The 2008 Trail Blazer Festival took place at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, CA, November 14-16, 2008. The festival had many speakers, exhibits and other events. One of the events participated in by Rocky Mountain, Paso Fino, American Saddlebred, Icelandic, Kiger Mustang, Mangalarga Marchador, Morgan, Arabian, Mustang, Quarter Horse, Peruvian, and Tennessee Walker horses was the “Battle of the Breeds,” which was a unique trail competition held between a select group of horses that...

With little equines on their minds, members of The American Shetland Pony Club (ASPC) and the American Miniature Horse Registry (AMHR) recently met for their 2008 national convention in Branson. The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), who has been strong supporter of the ASPC throughout 2008, hosted a luncheon during the convention for all the attendees and conducted the USEF Shetland Pony Committee meeting. One of the highlights of the convention was a drawing during the awards banquet...

Lifelong horseman Marty Mueller of French Lick, IN, died Friday morning, November 14, 2008, at age 96. During his life, he built a reputation as one of the top trainers of American Saddlebreds. Mueller was raised in the famous resort area of Indiana known as ”The Valley,” where his father was the head gardener at the fabled West Baden Springs Hotel. Marty grew up watching the horses at L. S. Dickey’s French Lick Springs Resort Stables, and he began working at Dickey’s as a stable boy,...

Canada’s Olympians had a rough go of it in the $50,000 Weston Canadian Open for International Jumpers at Toronto’s Royal Horse Show on November 14th. Americans McLain Ward and Laura Kraut, hot off their Team Gold at the Olympics, took first and third respectively, with Britain’s Michael Whitaker narrowly edging into the second position. Ward, with his 16-year-old veteran campaigner Goldika 559, executed the course in style, taking almost the identical route that teammate Kraut had taken 15...

Terengganu, Malaysia - Besting a Championship field of riders, Spain’s Maria Alvarez Ponton galloped home to Gold on Nobby, with a ride time of 8:48:06. Argentinean rider, Agustin Vita, riding Baraka Ibn Al Tamah won Silver, and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem of the United Arab Emirates, gained the Bronze on Tazoul El Parry at the 2008 World Endurance Championship held at Terengganu, Malaysia, on the edge of the South China Sea. Nobby and Ponton were also awarded the Best Condition. The first...

Kentucky Derby winner and Horse of the Year Alysheba stepped off of a horse van on October 31, and into a new life at the Kentucky Horse Park. After spending the last eight years in the royal stables of HM King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Alysheba returned to the state where he was foaled, as a generous gesture from the king. Frank McGovern, general manager of the king’s Janadria Farm, was at the park to turn Alysheba over to the park’s executive director, John Nicholson, who accepted the horse...

Hillary Dobbs, last year's Leading Open Jumper Rider, returned to defend her title at the Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) and retained it for the second consecutive year. The 19-year-old equestrian did this by taking the blue ribbon in the $20,000 Gambler's Choice aboard Marengo, her horse that won two classes last year. A rising star in the show jumping world and full time Harvard student, Dobbs of Sussex, NJ, and Palm Beach, FL, is the daughter of CNN reporter Lou Dobbs. Dobbs...

Lexington, KY – US Eventing Chef d’Equipe and Technical Advisor, Captain Mark Phillips and the USEF have renewed the contract for Mark Phillips to serve in this capacity through 2012. In his 16 years in tenure as the Chef d’Equipe and coach of the US Eventing Team, Capt. Phillips has never taken a team to an Olympic, World or Pan American Games without bringing home a medal. His tenure has been highlighted by a Team Gold medal at the 2002 World Equestrian Games and David O’Connor’s Individual...

Courtesy AHA Pictures/Amy Train (Five-time Arabian Park Horse Champion Aequus+// was retired at the age of 20.) The 42nd annual U.S. National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show (U.S. Nationals) made its debut in Tulsa, OK, at Expo Square, October 17-25. A total of 1,889 horses were entered in the show that provided 125 classes across a variety of disciplines that included reining, cutting, working cow, trail, mounted native costume, pleasure driving, show hack, halter, sidesaddle,...

Caitlin Houlihan and Little Joe (Janice Hischer, owner and trainer) took home the championship ribbon from the first Riding for Reading class in Arizona, and earned some money for her school’s library along the way. Collman Equestrian Productions held the class as part of the Scottsdale Fall Preview (October 16-19). Earlier in the day, Houlihan won the Low Junior/Amateur Jumper Classic on her own Double O Seven. The Riding for Reading class marked her first time showing on the flat. "I wanted...