Wayne, Ill. – The list of national champions at the 2018 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions continued to grow on Saturday, including Emma Asher and Traneenggaards Akondo, Emily Miles and Sole Mio, Michael Bragdell and SenSation HW, Heather Blitz and Praestemarkens Quatero, Endel Ots and Lucky Strike, and Codi Harrison and Katholt’s Bossco. One division performed their first tests of the championship, while the final five titles will be decided on Sunday. USEF Junior Dressage...

If you like to keep up with equestrian competitions, you’ve been born into a great time. It has never been easier to stay connected to your favorite atheletes and disciplines. There are plenty of good ways to go about it, but I am going to briefly explain why twitter has become my favroite way to keep up with the equestrian action nationally, and internationally. Finding results and watching live events is part of my job, but I need to discover new sources all the time. Of all the avenues...

Kassandra Barteau and GP Raymeister at 2009 NAJYRC (Flashpoint Photography) Lexington, KY – Three-time USEF National Champion and NAJYRC Gold Medalist Kassandra Barteau has topped the United States rankings for the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final for Young Riders and has earned an invitation to Frankfurt, Germany for the Final, to be held December 17-20. Twenty-one year-old Barteau of Maple Park, Illinois and her mount GP Raymeister (a 10-year-old bay Holsteiner stallion owned by...

Diana DeRosa (Mara Dean and Nicki Henley lead heading into cross-country in Rio de Janeiro.) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – The American event riders got off to a fantastic start on July 20 at the XV Pan American Games taking the lead in the team portion of the competition and sweeping the top five places individually. American combination Mara Dean riding Nicki Henley went to the head of a quality field of 27 horse-and-rider combinations riding before the ground jury of Barry Roycroft, Jo...

Saddlebred.com has a new and valuable feature titled, “Saddle Up a Saddlebred,” which allows anyone interested in seeing, riding or learning more about Saddlebreds to enter their zip code and find a number of stables within a 300-mile radius. It can be accessed by going to www.saddlebred.com and clicking on “About the Breed,” and then going to “Stable Search,” or type in www.saddlebred.com/breed/stables.php . Right now, there are approximately 400 Saddlebred farms and stables in the database...

Laura Linback and Whittaker MVNZ on course in the $40,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer (ESI Photography). Culpeper, VA --- Laura Linback of Mundelin, IL, and Woodrun's Whittaker MVNZ, whom they call "Fred" in the barn, had an amazing week at HITS Culpeper. Last Friday, they captured the win in the $15,000 Brook Ledge Open Jumper Prix and successfully followed up with a big win in the $40,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health. Jerry Dougherty of Bokeelia, Florida was...

Wayne, IL – The sun finally emerged at the spectacular Lamplight Equestrian Center to spotlight the nation’s future dressage talent in the six-year-old and developing horse divisions. It was a competition worthy of champions as presented to judges Linda Zang, Jeanne McDonald, and Hilda Gurney. In the Six-Year-Old division, U.S.-bred “Pikko del Cerro HU” made America proud by claiming the Markel/USEF National Championship with an overall score of 7.9. Ridden by Mikala Munter Gundersen of...

Lisbon, Portugal – The U.S. Jumping program was in action across Europe today, with a four-member CSIO5* team in Rome, Italy, and a four-member team in Lisbon, Portugal competing in the FEI Jumping Nations Cup ™ of Lisbon CSIO3*. The team in Portugal was comprised of Daisy Farish, Charlotte Jacobs, Alex Matz, and Julie Welles, and led by Chef d’Equipe Anne Kursinski. The team finished on a team total of 24 faults following two rounds of competition at the Sociedade...

Mill Spring, N.C. - Mary McCormick is one of the United States’ most decorated vaulters. This is her fourth appearance at the WEG; she also represented the U.S. in 2006, 2010, and 2014. McCormick grew up in Sonoma, Calif., where her mother was a marketing director in the Northern California wine business and her father was the tour manager for the rock band the Doobie Brothers. Her parents were not involved with horses, but Mary discovered her passion for the sport at a local vaulting...

Mill Spring, N.C. - Adrienne Sternlicht competed in hunters and jumpers as a child but became seriously focused on a competitive riding career during her college years at Brown University. Her passion and talent for jumping have taken her to the top echelon of equestrian sport, but she’s also an athlete outside the riding arena and has competed in several other sports, including skiing and squash. Sternlicht graduated from Brown in 2016 with a degree in public policy. The same year, she...