The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian™ is a dream competition for many aspiring eventing athletes. The same is true for LRK3DE first-timer Sydney Solomon of Dayton, Md. After attending the event as a spectator 15 years ago, Solomon set her sights on Kentucky, and she has worked hard and endured challenges to get here. Solomon, 26, makes her debut with Early Review CBF, a 2009 Hanoverian mare bred and owned by Laurie Cameron, and hopes for a positive...

Alex Waldrop, the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), shared U.S. horse racing’s history and recapped some of the challenges that horse racing has faced in the past 15 years. The challenges affected horse racing’s social license to operate and required earnest changes to improve horse welfare. “An old adage comes to mind: ‘If you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.’...

USEF Chief of Sport David O’Connor, University of Kentucky Equine Science professor and member of the FEI Equine Ethics and Welfare Commission, Dr. Camie Heleski, and Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare, Roly Owers, spoke to the USEF Annual Meeting about equestrian sport and the social license to operate. Here are five takeaways from their presentation. 1. Social license to operate is an unofficial but essential piece of the puzzle. Owers describes social license to operate as...

Jumping athletes were put to the ultimate test Saturday as they competed for individual honors in the Gotham North FEI North American Youth Championships for Jumping, presented by USHJA. Over two rounds, the Children’s and Pre-Juniors attempted to record clear efforts to their overall scores and emerge on the podium. In the Children’s, Rylynn Conway (Zone 2 – Fair Haven, N.J.) took the gold medal after a tiebreaking jump-off, while in the Pre-Junior category, Lawson Whitaker...

Traverse City, Mich. – History repeated itself on the first day of competition at the 2022 FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC) for dressage as the Junior team representing Region 4 won team gold for the second consecutive year. The 2022 NAYC Region 4 Junior Dressage Team. ©KTB Creative Not only was it a repeat win for the region, but the roster was made up of veteran horse-and-athlete combinations from the 2021 Region 4 Junior Team. Lexie Kment (Palmyra, Neb.) and Montagny...

Hesperus, Colo. – The 2021 USEF/AVA Vaulting National Championships had an exciting weekend of the country’s top vaulting athletes competing September 18-19 in Hesperus, Colo. After a year’s hiatus due to qualifying disruptions caused by COVID-19, the vaulting community was ready to prove their mettle. In the 3* divisions, Tessa Divita won the USEF/AVA 3* Individual Female Vaulting National Championship while Geoffrey Woolson took top honors in the USEF/AVA 3* Individual Male...

Lexington, Ky. – Friday night brought a familiar scene to the Rolex Stadium as Boyd Martin (Unionville, Pa.) took a victory lap with On Cue, the 2006 Selle Francais mare he co-owns with Christine, Thomas, and Tommie Turner. The pair turned in a double clear jumping round to finish at the top of the podium in the USEF Advanced Horse Trials National Championship, held at the American Eventing Championships. “I was thrilled with On Cue,” said Martin. “She’s just...

Wayne, Ill. – Another packed day of competition took place at the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions on Saturday. Seven divisions performed their respective tests, with six titles up for grabs. Impressive scores, strong partnerships, and excellent riding highlighted the penultimate day at the prestigious event. Adequan®/USEF Junior Dressage National Championship Kat Fuqua and DreamGirl (SusanJStickle.com) Eleven pairs competed in the FEI Junior Individual Test of the...

The 2021 Gotham North FEI North American Youth Jumping Championships concluded Sunday afternoon in Traverse City, Michigan at Flintfields Horse Park. After postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the young athletes were eager to once again participate in the unique opportunity to represent their nation on an international stage. It was Zayna Rizvi and Mimi Gochman who took home the final individual medals of the week, emerging victorious in the Junior Individual Championship and the...

Traverse City, Mich. – Christian Simonson (Ventura, Calif.) and Zeaball Diawind shattered the NAYC record for the highest score in the FEI Young Rider Freestyle Test, receiving a 78.935 percent from the judging panel to secure the pair’s third gold-medal performance of the week. Allison Nemeth (Flemington, N.J.) and Tiko earned a 73.330 percent for second place, while Tillie Jones (Lincoln, Neb.) and Qi Gong TF secured the bronze medal with a 73.170 percent. Simonson and Zeaball...