THERMAL, CA —The Maple Leaf was flying high at the HITS Desert Horse Park during Desert Circuit IV when a pair of Olympians from Canada had Grand Prix triumphs during an action-packed week of show jumping at HITS Thermal. On Saturday night, Pearce aboard Forest View Farm's Chianto, beat out the 22 other starters to challenge international course designer Bernardo Cabral's first-round track, as well as the eight riders who advanced to the jump-off in the $50,000 Purina Mills CSI-W Grand Prix,...

Photo by Lauren Fisher/PMG (Mary Ann Grant and Tamaro will perform in the brand new figure skating and dressage exhibition at the 2010 Challenge of the Americas. ) The Ninth Annual Challenge of the Americas is excited to announce a very unique new dressage and figure skating performance to the Challenge lineup. Held in Wellington, FL, on Saturday, March 13, 2010, the evening will get under way at 5:30 p.m. with musical grand prix team quadrilles, four-bar jumping and a figure skating dressage...

Photo Courtesy AHA/Conley Driediger (Conley Driediger with gelding, Winning Afire+//.) Alexis Starer Doughty of Cape Charles, VA, and Conley Driediger of Yarrow, BC, Canada, were named the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) Adult and Youth Amateurs of 2009, respectively. Doughty earned an impressive 646 points at 22 AHA-recognized shows in 2009, while Driediger earned a whopping 485.5 points from 17 shows. The AHA Amateur Achievement Award program began in 2002 and tracks the points of individual...

Photo by Phelps Media Group (Olympian Nona Garson, pictured with Steve Williams and Janet Rizzo, hosted a very successful 7th Annual InterContinental Sport Horse Auction. ) The Seventh Annual InterContinental Sport Horse Auction was held on Sunday, February 14, 2010, and received rave reviews from its crowd of over 300 bidders during the hugely successful evening. Olympian Nona Garson hosted the event at The Ridge Farm in Wellington, FL, where horsemen of all disciplines gathered to bid on the...

Photo by Randi Muster (Pablo Barrios and Simply The Best) Pablo Barrios of Venezuala was able to score two wins on Wednesday, February 17, at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in the Young Jumper Championship (YJC) classes in two age divisions. When up on Simply The Best, owned by Joaquina Barrios, he was victorious in the $1,000 YJC Five-Year-Old Time First Round. Asta Torokvei of Toronto, ON, Canada, and Chabadue, owned by Westhaven Farm, led the way in the $1,500 YJC Six-Year-Old Time...

The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) continued a strong circuit of competition in its fourth week on February 3-7. The week featured the $75,000 Adequan Grand Prix, CSI** and the €100,000 Exquis World Dressage Masters Palm Beach, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week four title sponsor was Adequan. Along with their week four title sponsorship, Adequan® was the title sponsor of the $75,000 Adequan® Grand Prix, CSI** on Sunday, February 7, and is...

Photo by Sport Fot/Thierry Billet (Louis Jacobs on Kachina in the 1.45m.) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) had a successful third week of competition on January 27-31. The week featured the $75,000 Nespresso Grand Prix, CSI** and the $55,000 Nespresso Battle of the Sexes, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week three title sponsor was Nespresso. In order to provide the best coffee to riders at the FTI WEF, Nespresso is the official coffee at...

Photo by Flying Horse Photography (Keri Potter and Rockford I) The all-new Devoucoux Hunter Derby kicked off with a bang at the 2010 HITS Desert Circuit when one of the top hunter riders in the country, John French, piloted Victoria Komisar’s Over the Moon to the inaugural win in the $10,000 Devoucoux Derby on the West Coast. French of Gilroy, CA, had the highest score in both the first and second rounds of the popular 3'3" class that featured 29 starters on a course set by John Manning, which...

The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) continued a strong circuit this year in the second week of competition held January 20-24. The week featured the $50,000 Purina Mills Grand Prix, CSI** along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week two title sponsor was Purina Mills, and through Land O'Lakes Purina Feed, they are the exclusive horse feed sponsor of the 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. Land O'Lakes Purina Feed, LLC (www.landolakesinc.com), is a...

Photo by Stephanie Law (Fiderline, Nancy Holowesko, & Ulla Petersen. ) In 2009, Nancy Holwesko of Crosiadore Farm in Trappe, MD, presented a number of excellent foals and mares to the Oldenburg Horse Breeders' Society, and in the end she was honored by having both the top mare and top foal of the 2009 North American Inspection Season. The mare, Fiderline, who she bought at the 2006 Oldenburg Elite Foal Auction in Vechta, Germany, had the highest scores of any mare at the two Mare Performance...