Rodrigo de Matos is a Principle Rider of L'Escola Portuguesa d'Arte Equestre, and the Chief Instructor at Morgado Lustiano in Portugal. He represented Portugual at the recent Paris Symposium where all four of the great classical European schools of riding were invited to a joint performance and exchange of ideas. Participants included the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, the Cadre Noir, L'Escola Portuguesa, and the Spanish National School. As a representative of L'Escola and Morgado Lusitano,...

Exhibitors at the recent Sport Horse National (SHN) Championships were pleasantly surprised by the news that they won some unexpected cash at the show. Where did their windfall come from? Less than one year ago, the SHN Payback Program was born by a group of longtime Arabian breeders and riders. By offering cash rewards, the group hopes to encourage interest and enthusiasm in the Sport Horse Nationals show, as well as the breeding of Arabians specifically for the sport-type disciplines of...

Tickets are now available for EQUUS "Deal or No Deal" event at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament on Friday, October 31, 2008. Hosted by Bates Saddles, The EQUUS Foundation will feature the top junior equitation riders competing at the show as the Deal or No Deal Suitcase Models. The event, which will held in the OnCenter Ballroom from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m, will take place simultaneously with the Bates Equitation Meeting where equitation riders, trainers and parents will have the...

Hong Kong, China – After receiving the lowest score of her career (63.00%), all of Brentina’s connections were concerned that despite training absolutely phenomenally every day leading up to the Games, there may have been something physically wrong with the gallant 17-year-old Hanoverian mare. “She’s fitter and sounder than ever,” said her rider of 13 years, Debbie McDonald. “She’s been schooling so well but she was totally different in the ring than she was in the warm up. I was totally caught...

In addition to being the exclusive financial services partner to the FEI, HSBC, the world’s local bank, has made a commitment to the discipline of eventing on a global basis. This commitment will cover the prestigious four-star events, which will be known as the HSBC FEI Classics. The five four-star events currently on the FEI calendar will make up the HSBC FEI Classics; these events not only have the richest tradition but are also the pinnacle of eventing attracting the best riders and horses...

The National Dressage Pony Cup will hold its inaugural show June 28-29, 2008, at Paxton Farm in Cincinnati, OH. The show was created by a group of pony owners in order to promote ponies, their breeders and riders in dressage competition in the United States. Ponies of all breeds are invited to attend the United States Dressage Federation/United States Equestrian Federation-recognized show held in conjunction with Paxton Farms Summer Classic. The ponies will be officially measured at the show...

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) has started to receive applications from the domestic spectators for the tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Paralympic Games. According to the ticketing plan, there will be 21,000 tickets for the opening ceremony and 26,000 tickets for the closing ceremony available. Their bookings will end on December 30. No time preference will be given to any application and all applications will enjoy the...

The United States Eventing Association (USEA) will again host the ICP Jumping Symposium in Florida, this year on January 28, to be followed by an Eventing Judges Dressage Continuing Education Clinic and a Young Event Horse (YEH) Judging Seminar on January 29 and 30. All three days are open to the public at Betsy Watkins' Longwood South in Ocala. Anyone interested—riders, owners, breeders, instructors, judges—is welcome. The ICP Jumping Symposium will focus on teaching and riding...

The American Saddlebred Horse Association is offering live streaming video of the Lexington Junior League Horse Show via its website at www.saddlebred.com . The webcast began with the show’s first session on Monday, July 9, and will include each session through the show’s conclusion on Saturday night, July 14. The same video feed that goes out to the Red Mile’s jumbotron and other video monitors will be broadcast worldwide on www.saddlebred.com . Plans are also underway to webcast the American...

Vermont Summer Festival is presenting live webcasts of its horse show competition. The webcasts are being produced by LiveBroadcast.TV and Productions East Video. The Vermont Summer Festival began on July 11 and features six full weeks of hunter/jumper competition. The Vermont Summer Festival offers $800,000 in prize money, making it the largest sporting event in the state of Vermont based on total purse. The Vermont Summer Festival is New England’s largest “AA” rated hunter/jumper horse show...