Expanding the horse-owning population in Kentucky is important to the Kentucky Horse Council (KHC). Through education, the member-based non-profit encourages responsible horse ownership and management practices to build a strong and vibrant equine community. The Kentucky Horse Council is no stranger to educating new horse owners. In 2009 they released HorseSmarts: Essential Advice for Today's Horse Owner , an award winning DVD. The 60-minute video, which was shown on KET last summer and fall,...

Courtesy The Dressage Foundation (Trip Harting) The Dressage Foundation is pleased to announce the formation of the Trip Harting Fund. The Trip Harting Fund was established through The Dressage Foundation to award a scholarship for a Pony Club A or B members. This scholarship is to help a young person pursue their education in dressage; the award will honor Trip's lifetime commitment to youth in dressage and his love of Pony Club. Trip Harting was one of the leading judges in the world of...

The Unwanted Horse Coalition (UHC) has published a handbook entitled Best Practices: How Your Organization Can Help Unwanted Horses . The handbook is part of the UHC’s continuing effort to get the horse community more involved in solving the problem of unwanted horses. If the horse community is to succeed in lessening the problem of unwanted horses, more organizations and more events, large and small, regardless of their breed or discipline, must institute activities and programs to deal with...

Cavalor show jumping rider Hillary Dobbs found the perfect way to usher in the holiday season—by winning the Holiday & Horses $50,000 Grand Prix and FEI World Cup Qualifier at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL. Cavalor, the world's leading equine nutrition company for high-performance horses, announced Dobbs as the company's first "Cavalor Young Champion" earlier this year. "We are extremely proud of Hillary's recent victory in the Holiday & Horses Grand...

The inaugural $25,000 Chicago Hunter Derby was a huge success this year, bringing top-notch hunter competition to the Midwest for a special one-day event that raised more than $60,000 for the Children's Memorial Hospital. The Chicago Hunter Derby was hosted by Chicago Equestrians for a Cause (CEC) and was held on August 30, 2009, at Annali Farm in Antioch, IL. Children's Memorial Hospital is one of Chicago's most precious civic assets. As Illinois' only freestanding hospital exclusively for...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) is pleased to announce that Charles “Chuck” Smith has received the 2009 USDF Volunteer of the Year Award, presented by The Paddock Saddlery. This award recognizes a USDF member who, through consistent and cumulative volunteer activities, has demonstrated exceptional commitment towards carrying out USDF’s mission. As the winner, Smith will be presented with a perpetual trophy, which is permanently on display in the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame,...

He may have been small, but that didn’t keep an American Shetland Pony named Cornerstone’s Valiant Man from making a big impact when he attended the 82nd National Future Farmers of America (FFA) Convention in Indianapolis. The Shetland Pony, owned by Sherri Jolliff, represented the American Shetland Pony Club (ASPC) and the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and was a big hit with the horse enthusiasts attending the convention. “We were proud to have the opportunity to support the FFA...

Dana Fiore and her eight-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Redford, rode away with the victory in the Prix St. Georges class at the Gold Coast Fall Fling show, the kick-off show for the Gold Coast Dressage Association’s winter dressage series. Equilite, the makers of the award-winning Sore No More products and Botanical Animal Flower Essences, sponsored the Prix St. Georges, and Fiore took home a giant tote bag filled with Equilite products. “Redford was very supple, and he was forward. He did the...

Dressage rider and trainer Tracey Winter takes great pride in her horses, and thanks to her recent win at the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Region 3 Championships she has even more to be proud of. Winter and Windsor, her six-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Routinier, out of Oceana, by Charmeur, won the Region 3 First Level Open Championship. “It was a surreal feeling to win, as I was just hoping to be in the thick of things,” Winter said. “It was a good-size class with very nice...

Olympian and international dressage rider Lisa Wilcox turned in an all-American ride at the Gold Coast Fall Fling show, winning the Grand Prix aboard Ingred Lin’s Lusitano Quemacho Hi. The Grand Prix was sponsored by The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center, and Quemacho Hi won a beautiful Sanctuary signature orange embroidered polar fleece cooler and a $250 gift certificate for services at The Sanctuary. Wilcox and Quemacho Hi earned a score of 64.043% in the grand prix...