This past weekend, the Capital Challenge Horse Show in Upper Marlboro, MD, held the Monarch International’s Show Circuit Magazine Professional World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) finals. The WCHR National Awards program recognizes the top professional, junior, adult amateur, pony and amateur riders through points accumulated throughout the year at the rider’s top four WCHR shows. The top six riders from each region and the top 10 riders in the standings are then invited to compete directly...

Lexington, KY – In a conference call held today in cooperation with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), five members of the U.S. 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) team answered a wide range of general media questions. On the phone from Germany were dressage team members Guenter Seidel from Cardiff, CA, and Debbie McDonald from Hailey, ID; vaulting team members Elizabeth Ioannou from Saratoga, CA, and Blake Dahlgren from Sun Valley, CA; and on the phone from Florida was show jumper...

Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation® is pleased to announce the United States representatives to the FEI/WBFSH World Breeding Championship for Young Horses in Dressage, to be held August 3-6, 2006 in Verden, Germany. The results of all three USEF/Markel Young Horse Dressage Selection Trials were tallied and horses from each age group (five-and six-year-olds) with an average score of at least 7.5 from the two weighted, selection trial classes were ranked to form the...

Susan Summers, riding Mags Motivator, finished first in a ride time of 9:54:59 at the CEI*** 100-mile endurance ride in Ashland, MT, on Sunday, June 11. Her average ride time of 10.48 miles per hour put her four minutes ahead of second-place finisher, Heather Stevens, riding RSA Count Laquen. Forty riders took the trail in the 4:30 a.m. eastern Montana dawn. The trail would take them over ranch land and through the Custer National Forest. Twenty-six FEI riders began this third and last...

Courtney King went six-for-six at the Windy Hollow Hunt Summer I Dressage show, held June 10-11, at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta, NJ. King exhibited three horses in six classes and claimed victory in all six competitions. King’s winning mounts were Harmony’s Wyoming, Jubilant and Idocus. High scores of the show were awarded by level/type and two of King’s mounts earned the high score in their respective divisions--Harmony’s Wyoming earned the Open High Score (79.444%) for first...

With the 2006 World Equestrian Games just three months away, the top endurance riders in the U.S. are preparing to demonstrate their abilities in the hopes of earning a place on the U.S. Endurance Team. In order to be considered, each rider must compete at one of three FEI***/AERC dual-sanctioned 100-mile rides scheduled for May 20 in Oreana, ID; May 27 in Grand Island, MI; and June 11 in Ashland, MT. Members of the National Selection Committee will be present at each event to evaluate the...

The World Equestrian Festival, perhaps the largest single week's horse show in the world, began Wednesday in Aachen, Germany, with the United States announcing a top team for the Samsung Super League. Aachen CHIO has added championship vaulting to the lineup of show jumping, dressage and four-in-hand driving that will be contested by 145 athletes from 23 nations on more than 400 horses, in front of what is expected to be well above 300,000 spectators during the five days of competition. For...

The Reining Horse Sports Foundation (RHSF) is proud to announce, in no particular order, their 2005 Youth Scholarship recipients: Keith Ceddia, Rachael Raugh, Megan Brown, Nicholette Larson and Tara Hallan. The RHSF was established in 1999 to promote, support and preserve the sport of reining. The youth program is just one of the foundation’s five core programs. Determination for each $1,000 scholarship is based on financial need, academic achievement, career plans, references and National...

Gladstone, NJ – Taking a year off from competing doesn’t work for everyone, but it paid off for Scott Monroe of Sharon, CT, who drove his way to his first national championship at the 2005 USEF National Combined Driving Singles Championship, part of the CAI-B Gladstone Driving Event, September 22-25. Driving his 11-year-old Morgan gelding, Bethesda After Dark (Shadow), Monroe bested a field of 12 single horses with a smooth dressage test; a precise, blistering trip through the eight obstacles...

Craig Schmersal and Tidal Wave Jack, Winners of the 2005 Adequan/USEF Open Reining Championship (Waltenberry Photography) Lexington, KY – With swift and calculated moves, amazing 360-degree spins and stop-on-a-dime sliding stops that left an unabashed crowd going wild, Craig Schmersal and Tidal Wave Jack claimed their landmark USEF Gold medal and trophy in one fell swoop at the 2005 Adequan/USEF Open Reining Championship on Saturday, August 27, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington....