Lexington, KY —Over the last few days, the Southern California area has been engulfed in flames caused by wild fires aggravated by the Santa Ana winds. These winds that annually cross the Southern California area have been much stronger than usual, making an already dry area even more prone to catastrophe. These fires have spread quickly over the weekend and ravaged the region. San Diego County has seen widespread evacuations as a result of the fires. Nearly one-million people have been asked...

Three years may sound like a long time, but, for the World Games 2010 Foundation, Inc., the organization responsible for planning, staging and conducting the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, 2010 is quickly approaching—with September 25, 2007, marking three years to go before Opening Ceremonies of the 16-day event. The Foundation is celebrating “Three Years to Go” with a special graphic design for t-shirts, postcards and limited-edition pins. The graphic design consists of a line of...

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the approval of Digital Angel Corporation’s (formerly Destron Fearing) Life-Chip equine radio frequency identification (RFID) injectable transponder for use in horses. The industry expects that in the future additional companies will apply for USDA approval of equine microchips to be developed and sold in the U.S. Microchips are a valuable tool to the equine industry to identify horses, whether as proof of ownership if lost or...

At the New York State Fair Horse Show in Syracuse, NY, Jennifer Reid of Wellington, FL, took home the Adult Amateur 18-35 Hunter championship on her mount Sweet Emotion. Reid and the talented black mare won three out of five classes in the division. They were third and fourth in the remaining two classes. Sweet Emotion won the under saddle class in the adult hunter division as well as the $500 open hunter under saddle class. Reid also piloted Playtime to the reserve championship in the division....

Lexington, KY—The United States Equestrian Federation is seeking an individual to fill the position of Endurance Chef d’Equipe. The successful candidate will be provided with a contract for the 2008-2010 biennium and possibly longer. A Search Committee has been appointed: -James Wolf - Executive Director, Sports Programs -Mark Phillips - USEF Chef d’Equipe for Eventing -Tony Benedetti - Endurance High Performance and Active Athlete Committee member. -Kathy Brunjes - Endurance High...

The Hong Kong Jockey Club announced on July 7 that it had now completed all key venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events for testing as scheduled and that the facilities would set new world standards in terms of quality, environmental consideration, cost effectiveness and legacy value. Moreover, the project had been achieved from initial planning to completion within the remarkably short time of less than two years. The Club will hand over the competition and...

(Lexington, KY) - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), announced today that effective June 28th United States Dressage Federation members, who have an active USDF participating membership and are USEF members, can now obtain one joint USEF/USDF membership card as opposed to two separate cards. The card can be accessed online and carries both of the individual membership numbers. The USEF already has a joint membership card with the United States Hunter and Jumper Association (USHJA)...

Doug Prather (New York's McLain Ward and Sapphire finish in eighth place in the Rolex FEI World Cup Show Jumping Finals in Las Vegas) Las Vegas, Nevada—On the last day of the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup for show jumping, it came down to a battle between the Germans and Swiss. In the end, it was a win for Beat Mandli and Ideo du Thot, the 11-year-old Selle Francais gelding after putting in two rounds where they downed only one rail to finish on a score of five World Cup points. Some 15...

Aaron Ralston (left) and Tim McQuay (right) were awarded the Bronze and Silver Individual reining medals at the 2006 WEG. Canada's Duane Latimer took the Gold. (Bob Langrish ) (Aachen, Germany) —It ended like it began, with wind and rain. But, it was a wet, windy and wonderful finale to an amazing two weeks of equestrian sport at the 2006 Aachen World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. By all accounts, it has turned out to be the biggest and most impressive equestrian competition in...

Beezie Madden and Authentic made the final four cut in show jumping's Rolex World Championship. (Bob Langrish) The show jumpers returned to day four of five in a hotly contested race to the medal podium. America’s Beezie Madden and Authentic have dazzled the legions of show jumping fans that have traveled to Aachen to witness the very best of the best. Today’s two-round go was the decisive test of which four horse-and-rider pairs were asked to return for one last round on Sunday....