Rough Beginnings So, my road to the NAJYRC is off to quite the bumpy start! First, let me introduce myself before I tell you about all of my drama. My name is Catherine Chamberlain; I am a sixteen year old living and training in Arizona. I have been riding dressage for the last seven years and it’s my goal to become a trainer and represent the U.S. at the Olympics and World Equestrian Games someday. My partner and friend for the past four years is Verdicci, a.k.a. Chance, a nine year old...

Andrea Leatherman and Mensa on their way to winning the 2011 Jersey Fresh CCI3* in Allentown, NJ (StockImageServices.com photo). Allentown, NJ - After a nail-biting finale, Andrea Leatherman and Mensa kept all the rails up to retain their overnight lead to capture the win in the Jersey Fresh CCI3* in Allentown, NJ. Nina Ligon/Fernhill Fearless took second while Doug Payne/Running Order rounded out the top three; the top three riders added just a handful of time penalties to their scores. In the...

Kent Farrington and Uceko. (V.Valenti/James Leslie Parker. ) Tampa, FL - Kent Farrington piloted the gray warmblood Uceko to two clear rounds to win Saturday's $200,000 Gene Mische American Invitational, presented by G & C Farm, in Tampa, Florida. This was the 39th year for the Invitational, which was held at Tampa's famed Raymond James Stadium. It is the first that was held after the death of Gene Mische last year. Mische, the founder of Stadium Jumping, Inc., was the creator of the...

Aaron Vale and Paparazzi. (ESI Photography.) Ocala, FL – Aaron Vale won the $25,000 Ocala Horse Properties, LLC Grand Prix on Saturday, April 9, during the Ocala International held at Sharn Wordley Equestrian in Ocala, FL. Just as Canada’s Francois Lamontagne had done the week before during the Ocala Jumping Classic, Vale won the $10,000 Blue Gate Farm Open Welcome on Thursday, April 7, as well as Saturday’s $25,000 Ocala Horse Properties, LLC Grand Prix during the Ocala International. Having...

In a sport involving controlled movements and precise manoeuvres, Langley para-equestrian dressage rider Stephanie Ross is making leaps and bounds. Ross, 18, who has cerebral palsy, recently won three first-place finishes at her first international dressage competition (in California) in March and is on her way toward qualifying for the Canadian Paralympic para-equestrian team heading to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "As long as my riding stays up to par, I hope to be at the 2016 [Paralympics]," she...

Wellington, FL - The 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival has come to a close after a successful 12 weeks of competition. Jennifer Alfano and SBS Farms' Jersey Boy have led the USHJA International Hunter Derby program since its inception, winning classes all over the country in the last few years and proving their expertise in the handy rounds and finesse over the jumps. Tonight was no different, as the pair jumped their way to victory in the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby during the...

Scott Stewart and Empire. (Photo by Sportfot.) Wellington, FL - It was an important day for hunters at the 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. Sixty entries took their shot at a chance to compete in the $50,000 USHJA Hunter Derby, one of the biggest purses in the world offered for hunter competitors. The class began this afternoon in the E.R. Mische Grand Hunter Ring. With a large number of spectators standing by, each horse and rider combination took their turn over a course of eleven jumps,...

Andre Thieme and Uvalier. (ESI Photography©.) Ocala, FL - It seems the luck of the Irish was with German High-Performance rider Andre Thieme yesterday when he piloted his own Uvalier to a blazingly fast finish in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health. The win marks his third of the season and the second in five days for Thieme who, just last Sunday, rode Seth Vallhonrat's Coco 135 to an exciting victory in the $50,000 Purina Mills Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer...

Sutherlin, OR - What does it take to get a horse to Grand Prix? This is the theme of this year's KWPN-NA Annual Meeting to be held at DG Bar Ranch on March 24-26. This incredible opportunity to learn from some of the most respected names in sport horse breeding and training begins Thursday evening with Olympian Lendon Gray, USET member Courtney King Dye, Olympic medalist Steffen Peters, and top young horse trainer Scott Hassler via video, sharing their experiences of bringing a horse up the...

Andre Thieme and Coco 135. (ESI Photography©.) OCALA, FL - On a perfectly beautiful afternoon at HITS Post Time Farm in Ocala, FL, German show-jumping icon Andre Thieme riding Seth Vallhonrat's Coco 135 captured the victory in Sunday's $50,000 Purina Mills Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, to close out the Ocala Finals. Thieme's win marked the first time this season that a rider captured more than one victory in a Sunday Grand Prix, his first being aboard his own Cesar three weeks...