley Driediger (Conley Driediger with gelding, Winning Afire+//.) Alexis Starer Doughty of Cape Charles, VA, and Conley Driediger of Yarrow, BC, Canada, were named the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) Adult and Youth Amateurs of 2009, respectively. Doughty earned an impressive 646 points at 22 AHA-recognized shows in 2009, while Driediger earned a whopping 485.5 points from 17 shows. The AHA Amateur Achievement Award program began in 2002 and tracks the points of individual...

Photo by Diana DeRosa (Liza Boyd and Brunello) "He is my Olympic hunter," commented Liza Boyd after she nailed her third victory in the 14th Annual American Hunter-Jumper Foundation (AHJF) Hunter Classic Spectacular in Wellington FL, aboard her seasoned mount, Brunello. She won the very first one riding Monday Morning in 1997 and then in 2008 tasted victory again on Fiyero. Now just 3½ months after the birth of her first child (Ellen) it was important to prove she still had what it takes. Yet,...