Gina Miles and McKinlaigh (Shannon Brinkman) Hong Kong, China – Becky Holder cashed in on a lifetime of preparation today when she cantered down the centerline of the dressage ring of her first Olympic Games. She put in a fantastic effort to lead the US Eventing Team to a second place finish after three riders.The US Team finished on a score of 121.50 behind the Australians who were on fire with a three rider total of 102.8. Riding the 13-year-old Thoroughbred Courageous Comet (whom she...

Lexington, KY – Driver Chester Weber continued his stellar European campaign over the weekend with a convincing win at the German Fahrderby in Riesenbeck, Germany. The Fahrderby (Driving Derby) is a unique competition which consists of six separate phases. It began with each competitor driving a pair the first morning - a class that is equivalent to a show hunter class. Four drivers enter a standard driving arena and are directed by the judges to perform specific movements from letter to...

Ravel and Steffen Peters (Amy McCool) San Juan Capistrano, CA – Overnight leader Steffen Peters returned to the Oaks Blenheim ring with Ravel in the USEF National Grand Prix Dressage Championship and the USEF Selection Trial for Dressage, and made it quite clear that he was not going to relinquish his lead. Owned by Akiko Yamazaki, Ravel, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding took some of the much more experienced horses to task and never looked in danger of making a mistake. The elegant...

Phillip Dutton and The Foreman (Photo by Shannon Brinkman ) Elkton, MD – The competition continued on Sunday as numerous USEF National Championships were up for grabs at the Fair Hill International CCI***. Phillip Dutton won for the fourth time, but this was the first time that the U.S. national anthem was played in his honor. Riding The Foreman, an 11-year-old Thoroughbred gelding owned by Ann Jones, Dutton won the USEF National Eventing Championships on a score of 46.4, adding one rail...

Nikko Ritter rode Clover Count to victory at the Platinum Performance/USEF Talent Search Finals East (Jennifer Wenzel) Gladstone, NJ - Take some flatwork, add some gymnastic jumping exercises, send all the riders over a carefully designed course, then have the top four riders switch horses and over the course of two days, a very prestigious title is handed out. Welcome to the Platinum Performance//USEF Talent Search Final. Fortunately, in sharp contrast to its West Coast counterpart, the...

(Lexington, KY) - A timely response is needed from members of the horse industry to their Congressional Delegation since the House of Representative is scheduled to vote on the 2008 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations bill (H.R. 3161), which would fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Fiscal Year 2008, early next week. Section 738 of that bill would be devastating because it would cut-off funding for USDA activities important to the horse industry....

Diana DeRosa (Lauren Hough and Casadora lead the American effort after Day One of show jumping.) Rio de Janeiro—Some 47 Pan American Games show jumpers entered the arena at Deodoro Stadium outside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday morning to begin the first of two days of team competition. Leading the way for Team USA was rider Lauren Hough aboard Casadora. The last of the four to go was Todd Minikus and Pavarotti. Team USA ended the day in a surprising overall fourth place after the...

Diana DeRosa (Christopher Hickey and Regent in Rio de Janeiro) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—When most people think of Rio, sunshine comes quickly to mind. However, that was not the case today at Deodoro Stadium and the National Equestrian Center outside of the city. Clouds, the threat of rain showers and cooler temperatures loomed, but it was a rather bright day for the hopes of the American dressage riders as all three of them competed in the first of two rounds that will determine the...

Team USA does it again by bringing home the Team Gold medal in reining. Pictured are: Dell Hendricks, Tim McQuay, Aaron Rahlston and Matt Mills. (By Ceci Flanagan-Snow) More than 38,000 fans of reining and driving descended on the 2006 World Equestrian Games on Friday to watch the exciting marathon phase of four-in-hand driving and the Team medal competition in the Western discipline of reining. It was a Gold-medal day for Team USA’s reiners, while three American drivers took to the...

Bob Langrish (Steffen Peters aboard Floriano finished in fourth place in the grand prix special during Friday's dressage competition in Aachen.) (Aachen, Germany)—To say it was tough competition today in the dressage grand prix special at the 2006 World Equestrian Games (WEG) would be a gross understatement. But two Americans made it look like a walk in the park. American’s Guenter Seidel and Steffen Peters, who are now both poised to enter a showdown among the top 15 dressage...