The FEI Open and European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships began on Wednesday, August 19, marking a historic achievement for Norway as it will be the first time a European equestrian Championship is held on Norwegian soil, and also the first time a European summer sport championship is held there. The event takes place at the Epona Riding Centre, established in 2005 and near Kristiansand on the south coast of Norway, providing a magnificent backdrop for the event. Cato Zahl Pedersen, an...

Keady Cadwell jogs a horse during the review at the FEI World Pair Driving Championships in Kecskemet. (Rinaldo de Craen) Lexington, KY - The 12 horses of the four American competitors at the FEI World Pair Driving Championship in Kecskemet, Hungary, passed the horse inspection this morning without problems. The horses of Keady Cadwell, Miranda Cadwell, Larry Poulin and Lisa Singer were presented to the veterinarians and judges. Chef d’equipe Ed Young, team trainer Koos de Ronde from The...

Lexington, KY—Suzy Stafford has won the Individual Bronze medal in the Single Pony class at the FEI World Combined Pony Driving Championships in Greven-Bockholt, Germany. Team USA finished fourth in the nations competition, which was won by host nation Germany. Stafford was in second position after the dressage and the marathon, but the very difficult cones course kept her from keeping the Silver medal. Stafford passed the finish line just a fraction too late to make the time allowed, but...

Photo by Captured Moment Photography (Caroline Ingalls and Small Town) The USEF National Junior Hunter Championships-West Coast, hosted by Blenheim Equisports, took place August 11-12 on the West Grass Hunter Field at the beautiful Oaks Blenheim facility in San Juan Capistrano, CA. After two days of exciting competition and elegant exhibitor parties under cloudless skies, Caroline Ingalls and Small Town were crowned the new champions. With an overall three-phase adjusted score of 251.6,...

The U.S. team at the FEI World Pony Driving Championships in Greven-Bockholt, Germany, is currently in fourth position in the standings after dressage. The U.S. drivers put down excellent performances in the past two dressage days and are only one point behind The Netherlands, who is in third position. Host nation and team title defender, Germany, ahead of Belgium, leads the standings. Germany’s Franz-Josef Lehmkuhl, who will end his active driving career after this event, won the Single...

On August 1, the Youth National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show came to an end after eight days of top-level horse show competition, a shopping expo and the Arabian Horse Youth Association (AHYA) Annual Convention. This was the show’s 17th year in Albuquerque and is estimated to bring about $10.2 million to the city. The largest class, Arabian Hunter Pleasure Junior to Ride, age 14-17, hosted 79 horses and was won by Kool Enuff, owned and ridden by Kirsten McKillop of Alamo, CA....

Jumper champions Sydney Shulman and Set Sail (USEF Archives/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY—It was a day of champions at the 2009 USEF Pony Finals as ribbons and top honors were handed out in the Regular Pony Hunters as well as the Individual Jumper Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park on a sun-drenched day where the competition was as hot as the weather. Beginning early in the day was the Medium Pony Hunters where there was no shortage of graceful rides and impressive rounds from the ponies....

Team Gold medalists—Zone 8—from the Team Jumper competition. (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY —Last night the joint was, as they say, jumpin’. Day three of the five-day USEF Pony Finals National Championships kicked off this morning with Phase I for the Regular Pony Hunters (model and under saddle), moved on to the Small Pony over fences class, and segued by sunset into the rousing 2009 USEF National Pony Jumper Team Championship. This year’s Small Pony Hunter title...

Small equines from all across the nation turned out in a big way for the 121st Shetland Pony Congress Show, resulting in the largest competition in five years. The versatile Shetland Ponies competed at the Crossroads Arena in Cloverdale, IN, for national championship titles in classes such as driving, halter, jumping, youth and costume classes while owners competed for “best groomed” pony and youth members wrote essays hoping to win a Shetland Pony of their own. “Congress was a great...

Maddy Darst (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY—There is a lot that goes into the makings of a champion pony. Just ask Ohio’s Meredith “Maddy” Darst. She would know. And to prove it, two of her mounts—Rock the Boat and Brownland’s Mr. Mac—jumped their way through the over fences phase of the 2009 United States Equestrian Federation Pony Finals National Championships to take the Medium Green Hunter Pony and the Small Green Hunter Pony champion...