George Lucas’ Storm Troopers from the blockbuster Star Wars films were created as an elite army with no fears, just a determination to be victorious. This week saw a new breed of Storm Troopers at the Atlanta Spring Classics finale. Shaker Heights, OH-based David Jennings and partner Marcus Aurelius triumphed over Mother Nature in the Lucky Sevens Welcome Stake and the Atlanta Spring Grand Prix, both presented by Classic Company. Despite torrents of rain that came and went throughout most of...

Lexington, KY – U.S. show jumper Hillary Dobbs went to Falsterbo Horse Show in Sweden to jump in Europe for the first time. The 20-year-old Harvard University student may have been looking for some experience. She also found a big win. Riding Corlett, she was one of two US riders to jump in the Swedbank Derby. It was her first attempt at a Derby class in her first European show, but no one would have ever guessed. “She was just brilliant,” said Chef d'Equipe Melanie Smith Taylor. “She was the...

At the Kentucky International Equine Summit Olympic Gold medalist David O’Connor urged the disparate elements of America’s horse industry to work in concert to improvement promotion in the sport. He said that the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) gives America’s horse community a unique opportunity to reach a large segment of the public. The WEG is to be held in September in Lexington, Ky. He made his remarks on Tuesday at the Kentucky International Equine Summit, sponsored jointly...

Diane Carney of Telluride Farm led several of her students to top placings this weekend at the Ledge Winter Classic, held January 3-6 at the Ledges Sporting Horses indoor facility in Roscoe, IL. Catie Hope, 16, took home the championship in the Large Junior Hunter division aboard her new mount, Caped Crusader. The pair took a first and a sixth place over fences and won the under saddle for the tricolor. They also placed third in the $1,000 Junior Hunter Classic. Hope's consistency followed her...

Shawn Cassidy of Kingston, TN, was the one to beat in the pony hunter divisions at the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show I. The 84th Annual Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show was held from August 1-5, 2007, at the L.M. Tate Horse Show Grounds at the Blowing Rock Equestrian Preserve in Blowing Rock, NC. In the Small/Medium Green Pony Hunter division, Cassidy rode First Impression, owned by Katie Dinan, LLC, to the championship with three firsts and two seconds. Cassidy earned both the tricolor and...

The Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Selection Trials concluded the 2007 qualifying season for the FEI World Breeding Championships at the CDI-W/Y/J Raleigh and Capital Dressage Classic, June 1–3 in Raleigh, NC. Winning both the Preliminary and Final Tests with an overall score of 8.240 secured the Five-Year-Old Selection Trial Championship for Cabana Boy (Contucci x Britania, by Bordeaux; bred in the United States by Doug and Shannon Langer). Cabana Boy is a bay Hanoverian gelding who was...

Allentown, PA—Dressage for the CCI*** at the Jersey Fresh Three-Day Event got underway Thursday at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown. The first two horses in the ring put in quality performances, and by the lunch break, they continued to hold the top two places. Veteran U.S. team riders Karen O’Connor (aboard Allstar) and Stephen Bradley (aboard From) got the division underway. Bradley held the lead well through the halfway point of the day on a score of 46.5. O’Connor...

For the second day in a row, it was American Chris Kappler who stood in the winner's circle at the CSI-W Blainville Jumping International on Thursday, July 6. The international show jumping competition took place from July 5-9 at the Blainville Equestrian Park in Blainville, Quebec, Canada. Having claimed the win on Wednesday, June 5, riding VDL Maseratie, Kappler brought VDL Oranta out of the barn for the July 6 victory in the Open Jumper-Power and Speed. Only two riders managed to go clear...

Gunners Special Nite (Shannon Brinkman/USEF) Lexington, KY - The city of Lexington was largely defined by the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010, so it proved a fitting setting to crown the 2010 Farnam/Platform USEF Horse of the Year. And the winner couldn't be more all-American. The only multiple Gold medal-winning horse for Team USA, Gunners Special Nite, a six-year-old American Quarter Horse brought the sport of reining to the forefront of the American equestrian community. People...

The United States Equestrian Federation Nominating Committee is accepting nominations for the positions of Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer, and Independent Director through Wednesday, October 31. Nominations may be submitted online by Senior Active USEF members. In order to be eligible for nomination to the positions of Vice-President and Secretary/Treasurer, the individuals must have served on the Board of Directors within the last six years. Any Senior active USEF member is eligible to be...