California dressage rider Dantia Benson (Photo courtesy of Dantia Benson) Somis, CA – December 8, 2010 - California dressage rider Dantia Benson flew from her home in California to Florida to attend the annual United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Convention and watch her four-year-old Dutch horse be awarded the Materiale Horse of the Year. What Benson didn’t expect was to fly home from the convention as the second winner of a custom made dressage saddle from Custom Saddlery as part of their...

Elm Rock LLC's Small Junior Hunter, Glass Castle Photo (James Leslie Parker ) Wellington, FL - December 8, 2010 - Elm Rock LLC kicked off the Florida Winter Season with its two Junior Hunters, Vida Blue (Large) and Glass Castle (Small) taking home both of the championship ribbons in their respective divisions at this past weekend's Holiday and Horses held at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Glass Castle and Vida Blue were both ridden by junior rider Shawn Casady. Glass Castle took...

Tish Fappani Sidestops on Litn Up Conquistador (Photo by NRHA) Oklahoma City, OK - The competition at the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Futurity & Adequan North American Affiliate Championship (NAAC) Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Dec. 3 featured the $105,000 added 2010 Cinch/NRHA Non Pro Futurity Finals. This championship event welcomed back 59 non pros to compete in a clean-slate format for more than $430,000 in cash and prizes, a variety of prizes from NRHA Corporate...

Fairfield, CT - The Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) has announced a realigning of its National Zones, compressing nine Zones into eight, and reflecting several new changes. In brief: * Former Zone 7 was absorbed into Zones 8 and 5 * Zone 9 was renamed Zone 7 * New regions were created in Zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 (former Zone 9) * Zone 1 sent a region to Zone 2 * Zone 2 shifted a region to Zone 3 * Zone 3 lost two regions - one to Zone 4 and another to Zone 6 * Zone 4 shifted a...

Jumping U.S. riders in Paris, France had a very successful week at the Gucci Masters, which featured a CSI1*, CSI2* and CSI5*. In the CSI1* Terri Anne Kessler and Katherine Dinan notched several wins over the weekend. Kessler and Ice d'Ancoeur won the Prix Artemide, Prix Eads and the Eurodocument Grand Prix 1.15m classes. With Swiss Franc, Kessler was second in the Prix Artemide 1.25m class. Dinan and Major De La Mare picked up wins in the Prix Eads and the Eurodocument Grand Prix 1.25m classes....

Oklahoma City, OK – December 1, 2010 – The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Futurity & Adequan® North American Affiliate Championship (NAAC) Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma continued today with four NAAC championship classes, the 2nd go, 2nd section of the $170,000 added NRHA Open Futurity and the 1st go, 3rd section of the $105,000 added NRHA Non Pro Futurity. Mike McEntire marked Tuesday’s highest score, a 225.5, aboard his Smart Spook stallion Red Stripe Spook. The NRHA Professional...

TEAM MORGAN 2010 WINS NATIONAL EQUITATION COMPETITION (American Morgan Horse Association) SHELBURNE, VT - Team Morgan 2010 is the proud gold medal winner of this year's hunter seat equitation competition that took place at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, November 18-20. The team competed against the college's equitation team and it was Team Morgan's first hunter seat competition. Team Morgan 2010 was coached by Mary Carlton of Marshall, Michigan, and Suzanne Haberek of Broadalbin, New...

Looking north, the views from the new berms at the Jumper 1 ring at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Th (©HITS Staff. ) SAUGERTIES, NY (November 24, 2010) -- With just two months to go before the rings open at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, California, preparations are in full force for the Desert Circuit’s much-anticipated 20th Anniversary season. The six-week circuit will kick off on Tuesday, January 25, and run until Sunday, March 13, when the season finale $200,000 Lamborghini Grand...

The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) named Kelsey Kimbler of Aberdeen, SD the 2010 AHA Youth of the Year. Kimbler was presented with the Youth of the Year perpetual trophy at the 2010 AHA Annual Convention on Nov. 20 in Orlando, FL. A quote by Randy Pausch is one of Kimbler's favorites, "The brick walls are not there to keep us out, they are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something." And shown us, she has. Kimbler's achievements and contributions to the Arabian horse...

Oklahoma City, OK – November 28, 2010 – Shawn Flarida and Shine Chic Shine still hold a convincing lead at the conclusion of the first go of the $170,000 added NRHA Open Futurity competition at the 2010 NRHA Futurity & Adequan® North American Affiliate Championship Show being held now through December 4 at Oklahoma State Fair Park in Oklahoma City. Flarida rode the three-year-old stallion by Smart Chic Olena, owned by Amabile & Strusiner of Grandview, Texas, to a 227.5 in Saturday’s third...