Photo by Flying Horse Photography (Susie Hutchison and El Dorado 29's Cantano.) The $30,000 Blenheim June Classic Grand Prix, made possible by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, had 20 horse-and-rider combinations take a turn on the course designed by Javier Fernandez. With only four riders bringing their mounts back for the jump-off, it was the team of Susan Hutchison and El Dorado 29's Cantano who came out on top for the win. As the 15th pair to enter the ring, Hutchison and Cantano were the...

Photo by Terri Miller (Dressage at Devon) Dressage riders...2010 is the year to make dreams come true at Dressage at Devon. To celebrate the show's 35th anniversary, the qualifying criteria for the 2010 show have been changed. Minimum qualifying scores have been eliminated giving more riders the opportunity to experience this historic event. Instead, submit your highest scores for the class level entered. These scores will be ranked on closing day to fill the class. This is your chance to ride...

Effective December 1, 2009, English Pleasure will now be a recognized division with the United States Equestrian Federation. The new division rules can be found on the USEF website at www.usef.org/documents/rules/ruleChanges/2010/RE12109.pdf . This means that you have the opportunity to offer "rated" English Pleasure classes to your exhibitors. The Federation is excited to add this division to encourage and reward yet another venue of equestrian sport. The English Pleasure division has three...

If horses could talk, humans would certainly hear some amazing tales. The stories told by Jamaica, the 17-year-old combined driving horse that helped his owner Chester Weber win a Silver medal at the FEI World Championships in The Netherlands, would be some of the most inspiring. At first glance, the high-spirited champion combined driving horse bears little resemblance to the carriage horse in the childhood story Black Beauty . That’s until you learn that the gelding was rescued from a...

The Buffalo International Horse Show (BIHS) is a historical horse show that benefits a wonderful equestrian organization. BIHS is one of the oldest horse shows in the country, heading into its 62nd year. All proceeds are donated to the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center. This year, the show will be held September 17-21, 2008. BIHS is an USEF AA rated event. Unlike other high-ranking equestrian events that cater to the more talented riders and prominent divisions, BIHS does not. The staff does an...

Even tropical storm Hanna could not stop the competition at The Laurels at Landhope, September 5-7 in West Grove, PA. With hard ground from a dry summer, drivers in the advanced, intermediate, and preliminary divisions got through dressage, but some had concerns that the hard going would be too rough for them. "If there was anything that had me worried, it was that we wouldn't get the rain. I would have scratched. I was not going to sacrifice my 'A' team to the ground," said Lisa Stroud after...

Did you know that some wilderness management agencies are trying to restrict the use of horses on public lands? Or that the U.S. Forest Service is planning new trail classifications, which might limit our activities? Did you hear about the new bill that could eliminate the current fees for accessing undeveloped federal land? The outcome of these kinds of concerns can have far-reaching consequences, yet they often come and go with little public awareness. But Back Country Horsemen of America...

Germany's victory in the fourth leg of the 2008 FEI Samsung Super League in Rotterdam moved them up from sixth to second on the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the series. The Netherlands finished in runner-up spot; time faults proved costly for them on a day when the clock was particularly influential. Belgium slotted into third ahead of Great Britain in fourth, Switzerland in fifth, and Ireland in sixth. For Sweden, it was yet another difficult day, but they battled hard to avoid being...

The University of Kentucky’s (UK) College of Agriculture is celebrating national championships by two of its collegiate equine teams. Riders from its equestrian and dressage teams nabbed top honors in their respective competitions. The UK equestrian team bested 17 other hunt seat teams from across the country at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Championships, May 8-11, in Burbank, CA, to take home UK’s first team championship. This was only the second year the team’s...

A number of factors have converged to make this a very difficult year for Kentucky’s horses. Equine overpopulation, a challenging economy and last summer’s draught are among the causes of distress that have put Kentucky’s horses in the national media spotlight. “We’ve all been disturbed by the sight of neglected and starving horses in the news, and we are determined to do something about it. We’re going to put our actions where our hearts are,” said John Nicholson, Executive Director of the...