"Beautiful Music and Breathtaking Horses" take center stage in the The Symphony of Horses 2006. The Marion Therapeutic Riding Association (MTRA) is producing its third amazing evening of world-class horses and riders performing to the Central Florida Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dr. Susan Robinson. The production of 2002 and 2004 thrilled sold-out crowds to the benefit of the non-profit therapeutic horseback riding program. The 2006 performance will be held Sunday evening, December 10,...

The 32nd Arizona Saddlebred Futurity Horse Show will host the first annual Southwest Regional Championships. The regional is for horses residing in Zone 1 as designated by the ASHA (Zone 1 states are Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah). The Horse show and Saddlebred Futurity will run October 27-29, 2006 at Westworld of Scottsdale. Southwest Regional Championship honors will be awarded to the top horse/rider in each of the following: the Open and Amateur Championship classes...

Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation® has finalized the second 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, 61 applications have been received and 49 have been approved. Grant requests are...

The Swiss team will be first into the ring when the second leg of the 2006 Samsung Super League with FEI series gets underway tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. local time in Aachen, Germany. The ORDER OF GO tomorrow is as follows: 1. Switzerland; 2, The Netherlands; 3, Great Britain; 4, USA, 5, Germany; 6, France; 7, Ireland; 8, Sweden. The U.S got off to a good start today as Margie Engle on Hidden Creek's Perin won the Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia with no faults in a time of 75.26. Jeffrey Welles of...

Bob Tarr (TCE Balastrana+++// with Mercy Burwell) TCE Balastrana+++// (TC Expression x Brooklynn), owned by Mercy Burwell of Brentwood, MO, ranked as the top horse among a field of more than 3,000 Arabians, Half-Arabians and Anglo-Arabians to become the 2005 Arabian Horse Association (AHA) High-Point Horse. To reach this pinnacle, the mare accumulated 388 points in Horse Achievement Awards (HAA), the Association's premier rewards program for actively competing horses. The Arabian horse...

The American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC), the national governing body for endurance riding in the United States, will hold its annual convention in Texas for the first time in 2006. The two-day program of seminars, informational meetings and a free trade show is set for February 24-25 at the Crowne Plaza Riverwalk in San Antonio. Leading experts in equine health care and endurance-related fields will be featured at several seminar sessions. Other highlights of the AERC's convention will...

Delaware State University (DSU) is adding a new women’s sports that will play a major role in making its sports gender equity shortcomings a thing of the past, and at the same time establish a distinct athletics program that will set it apart not only from every school in the MEAC and the state, but in the entire Mid-Atlantic Region. The University will take advantage of the resources and partnerships of its College of Agriculture and Related Sciences and establish a Women’s Equestrian Team,...

Equine veterinarians from across the globe will gather in Seattle, WA, for the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ (AAEP) 51st Annual Convention, December 3-7, 2005. More than 3,300 practitioners, veterinary students and technicians attend the convention each year, making it the largest equine veterinary meeting in the world. The 2005 scientific program features in-depth seminars exploring lameness and imaging, equine behavior, pain management, respiratory issues and vaccination....

President Bush has signed into law the $300 billion federal highway funding bill, known as SAFETEA-LU, approved by Congress just before it broke for the August-Labor Day recess. The controversial legislation took over two years to agree to and enact, requiring numerous Continuing Resolutions extending the prior federal highway bill past its expiration. Recreational Trails Program Funding Favorable funding for the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) was included in the legislation. The total...

The Vermont Summer Festival is New England's largest 'AA' rated hunter-jumper horse show, and is now sanctioned by Equine Canada, the national body for equestrian sport in Canada. As per tradition, the Vermont Summer Festival will feature a $10,000 Mini Prix every Friday, as well as a $30,000 Grand Prix held each Sunday for the first four weeks. New for 2005, the Vermont Summer Festival will conclude with a grand finale, the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix. Each of the five weeks...