Louisville, Ky. – US Equestrian is pleased to announce that HH Azur, Double H Farm and McLain Ward’s 2006 Belgian Warmblood mare, was voted the 2023 International Horse of the Year, and Paradigm, Meredith Lipke’s 2012 Warmblood gelding, was voted the 2023 National Horse of the Year by the USEF membership. HH Azur and Paradigm were honored during the SmartPak/USEF Horse of the Year Awards Dinner at the USEF Annual Meeting in Louisville, Ky., on Jan. 13. International Horse of...

Basel, Switzerland – The first FEI championship of 2024 will take place this week as the FEI Vaulting World Cup Final presented by Tommy Hilfiger gets underway at Longines CHI Classics Basel in Switzerland. Kimmy Palmer (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) is the sole U.S. athlete at this year’s final and brings her extensive international experience to the arena. Palmer has competed in vaulting at the FEI level since 2013, first as part of a pas de deux with her sister, Cassidy, and as an...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian is pleased to announce the 2023 Horse of the Year and Equestrian of the Year nominees. The International and National Horses of the Year will be announced at the 2023 SmartPak/USEF Horse of the Year Awards Dinner on Saturday, Jan. 13, and the International and National Equestrians of the Year will be announced at the 2023 Pegasus Awards Dinner on Sunday, Jan. 14, at the 2024 US Equestrian Annual Meeting in Louisville, Ky. Horses of Honor and Equestrians of...

Cheryl Van Deusen and JG General. ©Liz Gregg/FEI Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian congratulates the winners of the year-end awards for endurance. As the top-ranked senior endurance athlete, Cheryl Van Deusen (New Smyrna Beach, Fla.) will receive the Maggy Price Endurance Excellence Award. Avery Betz-Conway (Kingsland, Ga.) will receive the Brunges Junior/Young Rider Trophy as the top U.S. junior or young rider endurance athlete. With this year’s win, Van Deusen has now won the...

Lexington, Ky. – US Equestrian is pleased to announce that Kiley Hamilton (Linden, Calif.) has been named the 2023 USEF National Youth Sportsman’s Award winner. Hamilton is a competitive Western dressage rider, an active member of the Linden High School FFA Horse Judging Team, and an aspiring equine veterinarian. She was nominated for this award by the Western Dressage Association of America . Kiley Hamilton. ©Faith Osborn Hamilton trains and competes in Western dressage with...

Lexington, Ky . – US Equestrian is pleased to announce the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Junior Equestrian of the Year Award, to be presented at the 2024 US Equestrian Annual Meeting in Louisville, Ky. Cecile Hetzel Dunn is the winner of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award, while Marin McKee is the 2023 Junior Equestrian of the Year. Dunn and McKee will be recognized at the Pegasus Awards Dinner on Sunday, January 14. Cecile Hetzel Dunn (Adam Brennan - www....

Fulton, Mo. – Twelve saddle seat equitation athletes earned their tickets to South Africa on Saturday at the Saddle Seat World Cup Selection Trials. The U.S. will field two teams—one three-gaited and one five-gaited—with six athletes on each team for the 2024 International Saddle Seat World Cup in Parys, South Africa, next December. The team members are listed below in ranked order. 2024 Saddle Seat World Cup Three-Gaited Team. ©Leslie Potter/US Equestrian Three-Gaited:...

Llay Llay, Chile – Four U.S. athletes contested a challenging 120 km ride at the 2023 FEI Pan American Endurance Championships on Friday, Nov. 24. The event was a tough test and saw only one team, the host nation of Chile, have the required number of three combinations complete to earn a team result. However, the U.S. contingent did earn a successful individual completion thanks to young rider Uma Kraskin (Deland, Fla.), making her senior championship team debut riding CL Magnolia, a 2014...

Stamford, Conn. – Three-time GRAMMY-winning recording artist Megan Thee Stallion stars in the second promotional spot of NBCUniversal’s fall campaign to promote its coverage of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, which begins July 26, 2024, in Paris, France. The promo debuted earlier today during NBCU’s Thanksgiving Day programming and encores tonight during NBC Sports’ coverage of the Seattle Seahawks hosting the San Francisco 49ers on NBC and Peacock. The new spot...

Vilamoura, Portugal – It was an exciting finish in the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Vilamoura CSIO3* in Vilamoura, Portugal for the U.S. Jumping Team. A three-way tie for first place resulted in a jump-off between Belgium, Great Britain, and the U.S. Chef d’Equipe Anne Kursinski led the team of Zayna Rizvi and Exquise du Pachis, Caitlyn Connors and Falcon de Hus Z, Hannah Selleck and Cloud 39, and Jacob Pope and Highway FBH to a third-place finish out of 14 teams. The team also finished...