Sister Act - American sisters Cassidy and Kimberly Palmer secured a pas-de-deux victory at the FEI World Cup™ Vaulting 2013/2014 leg at the Stuttgart German Masters. (Karl-Heinz Frieler/FEI) Stuttgart, Germany - The 2013 USEF Open Pas de Deux National Champions made a statement on the world stage this weekend by winning the FEI World Cup™ Vaulting qualifier at the Stuttgart German Masters on Sunday. The Pas de Deux qualifier series is new this year, and the Stuttgart leg was only the...

U.S. Air Force veteran Derrick Perkins and Gallo del Poco Tivio, owned by Luke and Caleb Kelley competing in the Para-Reining competition at the 2013 AQHA World Championship Show (Lindsay Y. McCall) Oklahoma City, Okla. - November 17, 2013- The 2013 American Quarter Horse (AQHA) World Championship Show featured 3,401 entries, a total purse more than $2.4 million, riders from 49 states and 7 countries, and the best Reiners in the business. From November 8-23, equestrians competed in halter,...

Frances Land and Vieanne are in the winner's circle (Flashpoint Photography) Conyers, Ga. - Frances Land of Alpharetta, Georgia and her own Vieanne, bested 22 horse and rider combinations when they turned in a double clean round Saturday night to claim the victory in the $45,000 EMO Grand Prix. Only five went clean in the class and qualified for the jump off. Bryn Sadler of Santa Fe, New Mexico riding Bon Giorno, owned by Showcase 81, LLC was the first to go clean in the class, beating the set...

Andrew Ramsay and Adamo van't Steenputje (McCool Photography) Las Vegas, N.V. - Saturday at the Las Vegas National was a spectacular display of show jumping at its finest, plus some sky-high entertainment. The first of two highlight events was the $10,000 SmartPak Winning Round Classic, with forty-seven entries and the top ten returning for a lightning fast second round. Later in the evening, the $50,000 Markel Insurance Grand Prix CSI-W had forty-two entries with eight pairs going clean,...

Auburn, Ala. - It was a match that lived up to its billing. Perennial NCEA and SEC forces Georgia and Auburn met as the No.1 and No.2 ranked teams in the country respectively. Georgia brought a 3-0 record into the Auburn Horse Center to face an Auburn team that looked a little shaky in an earlier loss to South Carolina. Though Georgia riders were awarded the Most Outstanding Player Award (MOP) in all four disciplines, the scrappy and talented Tigers jumped to an early lead, let it slip, then...

Karl Cook and Banba (McCool Photography) Las Vegas, Nev. - Brazilian course designer Guilherme Jorge is brilliant at asking just the right questions for the field. With sixty-six entries, Jorge created a course that tested the technique necessary to tackle tight turns and tidy tracks. It included an interesting option fence - a skinny 1.40m gate 'winged' by a simpler vertical on each side. Heading home as fence 4, the skinny was the quicker choice to rollback to 5a-b; and later going...

Reed Kessler & Cylana after their win on Friday night in Stuttgart (from the Stuttgart German Masters facebook page) Stuttgart, Germany - A good day became a great one for Reed Kessler Friday night in Stuttgart when she rode a wave of momentum from a morning win into another first place finish. In the Prize of DIW Instandhaltung Ltd. & Co. 1.50m speed class, a qualifier for Sunday's FEI World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix, Kessler (Lexington, Ky.) guided her own Cylana to a penalty free...

Stuttgart, Germany - At the Stuttgart German Masters CSI5*-W Friday young female American riders continued to show why they are a force to be reckoned with now, and will be for a while. Reed Kessler (Lexington, Ky.) won the 1.45m speed class, Prize of Raumpflege, with her own Soraya de l'Obstination, Lucy Davis (Los Angeles, Calif.) took second with Old Oak Farm's Hannah, and Alexa Pessoa (Wellington, Fla.) finished fourth with Rodrigo Pessoa's Levade. Kessler was second in the...

Andres Rodriguez and Caballito (McCool) Las Vegas, Nev. - Wrapping up the indoor season, the Las Vegas National offers the final FEI classes on the West Coast until February 2014. Fifty-six horse and rider pairs representing eleven different countries gave it a go in tonight's $33,000 EquiFit, inc. Jumper Classic. The course was technical and the competition fierce. Brazilian Guilherme Jorge set the track. Knowing he had a large field, he intentionally built a course with technical...

Lexington, KY - The United States Federation's High Performance Working Group has approved the recommendation of DiAnn Langer as the U.S. Show Jumping Young Rider Chef d’Equipe/Technical Advisor. Both the Search Committee, chaired by Eric Straus, and the USEF Show Jumping High DiAnn Langer (USEF Archive) Performance Committee recommended Langer for this new position. Langer is tasked with developing and implementing a pipeline for the USEF Show Jumping discipline and will begin her...