Wellington, Fla. - The United States is poised for a successful week at the Winter Equestrian Festival’s $150,000 FEI Nations Cup. CSIO4* Wellington will host the prestigious competition Friday evening with seven teams vying for the spot atop the podium. The Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Team of Georgina Bloomberg, Audrey Coulter, Laura Kraut, and Beezie Madden have drawn second in the order. “We have a similarly strong team to our [winning] Ocala Nations Cup team," said Chef...

Ocala, Fla. – A dominant team of veterans will represent the United States this week at the country’s only qualifier for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final in September in Barcelona, Spain. CSIO4* Ocala will host eight teams in the prestigious Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup presented by Edge Brewing Barcelona on Friday. The Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Team of Lauren Hough, Beezie Madden, Todd Minikus, and McLain Ward have drawn fifth in the order and will look to earn...

Michael Hughes won the 2014 Sam Edelman Equitation Championship Bridgehampton, N.Y. - The Hampton Classic Horse Show will host the $10,000 Sam Edelman Equitation Championship in the Classic's famed Grand Prix Ring on Saturday, August 29. In recent years, the Championship was held on Thursday, and this year's move to Saturday will put the nation's leading equitation riders on center stage in front of a large weekend crowd. "The Sam Edelman Equitation Championship has always been a...

Stuttgart, Germany - At the Stuttgart German Masters CSI5*-W Friday young female American riders continued to show why they are a force to be reckoned with now, and will be for a while. Reed Kessler (Lexington, Ky.) won the 1.45m speed class, Prize of Raumpflege, with her own Soraya de l'Obstination, Lucy Davis (Los Angeles, Calif.) took second with Old Oak Farm's Hannah, and Alexa Pessoa (Wellington, Fla.) finished fourth with Rodrigo Pessoa's Levade. Kessler was second in the...

Thermal, CA - The crowd had plenty to cheer about as Canadian rider John Pearce and his majestic grey mount Chianto sped to victory in the $30,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis, on Sunday. With 10 making it into the jump-off from a field of 55 starters, there was no question that the final round would provide a fast and furious finish to HITS Desert Circuit IV. And it did. Pearce’s jump-off time of 39.56 seconds was less than a half-second faster than Germany’s Meredith...

Madison Goetzmann and Sirius Black . (Al Cook) Madison Goetzmann, of Skaneateles, NY, piloted Sirius Black, owned by Christina Gellos, to victory in the $10,000 North American League Children's Hunter Finals at the 67th Annual Pennsylvania National Horse Show on Monday. Lily Blavin of Scottsdale, AZ, and Pringle were the Reserve Champions. The competition was fierce. Goetzmann was worried about Blavin, who came to the NAL Finals as the year-end division leader. "I was thinking ever before...

Verden, Germany - Two promising U.S. young dressage horses went toe-to-toe with their European counter-parts today in the Prize of Mrs. Madeleine Winter—Schulze at the FEI World Dressage Championships for Young Horses in Verden, Germany. Competing in the six-year-old championships, Florentinus V and Sanceo produced admirable work on Friday but were unable to crack the top 12 in order to automatically move onto Sunday’s final. However, both horses will get a second chance to earn a...

Lexington, KY - Point standings for qualifying in Pleasure, Park, and Park Pleasure at the 2011 Kentucky State Fair World’s Championship Horse Show (WCHS) are now posted on the American Saddlebred Horse Association’s (ASHA) website, https://www.asha.net/WCHS-Results . There are two sets of qualifying lists: 1) "Pre-Qualified," means that the horses’ competition records indicate they have met the minimum qualification requirement of having competed in at least six classes at...

Temecula, CA — A total of 57 horses passed the horse inspection at the Galway Downs International Horse Trials this afternoon. The ground jury accepted all 14 of the CIC3* horses presented to them without a second look. All 14 of the CC2* horses who were presented today will also start in dressage tomorrow. This afternoon also featured the presentation of 19 of the 20 horses offered for sale in the third annual Elite Event Horse Auction. The horses range from just-started Thoroughbreds and...

Michael Hughes and Norton. (ESI Photography©.) Ocala, FL -This past Saturday, highly-acclaimed Junior rider Michael Hughes of Morriston, Florida captured the win in the R.W. Mutch Equitation Championship aboard Norton, owned by Drumnacross Farm, LTD. Hughes sealed the victory after a two-round score of 354. “It was a good class,” said Hughes, who has built a remarkable career in the Junior and Equitation divisions at 15 years old. “I thought the courses in both rounds were difficult, and it...