The 2006 USEF/Markel Young Horse Dressage Selection Trials continued at Dressage at Flintridge, May 26-28, in La Canada-Flintridge, CA. This Western Selection Trial for the FEI World Breeding Championships showcased the region’s most promising dressage prospects in their quest to qualify for Verden, Germany. Champion of the five-year-old division with an overall two-test score of 8.688 was Big Tyme, a bay Belgian Warmblood gelding (Saros–Elvira by Wenderkreis; bred in Belgium by Worfthoeve 3),...

In somewhat of a renaissance, the French stormed to victory in the third leg of the Samsung Super League with FEI series in Rome, Italy today and while the Germans maintain the lead at the head of the table, their advantage has been significantly reduced after a disappointing performance at the Italian fixture. Finishing joint-fifth along with Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and Holland, Germany only collected 1.5 points but the Americans, who shared second place with the much-fancied British, added...

Michael Desiderio from Chester, NJ, won the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) 2005 MD Barns High-Point Amateur Award by earning 594.5 points in the Amateur Achievement Awards program. The 15-year-old competed in both amateur and open classes, including working hunter, working hunter under saddle, hunter hack and hunter seat equitation not to jump and over obstacles. His younger brother, Anthony, was also among the Top Ten with 301 points. Desiderio earned 10 championships, two reserves and six...

A new high-point award, Showmanship at Halter, has been developed for Americaan Saddlebred Horse Assocation (ASHA) youth. Showmanship at Halter is designed to give junior exhibitors the opportunity to show a well-groomed and properly fitted horse from the ground. The skills associated with showmanship are designed to teach exhibitors overall horsemanship, safety and sportsmanship, as they focus on results through control, proper form, attention and style. Awards will be presented to a National...

Courtesy Animal Planet (Brianne Goutal was the eventual winner of the 2005 ASPCA Maclay Finals.) Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation® has welcomed a new audience of horse lovers thanks to the recent success of Animal Planet’s new six-week series, Horse Power–Road to the Maclay . More than six million unique viewers of all ages tuned in to Animal Planet to watch the series which began February 1. More than 9 million unique viewers tuned into the three...

Jennifer Wood/PhelpsSports.com (Margie Engle onWyndhurst Stables’ horse Quervo Gold) Wellington, FL - Another day of summer temperatures, subtract the wind from yesterday and add better footing and what do you get…another fantastic day for Margie Engle and Lauren Hough. Engle and Hough were two of only four clean rounds, on another challenging Leopoldo Palacios-designed course, with only one total fault each at the end of day two. Today’s course consisted of 16 jumping efforts and...

Whether you’re an up-and-coming designer, official, organizer or a rider looking to improve your performance over the colored poles, a silent auditing seminar March 30-April 1 at Galway Downs in Temecula, CA, will offer a chance to better understand the philosophies used by top FEI and Rolex Kentucky CCI**** show jumping designer Richard Jeffery. Jeffery will discuss the theories and techniques behind effective show jumping course design, using the Galway courses throughout his presentations....

The 2005 USEF/Markel Young Horse Dressage National Championships turned into a landmark for the ISR-Oldenburg Registry N.A. and its breeders. The prestigious FEI final of the five-year-old dressage horses was dominated by U.S.-bred and even more by ISR-Oldenburg N.A. horses. In the past, most of the horses which made it to the National Finals were imported. For the first time ever in 2005 the majority of the finalists were U.S.-bred horses (eight of 13). "I think I was more excited about the...

Lexington, KY – The MidSouth Three-Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park played host to four championships October 20-23. Mother Nature made the weekend cold and damp, but that didn’t stop 80 riders from competing in the CCI* with steeplechase, the 2005 USEF National One-Star Eventing Championship East Coast. John Williams and his own Sweepea Dean led from start to finish, winning the Championship for the Richard D. Collins trophy. Williams added only one rail to his dressage score...

Las Vegas, NV – With solidly executed rides that can be described as nothing less than perfectly precise, it was Brazil’s show-jumping super-star, Rodrigo Pessoa who would stake his claim in the spotlight at the inaugural Las Vegas World Invitational at Las Vegas’ Thomas and Mack Arena, October 15. Out of a field of 25 of the world’s best, the 32-year-old Pessoa was one of only six riders to make it to the final jump-off in the most anticipated class of the weekend, the...