Lebanon, OH-based Wilhelm Genn has done it again, winning both the $25,000 Nordic Lights Grand Prix and the $25,000 Budweiser Grand Prix during the fifth week of the 2010 Gulf Coast Winter Classics. International great Dave Ballard took up the reins of course designing for the double prix week. For Thursday’s $25,000 Nordic Lights event the co-creator of the 2008 Olympic layouts built a 15-effort test full of curves that had some riders struggling to keep the horses balanced, add to this...

Kecskemet, Hungary – Team USA is in fifth position in the Team standings after the dressage and marathon at the FEI World Pair Driving Championship in Kecskemét, Hungary. The Dutch are still in the lead, ahead of Hungary, Germany and Switzerland. Team USA is less than five points away from the bronze medal, and anything can happen in tomorrow’s deciding obstacle driving competition. Keady Cadwell, Larry Poulin and Lisa Singer dropped one place in the Team standings after a...

Maddy Darst (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY—There is a lot that goes into the makings of a champion pony. Just ask Ohio’s Meredith “Maddy” Darst. She would know. And to prove it, two of her mounts—Rock the Boat and Brownland’s Mr. Mac—jumped their way through the over fences phase of the 2009 United States Equestrian Federation Pony Finals National Championships to take the Medium Green Hunter Pony and the Small Green Hunter Pony champion...

2008 Individual Junior Show Jumping Medalists at NAJYRC (Ken Braddick) Lexington, KY – The countdown to the 2009 Adequan FEI North American Junior/Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC) has begun in earnest. For the first time, the NAJYRC will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY – which in 2010 will play host to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. This year’s NAJYRC will be held July 21-26, 2009. Since 1979, these Championships...

Norwood, NC - Ten event horses from the USEF Short List for Eventing made the trip to Jim Cogdell's The Fork Stables in Norwood, NC for the final mandatory outing for the 2008 Olympic Games. Five horse/rider Bonnie Mosser and Merloch (Mike McNally) combinations from the Short List competed at the Barbury Castle CIC*** last weekend in England and per the selection procedures riders were allowed to choose which one to contest. The outing began with the dressage test designed specifically for...

Chester Weber Wins Sixth Consecutive USEF National Driving Championship at Live Oak (Darlene Wohlart) By Joanie Morris Ocala, FL - Chester Weber added winner and his sixth consecutive USEF National Championship to his list of titles at the Live Oak Plantation Combined Driving Event presented by Budweiser. Not only did he win the FEI Team Horse Division he also played host, presenter, bloodstock agent, farm manager and competitor. “I want it seven times because nobody has ever won it seven...

Elkton, MD – The weather blew through the Mid-Atlantic region on Friday night and cross country/ marathon day at the USEF National Championships at the Dansko Fair Hill International boasted perfect conditions and terrain. Phillip Dutton, the overnight leader in the CCI*** Championships had to wait until the very end of the day to maintain his lead with Ann Jones’ The Foreman and put on a cross country clinic with the 11-year-old Thoroughbred gelding. The Foreman, who won the event...

Elkton, MD ­ – Unsettled weather continued on Friday for the second day of dressage at the USEF Eventing National CCI*** Championships at Fair Hill International, and Thursday’s leader Boyd Martin (Australia) staved off challenges for almost two entire days on a score of 46.1. It wasn’t until the second to last rider of the day, Phillip Dutton, Martin’s employer, put an end to his reign. Dutton, who is riding for the first year under the American flag put in a...

Diana DeRosa (Mara Dean and Nicki Henley lead heading into cross-country in Rio de Janeiro.) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – The American event riders got off to a fantastic start on July 20 at the XV Pan American Games taking the lead in the team portion of the competition and sweeping the top five places individually. American combination Mara Dean riding Nicki Henley went to the head of a quality field of 27 horse-and-rider combinations riding before the ground jury of Barry Roycroft, Jo...

Allentown, NJ—The advanced division at the Jersey Fresh Three-Day Event, which is serving as a selection division for the Pan American Games, got underway after the trot-up for the CCI**/CCI***s on Wednesday, May 30, in Allentown, NJ. Nineteen combinations from the U.S. and Canada got to work at 4:30 p.m., with Phillip Dutton (one of two riders with two horses) starting things off with Connaught for the U.S. Darren Chiacchia and Adrienne Iorio’s Better I Do It went into the lead, going last...