Madeline Backus and P.S. Arianna (Shannon Brinkman Photo) Madeline Backus and P.S. Arianna are first-time competitors this year at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Land Rover, but their partnership goes back years. “My mom’s farrier, Dennis Ackerman at Pendragon Stud in Colorado, actually bred her,” Backus said of the Anglo-Trakehner mare. “So I’ve known her for her whole life. It’s been quite an adventure.” Backus, whose mother Laura...

All eyes will be on Nebraska March 29-April 2 when the FEI World Cup™ Finals will take over the CenturyLink Center Omaha with a dazzling double-header: the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Finals and FEI World Cup™ Dressage Finals. The chance to witness history in the making is reason enough to go, but if you’re heading to Omaha, plan to catch all the special activities and events that are going on around the competition, too. Here are our seven “must-see”...

Goshen, Ky. – The Hermitage Classic CDE played host to the 2016 USEF Pair Horse Driving National Championship on October 21-23. The picturesque Hermitage Farm provided the backdrop for Steve Wilson to claim his second consecutive championship title. Steve Wilson takes his lap of honor (Picsofyou.com) Wilson (Louisville, Ky.) began the competition with a great dressage test, earning a score of 49.79 from the Ground Jury of Martha Hanks-Nicoll (USA), Danute Bright (USA), Barry Capstick...

Mattias Tromp and Avon Win the $50,000 Longines Cup (Shawn McMillen) Bridgehampton, N.Y. - Mattias Tromp (USA) trumped the competition to win the $50,000 Longines Cup at the 41st annual Hampton Classic Horse Show riding Avon, owned by Beyaert Farm, Inc. Pablo Mejia Villa (COL) was second on his Reglisse Top and Catherine Tyree (USA) was third on Enjoy Louis, owned by Mary and Joseph Tyree. There is an important horse show scheduling update for Sunday. Due to weather forecasts, the horse show is...

Tulsa, Okla. – Tom McCutcheon edged out Casey Hinton by half a point to earn the $10,000 Adequan USEF Reining National Championship presented by Markel Insurance on Friday. The championship was a part of the Tulsa Reining Classic. Tom McCutcheon and Survivorman (Waltenberry) McCutcheon (Aubrey, Texas) entered the competition with Jennifer Greenleaf’s 2011 Quarter Horse stallion, Survivorman. Though McCutcheon has not shown Survivorman frequently, the 2010 Alltech FEI World...

Piber Köflach, Austria – The U.S. Driving Team of Donna Crookston, Sterling Graburn, and Suzy Stafford, along with individual Leslie Berndl, made a valiant effort at the 2016 FEI World Driving Championships for Singles, which proved to be a true championship test. The strong international field consisted of 75 combinations from 23 countries, and after four days of competition, the U.S. team finished 14th. Sterling Graburn and Mannkato (Krisztina Horváth/Hoefnet.com) Graburn (Paris,...

This is stressful. Sitting in the Team tack room watching a procession of athletes destroying our supplies of snacks, drinks, and other culinary delights: Clearly they do not get fed at home and this is an enjoyable adventure for them. Ok, I get it, they and the grooms are who matter most but all the bottles and snacks were lined up in regimental rows and now a tornado has destroyed the illusion of order. Rewind. Monday morning (Europe time) Clan Dressage deployed to Rio; horses from Liege...

This may not be a photo likely to win any photographic competitions but it was taken at 2:30 a.m. from my bedroom. No, I am not some weird stalker or peeping tom but this is a photo of the merry bunch of selfish insomniacs that decided to have a very loud speaker (top right quarter of the photo) playing until about 3:30 a.m. Yes, I kinda wish I had something more persuasive to hand than a Canon camera… in fact a canon would have done very nicely. The eventing horses have settled in very...

Mike Etherington-Smith The Plains, Va. - As the excitement grows for the Land Rover Great Meadow International presented by Adequan® and the first FEI Nations Cup™ held outside Europe, world-renowned course designer Mike Etherington-Smith is building a world-class 3* cross-country course that will span Great Meadow's magnificent park and unitize its new $1 Million arena. In addition to hosting several international teams in the first-ever FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing...

Grass Lake, Mich. – The 2016 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championships sponsored by Deloitte and the Selection Event for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games began Friday with competitors performing the FEI Team Test, the first of three tests in the competition. In the National Division, the field of five is led by Grade Ib athlete Laurietta Oakleaf with Niekele fan Busenitz. Currently topping the High Performance Division is Grade Ia athlete Roxanne Trunnell and Royal Dancer....