Elani Rager and Castor in $25,000 HITS Grand Prix. (Brent Ericsen Photography©. ) Tucson, AZ - February 9, 2011 - Competition at the 2011 HITS Arizona Winter Circuit kicked off last week at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson, AZ, with the first of six weeks of A-rated horse shows. Highlighting the week for High-Performance riders at the Sundance Welcome was Sunday’s $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, which was won by Elani Rager of Corrales, NM, and Lisa Upplegger’s...

Wellington, FL - Interagro Lusitanos of Brazil, the largest Lusitano export and breeding operation in the world, is pleased to announce that their head trainer, Pia Aragão, will be competing at the Florida winter dressage shows. Aragão will compete horses from Interagro Lusitanos, including several horses that will be taking part in the 2011 Lusitano Collection International Horse Auction in Wellington on February 23–26. Aragão and her horses will be arriving in Florida in late January. “I will...

Margie Engle and Indigo at the Syracuse Invitational (Photo credit: Reflections Photography.) Syracuse, NY - November 6, 2010 -The fast paced action continued in downtown Syracuse today. The featured class of the night was the $100,000 Detwiler Fenton FEI World Cup Qualifier of Syracuse presented by G&C Farm. The great US rider, Margie Engle, out rode 27 riders representing six countries to take the lionshare $100,000 purse. As she stepped into the arena as the last of three qualifiers of the...

SAUGERTIES, NY - Less than two weeks after announcing plans for a $100,000 Hunter Final for its popular 3’3” Devoucoux Hunter Classic, HITS has decided to quintuple the purse and make history again by offering the richest hunter class in the sport of show jumping. The $500,000 HITS 3’3” Hunter Prix Final will be a culmination of more than 30 Devoucoux Hunter Prix qualifying classes offered at all HITS horse shows from January 19 through September 4, 2011. The Final will be take place September...

Cesar Parra and Olympia (SusanJStickle.com Photo) Gladstone, NJ – In his first opportunity to ride for a US National Championship, Cesar Parra capitalized on the chance and took home top honors at the USEF National Intermediaire I Dressage Championship at the 2010 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions. A Colombian native, Parra began riding under the US flag in 2009, since then he has reaped the reward. “I wanted to go for it,” said Parra after his ride. “These are very good riders,...

Brant Gamma (Kelly Loria bested the competition to take the Individual Gold medal.) Lexington, KY - On the last day of the 2010 Adequan FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North, the USEA Eventing Championships concluded with the stadium-jumping phase of the three-day event for both Juniors and Young Riders on Sunday. In the Juniors, the Gold medal went to Kelly Loria, representing Area VI/VII/VIII, who proved she is a new rising star on the eventing...

Photo by Emily Daily (Karen O'Connor and Mandiba after their victory.) The standings shifted radically beneath Karen O'Connor's feet Sunday afternoon during the show jumping phase of the Adequan United States Eventing Association (USEA) Gold Cup CIC***W division at The Event at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, MT. Aboard Joan Goswell's Mandiba, the pair stood strong and posted a double-clear round in the stadium to decisively retain victory. "For me, today was great," O'Connor said. "I rode him early...

It's not like Rachel Boggus has time on her hands. In addition to riding and showing three horses across all the divisions, the amateur rider who trains with Michael Dennehy also is completing the last year of her anesthesiology residency at the University of Colorado Medical Center. "I don't have a lot of free time," Rachel admitted. "When I do, I am riding and showing. It's really hard for me to stay away and sometimes that means very long days with very little sleep, but I wouldn't have it...

Tracey Winter and Martailo Win Draper Equine Therapy Sponsored Grand Prix Special at Gold Coast Grand Finale I Tracey Winter, who owns Tranquility Dressage in Wellington, FL, turned in another consistent ride at the Gold Coast Dressage Association’s Grand Finale I show, winning the Grand Prix Special on her long-time partner Martailo. Draper Equine Therapy, makers of therapeutic horse and rider products featuring the innovative “smart fiber” textile Celliant™/Holofiber®, sponsored Winter’s...

Lauren Hough and Quick Study (Randi Muster/Mustphoto.com ) Wellington, FL, – The second USEF Selection Trial for the US Show Jumping Team for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games got underway as part of the $75,000 Fidelity Investments Grand Prix. Thirteen horse/rider combinations came into the second Trial tied atop the rankings on a score of zero. After there were only two. Two of the stalwarts of the US show jumping circuit cruised to polished efforts. Lauren Hough and Laura Kraut,...