As of January 1, 2007, the Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) began issuing Performance Permits to ApHC-registered, non-characteristic (N) Appaloosas. Permits allow all non-characteristic Appaloosas, regardless of parentage or age, to show in ApHC-approved and sponsored events as well as race with results counting toward ApHC race awards. The permit remains effective for the life of the horse once it is issued, regardless of ownership changes. Performance Permits eliminate the current Certified...

The Gifted Fund was seeded with donations from Carol Lavell, received in special remembrance of her great dressage horse, Gifted. The Fund has grown steadily over the years and now provides scholarships each year to benefit adult amateurs. These scholarships enable adult amateurs to set aside quality time in concentrated training with a horse they own, with a trainer of choice, away from the daily pressures of job and family. The recipients chosen to train in 2007 are listed below. Each...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) named Veronica Holt of Elizabeth, CO, the 2006 USDF Volunteer of the Year at the annual Salute Gala in Kansas City, MO, on November 30, 2006. Winners of the USDF Volunteer of the Year award receive their name on a perpetual trophy housed in the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame, a trophy to take home and a $500 gift certificate, all presented by The Paddock Saddlery, sponsor of the USDF Volunteer of the Year Award. The winner of this award is...

Lexington, KY—The 2007 USEF Pony Finals National Championships will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park from August 15-19, 2007. The five-day format, which was begun in 2006, will continue in 2007. The championships include the USEF National Pony Jumper Championship Individual, the USEF National Pony Jumper Championship Team, USEF Pony Medal Final, USEF National Green Hunter Pony Championships, and the USEF National Hunter Pony Championships. Today, the USEF Pony Finals National Championships is...

It already boasted the second-highest paying championship in the entire reining industry. But for its 10th anniversary, the National Reining Breeders Classic will step up to another level--paying $75,000 to the open champion at the 2007 show, slated for April 16-22 at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, TX. That's a 25% increase from the $60,000 that the event has paid in recent years, and a huge step for the officers and board of the NRBC. NRBC President Tom McCutcheon noted, "We...

You spoke (or wrote) and we listened! Once again our members have shown us they have a voice, and USHJA wants our members to know that their voice was heard. USHJA would like to thank all the members that took time out of their busy schedules to provide us with feedback on the announcement of the USHJA Foundation Awards. Due to your wonderful ideas, USHJA is proud to announce some changes and clarifications to the USHJA Foundation Awards. Listed below are some of the notable changes. For a...

This past weekend, the Capital Challenge Horse Show in Upper Marlboro, MD, held the Monarch International’s Show Circuit Magazine Professional World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) finals. The WCHR National Awards program recognizes the top professional, junior, adult amateur, pony and amateur riders through points accumulated throughout the year at the rider’s top four WCHR shows. The top six riders from each region and the top 10 riders in the standings are then invited to compete directly...

More than 200 entries tackled the new cross country course designed by Olympic Gold Medalist David O’Connor last Saturday during the Colorado Horse Park Fall Horse Trials held September 29-October 1. The event, which featured divisions from Beginner Novice to Preliminary, attracted entries from several states. Competitors faced the triathlon of horse sports—dressage, cross-country and show jumping. Winning the Open Preliminary division was Martha McDowell from Billings, MT. She rode her...

Famed publisher William Randolph Hearst, who also established an important horse breeding operation, is credited with having first coined the name “Morab” for the distinct breed of horses that are Arabian and Morgan crosses. He bred his Arabian stallions to Morgan mares to produce horses which were sure-footed, fast and versatile. Consequently, they were well suited to the rough and varied terrain of his San Simeon ranch near the Pacific Coast of California. More than six generations later, the...

The EQUUS Foundation, Inc., recently awarded $250,000 in grants to charitable organizations that promote the positive use of the horse for the benefit of the general public and the equestrian sport as a whole. The “all volunteer” EQUUS Foundation raises funds from two annual events—one held in February during the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL, and the the Benefit Luncheon held in June in conjunction with the Fairfield County Hunt Club June Benefit Horse Show in Westport, CT....