Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) announces the winners of the 2008 Emerson Burr Horsemanship Awards sponsored by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, along with the winner of the Buttons and Bows Sportsmanship Award and the winner of the Short Stop Perpetual Trophy. All of these special awards took place at the 2008 USEF National Pony Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park. With pony riders competing in each age division, the winners of the Emerson Burr Awards were Madeline...

The American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) recently announced the recipient of this year’s Youth Achievement Award during the 2008 AMHA Awards Luncheon at the AMHA Annual Convention in Minneapolis, MN. The award, regarded as one of the most celebrated annual honors available through AMHA, went to Caralee Conklin of Gainesville, FL. Conklin, a lifetime Morgan enthusiast, is the current president of the AMHA Youth Council and has helped to expand and improve existing programs while providing...

The USEF Dressage Committee met on July 1-2, 2008 and discussed the USEF Dressage Performance Standards Proposal. This discussion included a review of compiled results of the online survey that was developed to gather feedback from USEF and USDF members. These results were recently shared with the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Executive Board and show that a majority of the approximately 1,250 respondents expressed support for the idea of having competition performance standards for...

Three Przewalski horse foals kicked up their hooves, making a grand entrance at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park on Friday, August 8, 2008. The Wild Animal Park currently houses 17 of these critically endangered horses, including the new additions, born August 3, July 22 and July 19. Two more babies are expected soon. Foals are born after an 11-month pregnancy. Approximately 30 minutes after birth the babies must be on their legs and able to move with the herd. Since 1974, 138 Przewalski's...

From an AVA Press Release Brno, Czech Republic - In the final day of competition at the World Vaulting Championships in Brno, Czech Republic, Team USA took home a bronze medal, while two US women placed in the top ten in the Individual competition. Dark Side of the Moon, a composite team made up of vaulters from FACE, Mt. Eden, Woodside and Shooting Stars vaulting clubs, finished in third place, with the Germans once again taking the gold, and the Austrian team taking the silver. US team...

Twenty-one National Walking Horse Association (NWHA) youth members from across the country attended the First NWHA Youth Leadership Conference held at the Kentucky Horse Park. July 14-16. "The conference was everything we had hoped it would be for the youth and more," stated Tami Steinbrecher, Chair of the Youth Committee. The conference offered workshops on developing leadership skills, effective public speaking, equine first aid and horse judging and included two interactive clinics on...

Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) announces a new partnership and multi-year agreement with Freedom Health, LLC’s Succeed®, an equine digestive conditioning program as the “Official Digestive Conditioning Product of the USEF.” In addition, Succeed® Digestive Conditioning Program® is being supplied to the United States Equestrian Team as they prepare for Hong Kong. "We are excited about our continued and growing partnership with USEF,” said John Hall, President of...

The American Saddlebred Registry has announced estimated payouts for its popular and growing sweepstakes program. In 2008, the sweepstakes will again be held at the All American Horse Classic , September 2-6 in Indianapolis, IN. Live video streaming on the Internet will be available this year for the first time. For complete information on the Sweepstakes program, visit www.asha.net/Prize-Sweepstakes . Total estimated purses for 2008 are $210,400, up 5.5% from the actual purses awarded in 2007,...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced the hiring of James Lawson as the organization’s Business Manager for the United States Equestrian Federation’s (USEF) MemberPerks program, which is administered by NTRA Advantage. Based at the NTRA’s Lexington headquarters, Lawson will oversee USEF MemberPerks, which offers significant savings on products and services from John Deere, Sherwin-Williams, UPS, Toshiba, Office Depot, Office Max, Equine Travel Advantage, FarmVet.com and...

Twenty-five national and state-based equine protection, placement and rescue organizations gathered Tuesday for the second Homes for Horses Coalition Conference to discuss the re-homing of at-risk horses in America. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Animal Welfare Institute jointly sponsored the conference. The coalition, formed in 2007, is dedicated to ending horse slaughter and other forms of equine abuse while promoting growth, collaboration and professionalism in the...