Photo by SusanJStickle.com (Canada's Belinda Trussell and Anton won the opening class in the WEF Dressage Classic, the FEI Grand Prix CDI***. ) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) featured four disciplines in its tenth week of competition on March 17-21. The week featured the $75,000 Equine Couture/TuffRider Grand Prix CSI** and the WEF Dressage Classic, CDI***, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week ten title sponsor was Equine...

Dressage Dressage riders on the West Coast competed under the California sun this weekend at the Dressage Affaire CDI3* held at the Del Mar Horse Park. Steffen Peters continued to demonstrate his dominance in U.S. dressage, winning in all seven of his outings. With 2009 Horse of the Year, Ravel, Peters blew away the competition winning by nine percentage points in both the Grand Prix (77.660%) and Grand Prix Special (77.375%). Adrienne Lyle and Wizard put in two excellent performances to finish...

Photo Courtesy FEI (Mara Dean and Nicki Henley) Mara Dean has become the first rider to post a winning score on the HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing leaderboard, following an emotional pillar-to-post victory in the Florida sunshine at the Red Hills International CIC***-W in Tallahassee, FL. Riding her veteran 15-year-old Irish-bred Nicky Henley, who was coming back into competition after sustaining a tendon injury at the 2007 Pan American Games, Virginia-based Dean held off the always serious...

Photo by Don Stine (One More Round++// with Alexis Doughty riding, shown with trainer Ben Flynn and Bill Doughty.) One More Round++// (Al Jassur Laddin x Winifred), owned by Bill and Alexis Doughty of Cape Charles, VA, was named the 2009 Arabian Horse Association (AHA) High Point Horse of the Year. The 2004 bay gelding earned 467 points in 2009 by competing in over 200 classes at 20 shows. The rigorous show schedule, which was carefully balanced with rest time, began in January and ended in...

Photo by Diana DeRosa The atmosphere at the fourth annual Bowling for Equestrians was electrifying. From the thunder of the bowling balls as they sped down the alleys to the misty fog that made the psychedelic lighting system sparkle. The game room was showered with kids testing their skills while young and old alike threw bowling balls down the alleys in hopes of a spare or strike. The fundraiser, which is the brainchild of the American Hunter-Jumper Foundation (AHJF), was held at Greenacres...

Ravel Settles for Second (SusanJStickle.com) Wellington, FL – Having convincingly won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Exquis World Dressage Masters on Thursday afternoon, the pressure was on Steffen Peters to continue his winning tear with Ravel. But unfortunately for the US fans, it was a repeat of 2009 and he still couldn’t eclipse Anky van Grunsven and her Olympic champion Salinero. The reigning Gold medalist wowed the fans with a classic fault-free performance and a score of 84.4% for the...

Gulch, the six-time Grade 1-winning son of Mr. Prospector, has moved to Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement facility in Georgetown, KY, where he will permanently retire. The 25-year-old stallion has stood at William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, KY, since leaving racing in 1988. He was pensioned from stud duty just this year. Gulch (Mr. Prospector x Jameela, by Rambunctious) was owned and bred by Peter M. Brant and trained by Hall-of-Famers LeRoy Jolley and D. Wayne Lukas....

Photo by Ken Braddick (Steffen Peters and Ravel) Lexington, KY – Talk about busy. 2009 has been a whirlwind, new champions of all kinds, title defenders, legends and innovators made headlines this year. The line between winning and losing has become increasingly fine as all the USEF competitors in every discipline continue to up their game, hone their skills and make the US Team proud both locally and across the globe. With the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) looming on the...

The international sport of reining will host the world’s premiere event for reiners—the 2009 National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Futurity & Adequan® North American Affiliate Championship Show, November 26 through December 5, at Oklahoma State Fair Park in Oklahoma City, OK. The $1.9-million show features the NRHA Futurity—the premiere event for three-year-old reining horses. At the end of the Open Finals on Saturday, December 5, one entry is guaranteed a check for $125,000 as...

The turn of the fall season marks not just the beginning of winter, but the time of year when the world’s most talented and colorful Appaloosas head to Fort Worth, TX, for the most prestigious event in the Appaloosa industry—the 2009 World Championship Appaloosa Show. Exhibitors, owners, trainers, equine enthusiasts and nearly 900 Appaloosas participated. The Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) counted the event a continued success, as the number of open and non-pro entries was identical to last...