Effective December 1, 2009, English Pleasure will now be a recognized division with the United States Equestrian Federation. The new division rules can be found on the USEF website at www.usef.org/documents/rules/ruleChanges/2010/RE12109.pdf . This means that you have the opportunity to offer "rated" English Pleasure classes to your exhibitors. The Federation is excited to add this division to encourage and reward yet another venue of equestrian sport. The English Pleasure division has three...

Dressage trainer Todd Flettrich and his mount, Otto, owned by Cherry Knoll Farm, made their competitive debut in the United States this weekend at the New England Dressage Association's (NEDA) Fall Festival, held September 9-13, in Saugerties, NY. After spending three months in Germany training with Olympic Gold medalist Hubertus Schmidt, Flettrich and Otto returned to Cherry Knoll Farm's Pennsylvania location just one week prior to the Saugerties competition, and went on to win the CDI Grand...

Join the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) at the 2009 Annual Meeting held in St. Petersburg, FL, December 7-10. The four-day-long convention will take place at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort St. Petersburg. Registration will be open until December 3, 2009. Applications to register can be downloaded from the USHJA website at www.ushja.org/content/annualMeeting/registration.aspx . The Annual Meeting will include informative sessions on rule changes and hot topics in the industry as...

The Buffalo International Horse Show (BIHS) began its first day of competition on September 9 for the 63rd annual show. The BIHS is held at the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center (BTRC) and runs from September 9-13 in downtown Buffalo, NY. The horse show will host a number of special classes in their large indoor arena, including hunter classics. The BIHS is pleased to welcome trainers Sandy Lobel and Amanda Steege and amateur rider Penelope Ayres, who have traveled the farthest to come to the...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) is pleased to welcome featured presenter Jan Brink to the 2009 Adequan/USDF National Symposium. The symposium will take place December 5-6, 2009 in Austin, TX. In addition to the two days of the riding symposium, there will also be a symposium lecture by Brink on Saturday night at the Renaissance Austin Hotel, host hotel for the Adequan/USDF Annual Convention being held from December 2-4. In addition to his many Swedish National Championships, Brink...

Lexington, KY - The Hampton Classic, running for its 34th year August 23-30 2009, became the second US horse show designated by the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) as a USEF Heritage Competition. The designation of a USEF Heritage Competition is reserved for those competitions that have been in existence for a quarter century or more, promoted and grown equestrian sport, and made a contribution to the community outside the gates of the horse show by achieving, maintaining and...

HITS, Inc., is excited to announce that they will offer a $1-million United States Grand Prix League (USPGL) Grand Prix at the HITS Saugerties Summer Show Series on Sunday, September 12, 2010. The grand prix will be the culmination of qualifying opportunities in grand prix events at all of the 2010 HITS horse shows, including Thermal, Ocala, Arizona, Culpeper, and Saugerties. "This is something we've been looking to do for some time now and the opportunity has finally presented itself," said...

Dressage at Devon, one of the most prestigious dressage and sport horse breeding shows in North America, now offers online ticket sales for general admission, reserved seating and special events like the Forum with George Williams. With more than $50,000 in prize money and awards over six days of competition, the event features world-class horses and riders, shopping and fun for the entire family. This year's show will be held September 22-27, 2009, at the historic Devon Horse Show Grounds. "We...

The final day of the FEI European and Open Para-Equestrian Dressage Championship had Freestyle to music on the program. It was another great day for Great Britain and Germany, sharing the five gold medals between—three for Great Britain and two for Germany. Performance manager for the British team David Hunter explained their success. “We are lucky in England to have the national lottery that channels funding towards the paralympic sports," he said. "We’ve had two new riders, Sophie Wells...

Dressage trainer Todd Flettrich is currently in Germany training with Olympic Gold medalist Hubertus Schmidt at his Paderborn farm and has begun competing with Cherry Knoll Farm’s horses, 13-year-old Otto and nine-year-old Danseur, in national competition. At a recent show at Hof Bettenrode, Flettrich qualified both Otto and Danseur for the Grand Prix Special after very successful qualifying tests. The Wellington-based trainer was very pleased with both of the horse’s performances. “This was...