On my list of things I find to be riveting I usually would not rank watching dressage among the top, but in the last two days I have really gotten into it. I found myself glued to the monitors that had the live feed playing all day yesterday, watching intently and calculating scores trying to determine what teams were in medal contention. Over the two days of the team competition, it seemed as though each rider that went down centerline set a new standard of excellence. In any sporting event it...

Photo by Randi Muster (Daisy Farish aboard Ballou in the Small Pony Hunters.) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) Week Nine, held March 10-14, 2010, featured many winners in the equitation, hunters, and jumpers, including the leader in the $200,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix, CSI***, presented by CN. The week nine title sponsor was CN. Double H Farm's Night Train sped to the win with Olympic Gold medalist Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil in the $200,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix, CSI***,...

The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) had a fantastic sixth week of competition on February 17-21. The week featured the AHJF Hunter Classic Spectacular of Palm Beach and the $50,000 CN Palm Beach Jumping Derby along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week six title sponsor was Bainbridge. Charles Jacobs of Boston, MA, captured the top prize in the $50,000 CN Palm Beach Jumping Derby on Quidditch II, owned by Deeridge Farm of Wellington, FL. They sped to...

Photo by Diana DeRosa (Liza Boyd and Brunello) "He is my Olympic hunter," commented Liza Boyd after she nailed her third victory in the 14th Annual American Hunter-Jumper Foundation (AHJF) Hunter Classic Spectacular in Wellington FL, aboard her seasoned mount, Brunello. She won the very first one riding Monday Morning in 1997 and then in 2008 tasted victory again on Fiyero. Now just 3½ months after the birth of her first child (Ellen) it was important to prove she still had what it takes. Yet,...

Photo by Flying Horse Photography (McLain Ward and Goldika 559 on course in the $30,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health.) Canadian Olympian John Anderson sealed the first half of the HITS Desert Circuit with a kiss on Valentine's Day when he captured the blue ribbon aboard Terrific in the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, on Sunday afternoon at the HITS Desert Horse Park, in Thermal, CA. The win marked the second victory of the circuit for Anderson...

Photo by Randi Muster (Farewell and Rachel Koggan capture the Amateur-Owner Hunter 18-35 Championship at the 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. ) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival had a very successful opening week of competition. New faces from across the country and around the world came to show at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, and close to 1,600 horses showed in the first week of the circuit. That is a 21% increase in horses that showed during the same week at last...

Photo by Cealy Tetley (Caledon Equestrian Park) Caledon Equestrian Park in Palgrave, Ontario, Canada, will be the equestrian venue for the 2015 Pan American Games/Para Pan American Games. On Friday, November 6, the 2015 Pan American Games/Para Pan American Games were awarded to Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe Region. The Caledon Equestrian Park’s reputation for hosting world-class equestrian competition secured its position as the equestrian venue in the bid process. All equestrian...

World class show jumpers vied for $75,000 in prize money, thousands of fans packed into the stands, flags from many countries hanging overhead, and a JumboTron showed highlights and tracked the results. Is it Las Vegas or Los Angeles? Neither; it is Sacramento, and it is the only show jumping competition of this caliber in Northern California: The Sacramento International Horse Show at Murieta Equestrian Complex in Rancho Murieta, CA, which was held November 3-8. Rudy Leone started the show in...

Kecskemét, Hungary – Team USA was in fifth position of the Team standings after dressage and marathon at the 2009 FEI World Pair Driving Championship in Kecskemét, but had a dramatic Final. Best placed US driver Larry Poulin, who was lying in 10th place, missed a gate at the final obstacle driving competition and was eliminated. Keady Cadwell, Best for the US in Hungary (Rinaldo de Craen ) Because of his elimination, Poulin’s dressage and marathon scores in the Team...

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...