Looking for something new, exciting, and challenging for you and your horse? Well, mark your calendars for the upcoming clinic at Capriole Farm in Catlett, VA, presented by Kimberly Garvis, on the sport of working equitation, which is presently making its way to the United States and Canada. Currently a little-known discipline in North America, working equitation competition is divided into three phases that are designed to test through a range of activities. It combines flatwork movements and...

Mavis Spencer (USEF/ Jennifer Haydon) Lexington, KY – The US show jumping riders got off to a fantastic start at the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival on January 16, 2009. Led by 16-year-old Kylie Wright from Sparks-Glencoe, MD, the US filled the top two spots in the Individual Qualifier. She went first out of the 24 riders and produced one of only six clear rounds. No one went clear in the jump off but Wright, riding Pacific Wave, was the fastest of the four faulters with a time of...

Lexington, KY – In its inaugural year, the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) Lifetime Achievement Award was created to recognize members whose involvement in the sport, and the USHJA itself, has benefited the industry. On December 10, Beth Miner and Alvin Topping were honored with the prestigious award at the 2008 Evening of Equestrians Dinner during the USHJA Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN. Both Miner and Topping have an illustrious history with the USHJA and took a prominent...

Lexington, KY - Endurance legend Valerie Kanavy will be honored at the USEF Annual Meeting during the Valerie Kanavy (GenieSS, Inc.) Pegasus Awards Dinner on January 17, 2009, when she will receive the Maggy Price Endurance Excellence Award. Named for international endurance rider Maggy Price, who was a Silver medalist at the 1992 World Championships and a pioneer for the sport, the award honors the athlete who earns the most points in selected Ranking Trials during the ride year. This year,...

Canada’s Olympians had a rough go of it in the $50,000 Weston Canadian Open for International Jumpers at Toronto’s Royal Horse Show on November 14th. Americans McLain Ward and Laura Kraut, hot off their Team Gold at the Olympics, took first and third respectively, with Britain’s Michael Whitaker narrowly edging into the second position. Ward, with his 16-year-old veteran campaigner Goldika 559, executed the course in style, taking almost the identical route that teammate Kraut had taken 15...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) is pleased to announce that Kassidy Peacock of Helotes, TX, has been selected as the recipient of the 2008 USDF Youth Volunteer of the Year Award, presented by The Paddock Saddlery and sponsored by the USDF Youth Executive Board. This prestigious award honors one outstanding youth volunteer who has contributed on a national and local basis to the USDF and dressage. As the recipient of this award, Peacock's name will be engraved on a perpetual trophy,...

Rodrigo de Matos is a Principle Rider of L'Escola Portuguesa d'Arte Equestre, and the Chief Instructor at Morgado Lustiano in Portugal. He represented Portugual at the recent Paris Symposium where all four of the great classical European schools of riding were invited to a joint performance and exchange of ideas. Participants included the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, the Cadre Noir, L'Escola Portuguesa, and the Spanish National School. As a representative of L'Escola and Morgado Lusitano,...

“It’s the camaraderie that means so much,” commented a cheerful Sandy Ferrell after winning the 15th Annual $7,500 Professional World Championship Hunter Rider Finals for the 2008 American Hunter Jumper Foundation (AHJF) Professional World Cup Championship Rider (WCHR) title, which took place on October 3 during the eight-day Capital Challenge Horse Show at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD. The 2008 WCHR Professional Finals is sponsored by Stillwell-Hansen, Inc.,...

Caitlin Houlihan and Little Joe (Janice Hischer, owner and trainer) took home the championship ribbon from the first Riding for Reading class in Arizona, and earned some money for her school’s library along the way. Collman Equestrian Productions held the class as part of the Scottsdale Fall Preview (October 16-19). Earlier in the day, Houlihan won the Low Junior/Amateur Jumper Classic on her own Double O Seven. The Riding for Reading class marked her first time showing on the flat. "I wanted...

Iron Spring Farm's three-year-old homebred Friesian stallion, Pilgrim ISF, was awarded the prestigious First Premie Star designation and was selected for KFPS stallion testing during the Friesian Horse Association of North America (FHANA) KFPS keuring on September 29, 2008. Iron Spring Farm's success during the keuring also includes Pilgrim's dam, Toltsje fan't Boekehof, receiving an 82.5 on her IBOP (performance) test to earn the prestigious Model designation. She also received the Champion...