PhelpsPhotos.com/USEF Archives (On the first day of the USEF Pony Finals National Championships, 14-year-old Amber Henter, of St. Petersburg, FL, was in first place in the medium green pony division with a score of 250.) Lexington, KY – Excited children were all abuzz today at the Kentucky Horse Park with their favorite ponies by their sides, all hoping for an experience at this year’s Pony Finals that they will remember for a lifetime. This is the first year that Pony Finals is observing a...

PhelpsPhotos.com (Gold medal Dressage Team Champions from the NAJYRC.) Lexington, VA - Gold medals in dressage, eventing and show jumping were awarded to highlight a successful conclusion of the 2006 CN North American Junior and Young Riders’ Championships (NAJYRC) at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, VA. The NAJYRC is the premier equestrian competition in North America for juniors and young riders. Young equestrians come from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the...

Lili Weik (Addison Phillips won the Hunterdon Cup at HITS Saugerties.) Addison Phillips of New York, NY, won the inaugural United States Hunter Jumper Association's (USHJA) Hunterdon Cup Equitation Class presented by World Equestrian Brands on Tuesday, July 25, 2006. Phillips, trained by Andre Dignelli, owner of Heritage Farm, rode to victory aboard her 11-year-old bay Warmblood gelding, Icon. Competing against 25 other riders and navigating her way through three rounds, with the last round...

Courtesy Susie Bors (The F.A.M.E. Team shows their stuff to other international vaulters in Germany.) Lexington, KY – The U.S. Vaulting Team that will travel to Aachen in a few weeks for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games secured a more than impressive win in Munich, Germany, last weekend, beating out the European competition, to the surprise of many. In an arena where one could have heard a pin drop when the crowd went silent for the Americans, F.A.M.E. became the first U.S. vaulting team to...

Kim Severson and Winsome Adante (A.K. Dragoo Photography, LLC) Allentown, NJ – On a day when most people would do anything to remain indoors in the air conditioning, 11 of the United States’ top eventing horse-and-rider combinations were at the Horse Park of New Jersey in 100+ degree weather performing all three phases of the mandatory short list outing for their spot on the team that will head to Aachen, Germany, for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games. Amy Tryon and Poggio II were...

Garrison Latimer (Brooke Jacobs) Lexington, KY – Six was the magic number for Brooke Jacobs of Georgetown, KY. Jacobs has entered the USEF Saddle Seat Adult Amateur Medal Final every year since its inception in 2001, and this year she took home the Gold medal with a unanimous vote from the judges. Her mount was Callaway’s Show Me When, an 11-year-old American Saddlebred gelding owned by Werk Way Stables. The championship was especially sweet for Jacobs who was on home turf and had a large...

David Stephenson/Lexington Herald-Leader (Belle Owen and Show Biz Time waited to take to the show ring in the three-gaited junior exhibitor 14 and under class during the first night of the 70th Annual Lexington Junior League Horse Show.) The Junior League of Lexington is celebrating it's 70th annual Lexington Junior League Horse Show, which runs July 10-15, 2006, at the Red Mile Race Track in Lexington, KY. The Lexington Junior League Horse Show is the first leg of the American Saddlebred...

The new U.S. Equestrian Team logo found on Ariat apparel. Lexington, KY – Ariat International, the leading equestrian footwear and apparel manufacturer has created a collection of high-performance athletic gear for our nation’s top equestrian athletes that debuted last weekend at the 2006 Adequan®/USEF Open Reining Championship. Members of the newly-announced U.S. Reining Team sponsored by Adequan® were able to try on the gear and be the first team to do so. Through the newly-signed...

Matt Mills and Easy Otie Whiz (Waltenberry) Lexington, KY – It was a night of upsets at the Kentucky Horse Park during the 2006 Adequan®/United States Equestrian Federation® Open Reining Championship, which was also the selection trial for the U.S Reining Team for this summer’s World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. Twenty-seven of the finest reiners our nation has to offer competed in what many believed was one of the most competitive reining competitions ever held. The...

Ian Barnard and Got It Dun (Waltenberry) Lexington, KY – It was a good day to be a first timer at the 2006 United States Equestrian Federation® Youth Reining Championship. The winners in all three divisions were first-timers to the Championship. Taking the title in the 13 and under division was McKenzie Lantz, 13, from Fremont, MI with a score of 213.5. The blue ribbon winner in the 14-18 division was Ian Barnard, 17, of Kendallville, IN with the high score of 221. The gold medal...