Last week, courtesy of the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, we began our tour of the top 10 poisonous plants to watch for in your horse’s pasture, based on a list compiled by the American Association of Equine Practitioners . Part 1 of this two-part series spotlighted five toxic plants to keep an eye out for in your horse’s pasture (click the plant name to see an image and additional information): bracken fern , hemlock , water hemlock , tansy ragwort , and Johnson grass / Sudan...

LaGoy-Weltz and Pai Shine on Day Two of 2017 The Dutta Corp. U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions Gladstone, N.J. – The Dutta Corp. U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions continued on Friday at the United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation headquarters at Hamilton Farm. Competitors in the USEF Grand Prix Dressage National Championship and the USEF Young Adult “Brentina Cup” Dressage National Championship presented by Dressage Today performed their second tests before the...

The pastures are in bloom. It’s that time of year we all have been anxiously awaiting. Winter is over, and the green is taking over! When you take a walk through your pasture, I’m sure you will find plants that are toxic to your horse. Lots of these plants in general will pose little threat to your horse because they will have no desire to eat them, although one reason horses will eat non-palatable plants is hunger. Let’s take a stroll through the top 10 poisonous...

Be sure to age-verify your horse that competes in classes requiring age verification prior to going to a competition. (© Al Cook - alcookphoto.com) Age verification is a new specific rule in 2017 for US Equestrian in Young Hunter classes and Jumper classes restricted by age of the horse. US Equestrian wants you to age-verify your horse that competes in classes requiring age verification prior to going to a competition, and you can even send us the required documents very easily. Here are...

Dear fellow USEF member, Last Saturday, I was formally elected to be President of the United States Equestrian Federation. I am deeply honored to have been elected to this volunteer position and am so excited to have been given this opportunity to help drive growth in equestrian sports in the United States. For those of you who don’t know me, the first thing you need to know is that I come to this position with 45 years of equestrian experience. And put simply, I love horses. Our family...

Laura Chapot and Thornhill Kate on their way to a $34,600 HITS Jumper Classic win. (ESI Photography) Saugerties, N.Y. - The HITS Championship feature CSI-5* classes continued with Friday’s $34,600 HITS Jumper Classic. The prestigious class served as a qualifying opportunity for the weekend’s premiere event, the Saugerties $1 Million Grand Prix on Sunday, September 11. Forty-four horses and riders showed up to the Grand Prix Ring to stake claims on the CSI-5* victory and to prepare...

Laura Chapot and Quointreau Un Prince on their way to a $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix win. (ESI Photography) Saugerties, N.Y. - A big day of elite competition commenced with Friday’s $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix. An accomplished field of forty-five tested the course set by Mark McGowan of Kilmarnock, Great Britain, but only one could take home the blue ribbon. There is no slowing down when the Chapot’s are in town. Rider, Laura Chapot, and her mother and trainer, Mary Chapot, have been...

Another day, another waste of time setting the alarm clock; a forlorn hope that I would make it to 5:30 a.m. There are still many loose ends to sort so the “get your lazy arse (aka butt) out of bed” side of my brain is winning the nightly joust with the “go on..be a lazy walrus” side of the aforementioned, alcohol preserved grey matter: I will not pretend that I am not extremely nervous about the arrival of the horse flights and also how we are going to make the...

No. 6 seed TCU was able to fight its way all the way into the National Championship meet on Saturday, April 16, but in the end, it was No. 1 seed Auburn that was able to hold on for an 8-7 win for the Tigers' first National Championship since 2013. With all-SEC finals the first two years under the current format of scoring, the Horned Frogs crashed the party with a 10-5 upset victory over Georgia in the semifinal meet earlier in the day. TCU became the lowest seed to make the National...

Michelle Parker and Vancouver 45 (McCool Photography) San Juan Capistrano, Calif. - A large and enthusiastic crowd cheered on twenty-seven entries as they kicked off the inaugural $25,000 Markel Insurance 1.40m Grand Prix of the 2016 season. With six returning for the jump-off, it was Michelle Parker and Cross Creek Farms, Inc.'s Vancouver 45 who brought home the blue on a beautiful Southern California spring day. FEI course designer Catsy Cruz of Mexico created the tracks in the...