Gail Morey (John French and Crown Affair. ) Carson City, NV - With only a few days left to prepare for the $25,000 Franktown Meadows Hunter Derby at the Franktown Meadows Equestrian Facility, anticipation is mounting. Equestrians are traveling from all over to take part in the first standalone hunter derby on the West Coast. Among the many hunter derby exhibitors will be top professionals John French and Jenny Karazissis. French will be accompanied by four hunter derby horses, which include two...

Bridgehampton, NY - Mario Deslauriers, of New York, NY, found his way to the top of the class in the $50,000 Spy Cost Farm Grand Prix Qualifier CSI**** at the Hampton Classic Horse Show on Thursday riding Urico, owned by Jane Clark. "I had a great class," said Deslauriers. "My horse went great. He jumped beautifully and I was in a good spot to go last in the jump-off, so I knew exactly what I had to do to bring it home and everything worked out." Six made it to the jump-off out of the 50...

Bridgehampton, NY - Samantha Schaefer captured top honors in the $10,000 Sam Edelman Equitation Championship at the Hampton Classic Horse Show on Thursday. The 17-year-old student from Westminster, MD, received the highest score of 182 points riding Pioneer, owned by Heritage Farm. "It's a big deal to win here," said Schaefer. "I rode in the class last year on a young horse and made it into the Top 10, but this is really great." Schaefer has only shown Pioneer three times at the suggestion of...

Bridgehampton, NY-August 29, 2010- Peter Leone of Greenwich, CT, crossed the wire in the nick of time to win the $20,000 Nicolock Time Challenge on Nevval De La Batia, owned by Margaret Bopp, in a time of 65.516 seconds on Opening Day at the Hampton Classic Horse Show. Sloan Coles and Annie 66 just missed with a time of 66.095. Olympic Gold Medalist Leslie Howard and Jeans Glove Varnel were third with 67.100 seconds. As the first rider of the day, Howard set the pace, but not for long. Coles...

Jamie Pestana and Winzalot (SusanJStickle.com) Gladstone, NJ – The USEF National Junior Dressage Championship was the second Championship to be completed during the two weekends of the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions and the top three places remained unchanged from the first leg of the championship. That meant that Jamie Pestana (Livermore, CA) and Winzalot defended their lead and swept both tests to score another convincing victory. This pair has won across the...

Dressage The first weekend of the 2010 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions got underway at the USET Foundation Headquarters in Gladstone, NJ. Along with the National Intermediaire I Championships the first phase of the National Grand Prix competition, which is serving at the USEF Selection Trial for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games also took place. The Prix St. Georges (the first leg of the National Intermediaire I Championships) kicked off the competition on Friday;...

Photo by Louise Bowden (Visitors to the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will get to visit with penguins from the Newport Aquarium.) The 100 Days to Go Celebration for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games was a hit on June 17, and the Fifth Third Pavilion in downtown Lexington drew in hundreds of fans, residents and passerbys to help celebrate the occasion. “It was excellent,” said Diana Simpson, a resident of Lexington, about the celebration. “The speakers were great, and there...

This fall, visitors from around the world will get a chance to experience all the sights, sounds and tastes that Kentucky has to offer during the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, without ever leaving the Kentucky Horse Park. “Our goal is to immerse visitors in all that is Kentucky so that before they return home, or the next time they travel, they won’t be able to resist seeing the real thing,” said Mike Cooper, Kentucky’s Commissioner of Travel and Tourism. While the primary focus of the...

Michelle Parker made the most of her two weeks at the 2010 HITS Arizona Desert Circuit. Parker finished with three in the money in the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix during week V and followed that performance with a victory aboard Tula Pinnella's Reina in the $25,000 Strongid® C 2X Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, on Sunday, March 14, to close out the 2010 season during the Arizona Desert Finals in Tucson, AZ. Canadian Danny Foster designed the course for the featured class, which...

Dressage Dressage riders on the West Coast competed under the California sun this weekend at the Dressage Affaire CDI3* held at the Del Mar Horse Park. Steffen Peters continued to demonstrate his dominance in U.S. dressage, winning in all seven of his outings. With 2009 Horse of the Year, Ravel, Peters blew away the competition winning by nine percentage points in both the Grand Prix (77.660%) and Grand Prix Special (77.375%). Adrienne Lyle and Wizard put in two excellent performances to finish...