Photo by Robbi Meisel (Wilhelm Genn and Chantal) Lebanon, OH-based Wilhelm Genn had a stellar second week at the 2010 Gulf Coast Winter Classics with victories in both Thursday’s $5,000 Welcome Open Jumper Stake aboard Happy Z and Sunday’s $25,000 Gulf Coast Grand Prix with Laura Ryan-Barnaclo’s Chantal. Deciding the path this week’s jumpers would take was one of the sport’s most revered course designers, Michel Vaillancourt, who began testing their limits on Thursday with a curvy 15-effort...

Photo by ESI Photography (Laura Pfeiffer on Thorstin on course in the $10,000 U-Dump Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper High Classic) HITS Post Time Farm wrapped up a strong week of AA-rated show jumping this past Sunday, February 14, as the show grounds were buzzing with action for the opening week of the season. The big news for the rated circuit is that HITS Ocala will host a total of 12 qualifiers for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix that will take place on September 12 in Saugerties, NY. The...

Waiting to Jump (Shannon Brinkman/USEF) Lexington, KY – Thirty-three of the country’s best riders are going to line-up for a nod to represent the United States at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The Road to Lexington will run through the Winter Equestrian Festival when the USEF Selection Trials for Show Jumping grace the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Club. Five trials over 11 days means an action-packed time in Wellington, FL – further highlighted...

Photo Courtesy Highlife Farm (Highlife's Burberry) Highlife’s Burberry, a Weser-Ems pony stallion bred by Highlife Farms, has made history as the first U.S.-bred Weser-Ems pony to be licensed as a breeding pony. Burberry’s sire is Highlife’s Bodyguard, a Weser-Ems German Riding Pony that stands at Highlife Farms, home to world-class sport horses and one of the country’s most prominent breeding farms. “It is really exciting to have bred a pony that turns out to achieve a ‘first ever’ title,”...

Photo Courtesy Rolling Stone Farm (Shakespeare RSF ) The 2004 dark brown Hanoverian stallion Shakespeare RSF by Sandro Hit, out of EM Acapella, by Arrian, was named Champion of his 70-Day Stallion Performance Test held October 4-December 12, 2009, at Silver Creek Farms in Broken Arrow, OK. Shakespeare is owned and bred by Maurine (Mo) and Jim Swanson of Rolling Stone Farm in Slatington, PA. Shakespeare achieved Class I status with a score of 130.53 points overall (this score reflects a 5%...

Photo by Phelps Media Group (Olympian Nona Garson, pictured with Steve Williams and Janet Rizzo, hosted a very successful 7th Annual InterContinental Sport Horse Auction. ) The Seventh Annual InterContinental Sport Horse Auction was held on Sunday, February 14, 2010, and received rave reviews from its crowd of over 300 bidders during the hugely successful evening. Olympian Nona Garson hosted the event at The Ridge Farm in Wellington, FL, where horsemen of all disciplines gathered to bid on the...

Photo by Randi Muster (Pablo Barrios and Simply The Best) Pablo Barrios of Venezuala was able to score two wins on Wednesday, February 17, at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in the Young Jumper Championship (YJC) classes in two age divisions. When up on Simply The Best, owned by Joaquina Barrios, he was victorious in the $1,000 YJC Five-Year-Old Time First Round. Asta Torokvei of Toronto, ON, Canada, and Chabadue, owned by Westhaven Farm, led the way in the $1,500 YJC Six-Year-Old Time...

Photo Courtesy Iron Spring Farm (UB40) Two of Iron Spring Farm's flagship stallions, Meinse 439 and UB40, began the 2010 show season with big wins. Meinse 439 claimed the Second Level Reserve Championship and High Score Non-Warmblood at Ocala Winter Dressage. The six-year-old KFPS stallion followed that up with wins in both of his Second Level classes at American Dressage Concours with scores to 70.714%. UB40 also impressed. The nine-year-old KWPN stallion won all of his classes, receiving...

Daniel Kaiser, Top Ranked German Vaulter Working with US Vaulter Eric Garcia (Primo Ponies Photography) Dressage: Horses and riders with the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and the 2011 Pan American Games on the brain got busy in Florida over the weekend training with 2009 FEI World Cup Champion Steffen Peters and US Technical Advisor Anne Gribbons. Peters helped the riders before they rode a test in front of Gribbons. Gribbons is also an ‘O’ judge with one of the keenest eyes in the...

McLain Ward and Sapphire at the Rolex/FEI World Cup Final (Shannon Brinkman/USEF) Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Ad Hoc Committee on Selection has approved naming the horse/rider combination of Sapphire/McLain Ward to the Show Jumping Long List for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Lexington, KY, September 25 – October 10, 2010. Per the USEF Selection Procedure for the Show Jumping Team, the Selectors have the discretion to recommend up to six...