Besides delighting my readers with scintillating stories (we writers like to use words like "scintillating" because we think it makes us sound writerly), my main purpose for being at Sport Horse Nationals here in beautiful, damp Kentucky is to help out (in other words, provide slave labor for) my good friend and mentor, Patience Prine-Carr. This means that I get a lot of mane pulling and braiding practice every day. While it's good for me to get the practice, it's frustrating because...

All 16 Events Are Qualifiers for the 2010 $1-Million United States Grand Prix League Grand Prix HITS, Inc. is pleased to announce its grand prix schedule for the 2010 HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal, CA. This year's schedule features 16 grand prix classes held over six weeks of competition, and $800,000 in total prize money will be awarded. There will be four FEI World Cup qualifying classes, and the grand finale is a $300,000 grand prix on Sunday, March 14. The 2010 HITS Desert Circuit Dates...

On a beautiful New England day, the 20th Annual Jumper Classic, featuring the $75,000 Fidelity Investments Grand Prix, kicked off by welcoming riders of all ages to New England's premiere equestrian venue at the Silver Oak Equestrian Center. The Jumper Classic is the only American Grand Prix Association-sanctioned grand prix to take place in New England. The event features more than 72 classes and $200,000 in prize money. The Jumper Classic offers an array of divisions designed to attract...

Each year endurance riders from around the U.S. and Canada gather to compete for the American Endurance Ride Conference’s (AERC) top honors in the National Championship rides. This year, tiny Greenville, CA, (population 1,150) will be the launching point for the 100-mile ride on September 11 and 50-mile ride on September 13. Midway between Redding and Reno, the Northern California location has all that riders ask of a trail: elevation changes, gorgeous views, shallow creek crossings, and...

These last three days have been sooo busy! We get up at 6am and back to the hotel at around 1am! So let me give you an overview on what has been happening. August 25, 2009 Today our 14 year old rider Theresa rode and boy did she ride the hair off of her horse! She was a sight minus a few pilot errors that every rider makes once in a while. She unfortunately did not place in her class but North Wind Stables were very proud of her. August 26,2009 This day would be a day I will always remember. I...

The final day of the FEI European and Open Para-Equestrian Dressage Championship had Freestyle to music on the program. It was another great day for Great Britain and Germany, sharing the five gold medals between—three for Great Britain and two for Germany. Performance manager for the British team David Hunter explained their success. “We are lucky in England to have the national lottery that channels funding towards the paralympic sports," he said. "We’ve had two new riders, Sophie Wells...

Rinaldo de Craen/decraen.com (Larry Poulin is competing in his final World Championships in Hungary.) Lexington, KY - Team USA is currently in fourth position after two days of dressage at the FEI World Pair Driving Championship in Kecskemet, Hungary. Larry Poulin, Keady Cadwell and Lisa Singer are just 0.1 point behind German drivers who are defending their Gold Team medal. Mieke van Tergouw, the 1995 World Champion lady driver from The Netherlands, won the dressage, ahead of Switzerland’s...

Future Event Horse (FEH) classes will be held in conjunction with the Irish Draugth Horse Society of North America's 2009 Annual Horse Show. The FEH classes will be held on Thursday, October 1, in Lexington, VA, at the Virginia Horse Center. This will be a great opportunity to get your babies used to showing as the Virginia Horse Center is the same venue where the FEH Championships will be held on October 30. Remember there is no qualifying score needed to attend the championships; the only...

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...

The U.S. team at the FEI World Pony Driving Championships in Greven-Bockholt, Germany, is currently in fourth position in the standings after dressage. The U.S. drivers put down excellent performances in the past two dressage days and are only one point behind The Netherlands, who is in third position. Host nation and team title defender, Germany, ahead of Belgium, leads the standings. Germany’s Franz-Josef Lehmkuhl, who will end his active driving career after this event, won the Single...