The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) is proud to recognize the following individuals for achieving USDF Instructor Certification status at the USDF Instructor Certification Test held at the Riverside Equestrian Center in Petaluma, CA, on September 15-17, 2006. The examiners for this Instructor Certification Test were Cindy Sydnor, Michael Poulin and Debbie Bowman. Training-Second Level Susan Gamier, CA Nellie Martin-Giles, CA Marina Murray, WY Anne Reynolds, CA Stacy Zwergel, CA...

Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation® (USEF) has finalized the third list of breed events that will receive outreach grants through the new program announced in January. The maximum grant is $1,000, and grants are still available. A total of $125,000 has been budgeted in 2006 for grants to financially challenged breed competitions that meet the grant requirements and are approved by the USEF. To date, 68 applications have been received and 54 have been approved. Grant...

On Monday, June 26, 2006, the Office International des Epizooties (OIE.) Reference Laboratory for Equine Viral Arteritis at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, confirmed an outbreak of equine arteritis virus (EVA) infection involving fetal losses among mares on a Quarter Horse breeding farm in New Mexico. This was based on the widespread prevalence of high antibody levels to the virus in both mares and stallions, plus virus isolation from...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) is pleased to announce the new USDF Breeder of the Year Award program, which will be initiated for the 2006 competition season, which started October 1, 2005. This is a year-end award, based on performance in a given competition year. Breeders of dressage performance horses and breeders of dressage in-hand horses will be able to vie for top honors. Scott Hassler, Chairperson of the USDF Sport Horse Committee, stated, "Over the last few years, a...

Lexington, KY – The 2006 United States Equestrian Federation Annual Meeting, previously scheduled to take place in New Orleans, has been relocated to Cincinnati, OH, at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. The dates for the convention will remain January 11–15. “We were very much looking forward to meeting in New Orleans but USEF was one of hundreds of organizations that had to relocate their convention as a result of the devastating hurricane. The Netherland Plaza is a beautiful Art Deco...

Laura Kraut extended her lead to 13 points over Beezie Madden in the race for American Grand Prix Association (AGA) Rider of the Year following a fifth place finish in the Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix in Kentucky over the weekend. Meanwhile, victories by Aaron Vale in Kentucky and Rich Fellers in California have juggled the standings and moved both of those riders into contention for the American Grand Prix Association title. Entering its 27th year, the AGA Grand Prix Series of Show Jumping is...

Dressage Jan Ebeling and Rafalca. Photo by Aly Sanderford/Phelps Media Group. Three American dressage riders traveled to Leipzig, Germany, to compete in the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final, April 27-May 1. Jan Ebeling, Catherine Haddad-Staller and Shawna Harding all qualified to compete in the Grand Prix Freestyle after strong performances in the Grand Prix presented by Sparkasse on Thursday afternoon. Ebeling rode Ann Romney's Rafalca to a 10th place finish on a score of 68.191% in...

More showing chronicles. Not to bore you or to toot our horns, but to make you think. To ask questions. To reflect. Dressage training should make our horses more rideable, more comfortable in their bodies as riding horses, better in their minds, and keep them sound longer as our partners. At least that is what my trainers have taught me.Our rescue organization takes in horses, some with long histories of lameness, and through proper training, conditioning and development over time, return them...

Reprinted with permission from Cowboy Dressage Newsletter: August 2-4, 2013 “Build It and They Will Come” “Cowboy Dressage Competition debuted at Rancho Murieta Gold N Grand Horse Show Aug 2-4. Gold N Grand is known on the west coast for being the premier open horse show at one of the west’s top equine facilities. A record number of 183 entries for one discipline made history. It was Cowboy Dressage. This does not happen by accident. It happens because of hard work, a...

Show season keeps moving forward and the scores keep coming in. At the last WSH show, the high score rider, Linda Coates-Markle, received a whopping 76% on NAWD Level 3 Test 1 (that is the western equivalent of USDF First Level) riding her Quarter Horse mare. Once again, this last weekend, shows featuring Western Dressage classes were held all over the country and WD riders on both sides of the nation received the highest Phyllis Ray and Starr in the warm-up (Darcia Drapeau) scores recorded at...