Lexington, Ky. - To reach the highest level of excellence in equestrian sport requires talent, perseverance, a tremendous spirit and often, unwavering courage. In 2013, six horses have shown the world these qualities and more. On January 11, the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) will bestow two of them with the prestigious title of Horse of the Year, the highest honor the USEF awards a horse. Again this year, both a national and international horse will be crowned. The six champions...

Wendy O'Brien (Mary Phelps-phelpsphotos.com) Pau, France - The 2013 FEI Pony World Driving Championships came to a conclusion Sunday with the cones phase and saw the United States secure a seventh place finish on a total of 452.1. The Netherlands capped off a banner weekend earning Team Gold on a score of 332.3, with Germany claiming Silver on 365.9, and Hungary cruised to a Bronze medal on a score of 388.3. In the Single Pony Championship, Tracey Morgan (Beallsville, Md.) led the way for the U....

Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty (McCool) Temecula, Calif. – Competition for the CCI3* began Friday at the Galway Downs International Event and Horse Trials with the field of 17 performing their dressage tests. Buck Davidson holds the top two places on the leaderboard with The Apprentice and Absolute Liberty with scores of 48.9 and 50.6, respectively. Davidson (Ocala, Fla.) received a USEF Land Rover Competition Grant to bring Sharon Will’s Absolute Liberty to the West Coast for...

Tim Gredley and Unex Valente clear 2.10m. (Shawn McMillen Photography) Washington, D.C. - The 55th annual Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) continued on Friday, October 25, with a exciting day of hunter, jumper, and equitation competition at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The $25,000 Open Jumper Puissance, presented by The Boeing Company, was the highlight class of the evening with a win for Great Britain's Tim Gredley and Unex Competition Yard's Unex Valente, clearing the...

Shane Sweetnam and Solerina (Shawn McMillen Photography) Washington, D.C. - The $20,000 International Open Jumper Gambler’s Choice Costume Class is always an exciting event at WIHS, especially with Barn Night and thousands of young fans cheering on the riders. In tonight’s class, Irish rider Shane Sweetnam jumped to victory dressed as a keg of beer riding Sweet Oak Farm's Solerina. The duo earned 960 points over the course and jumped clean over the Joker fence for an additional...

Welcome to the fourth installment of a different kind of blog from WDAA! The purpose of this post is to allow the reader "into the heads" of both a trainer/judge/competitor, Karen Abbattista and her student, Deborah Herbert, a Florida WDAA member. We would like to share with you some moments in Deb's journey as she pursues her riding goals with her AQHA mare "GenuineArcticSpring", barn name "Belle". Please enjoy as you follow along with these posts that we consider interesting or...

Dover, Delaware - The No.3 University of South Carolina continued to roll over NCEA competition on the first weekend in October. On Friday, against the University of Delaware in Dover, the Gamecocks started off strong and stayed that way. Their impressive hunt seat team jumped out to a 3-1 lead in equitation on the flat. Later they swept the over fences competiton 5-0 on the way to an 8-1 victory. The western team wasn't quite as dominant, but they left no one question which was squad was...

Reed Kessler and Soraya l'Obstination (Global Champions Tour) 2012 US Olympian and history-maker Reed Kessler was determined to shake off Friday's second place finish, and knowing the young 19 year old's competitive drive, Saturday was an opportunity to beat Friday's winner Patrice Delaveau and land a Longines Global Champions Tour winning title. Reed was aboard her new mare Soraya l'Obstination and won with an impressive time of 55.99 seconds; almost a whole second faster then...

Pablo Barrios and Zara Leandra (Phelps Media Group, Inc. International) Lexington, KY - Venezuelan rider Pablo Barrios is proving to be unstoppable with his talented young mare Zara Leandra. With a speedy double clear during tonight's jump-off, the duo won their third $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic. Only four horses advanced to the tiebreaker in the Rolex Stadium during the Kentucky Summer Classic, and Aaron Vale was the only other rider to leave all the fences intact a second time to...

As you know I occasionally receive a story from a Western Dressage rider and this week I would like to share with you the story behind a beautiful magazine cover photo that appeared recently in Paint Horse Journal and which featured coverage of Western Dressage. The photo was of Katrina Sanders and her Paint horse Pirate. Here is what Katrina shares with western dressage enthusiasts this week: “Thank you so much for offering to feature my photo in your blog! I am honored and so grateful...