Cooper Dean and Denver S on their way to a HITS Equitation Championship win. (ESI Photography) Ocala, Fla. - The lights of the Ocala Horse Properties Stadium gleamed down on competitors for the return of the HITS Equitation Championship. Cooper Dean, of Fayette, Alabama, took home the evening’s top honors in Ocala, Florida. "This was a great opportunity and it feels amazing to win a class as important as this one," said Dean. "The course was tougher and was a good challenge; I thought the...

Rich Fellers and Flexible on their way to a $50,000 OSPHOS Grand Prix win. (ESI Photography) Thermal, Calif. - Desert Circuit V at HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, California, concluded with Sunday’s $50,000 Grand Prix sponsored by OSPHOS. Thirty-Six elite competitors battled it out for the chance to wear the long blue ribbon in the victory gallop and a share of the $50,000 purse. Anderson Lima, of Brazil, designed a demanding 16-effort course. Only six would jump the course fault-free...

Rich Fellers and Flexible winning the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix. (ESI Photography) Thermal, Calif. - Friday's $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix featured an impressive Order of Go as riders and horses competed for the blue-ribbon victory. Friday’s $25,000 Smartpak Grand Prix at HITS Thermal boasted 46 rider-horse combinations who tested their skills over the 1.50m, 13 jumping effort course set by Anderson de Moura Lima of Brazil. The line-up included well-known riders such as Rich Fellers,...

Aaron Vale and Quidam's Good Luck (ESI Photography) Ocala, Fla. - The Sunday Grand Prix at HITS Ocala get better and better. The competition between Lisa Goldman of Hawthorn Woods, Illinois, and hometown hero Aaron Vale of Williston, Florida, is heating up and the $50,000 HITS Grand Prix had the crowd screaming for their favorite pick to win. There was no shortage of excitement as Andrew Kocher of Lake St. Louis, Missouri, had the crowd on their feet to the final fence. In a thrilling jump-off,...

Wellington, FL - January 30, 2016 - For the second week in a row, USA's Todd Minikus was the big winner of the Saturday night grand prix at the 2016 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). During week two of the winter circuit, held the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC), Minikus topped the $86,000 Marshall & Sterling Insurance Grand Prix CSI 2* riding Quality Girl. For his win in week three, the rider guided Babalou 41 to a thrilling victory in the $130,000 Adequan® Grand...

Valle de Bravo, Mexico – January 21, 2016 – Valle de Bravo CSI4* offered three classes in the main arena on a picture perfect Thursday. The final class of the day, the FEI 1.45m Longines Ranking class, was the qualifier for Saturday's highlight event, the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping, Valle de Bravo, presented by Scappino. Three out of thirty-seven horses negotiated Guilherme Jorge's track without fault and once again Brazil's Rodrigo Lambre and the quick Argentinian...

Fulton, Mo. - After impressive showings at the Saddle Seat World Cup Team Trials, 12 riders were chosen to represent the United States at the 2016 Saddle Seat World Cup. Thirty-two aspiring athletes, 20 in three-gaited competition and 12 in five-gaited, from 27 states tried out at William Woods University on Saturday. Each phase consisted of one rail ride and one pattern ride on unfamiliar horses. After the trials were complete six riders for each section were selected to the 2016 U.S. Saddle...

Riders selected for the 2014 U.S. Saddle Seat World Cup Team in both three-gaited and five-gaited are (left to right) front row, Brooke Boyer, Kristen Smith, Maisie Benfield, Eleanor Rainbolt-Forbes and Quinn Mercier; back row, William Nalty, Emily Gutenkunst, Aleia Brown, Sydney Shaw, Nadine Van Zomeren, McGee Bosworth and Macey Miles. Fulton, Mo. –The top saddle seat equitation riders in the country will assemble this weekend when William Woods University again hosts the United States...

Adrienne Sternlicht and Providence (Rebecca Walton for Phelps Media Group) Lexington, Ky. - Adrienne Sternlicht, of Greenwich, CT, won the Show Jumping Hall of Fame (SJHF) Jumper Classic Series Final at the National Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park on October 31. Riding her 8-year-old mare Providence, owned by Starlight Farms, Sternlicht topped a field of 32 horses, 11 of which made it to the jump-off. Sternlicht then rode Providence to the only fault-free ride in the jump off, finishing...

Belgium's Jos Verlooy and Sunshine clear the Puissance wall at 2.13 meters (6'11") (Shawn McMillen Photography) Washington, D.C. – The 2015 Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) featured a variety of fantastic competition on Friday, concluding in the evening with its annual $25,000 The Boeing Company International Jumper Puissance at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. In his first trip to WIHS and competing in his first Puissance ever, Belgium’s Jos Verlooy cleared the wall up...