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...

Georgina Bloomberg of New York City, set to embark on an extensive summer tour of show jumping, took time out last week to participate in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit, held April 13-16 at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago, IL. The hotel, which opened in 1871, is one of Chicago's landmarks in the heart of the city's downtown. The U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit was a four-day opportunity for print, broadcast, internet and photo journalists to conduct interviews and photo...

Colorado Springs, Colo. - The United States Olympic Committee and Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) announced an agreement designating Polo Ralph Lauren as an Official Outfitter of the 2008 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams. Under this agreement, Ralph Lauren has designed the official Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony Parade Outfits for the U.S. Teams, in addition to an assortment of village wear pieces to be provided to the U.S. Teams. The Official Opening Ceremony Parade Outfits will not be...

The successful Heat and Humidity Workshop recently staged in Lausanne put the challenges facing horses and riders at this summer's Olympic Games in Hong Kong into ever-sharper focus and provided a wealth of information for veterinary officials and others involved in the world of equestrian sport. The speakers included officials from the Hong Kong Jockey Club which is providing the venue facilities, as well as veterinary expertise and the use of its top-class laboratory, the Equestrian Company...

Lexington, KY - The USEF High Performance Reining Committee has innovative plans for 2008. Chaired by Jerry Kimmel and boasting a prolific group of reining experts, the committee is focusing on fundraising and promotions of its programs. Looming on the radar screen are the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010 in Lexington, KY, which marks the first time the Games have been held outside of Europe. The U.S. Reining Team will be attempting to defend the Team Gold Medals won at the past two...

At exactly 8:08 p.m. on August 8, the official one-year-to-go countdown to the 2008 Olympic Games was launched. Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture. In general, eight is an auspicious number for Buddhists. In front of 10,000 people gathered on Tianan’men Square, with the Forbidden City as a backdrop, a sumptuous ceremony took place where Chinese culture and traditions were clearly on show. The International Olympic Committee President handed out the official invitations to the...

Lexington, KY – The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) will be looking to crown a new reining champion on June 30th at 6:30 p.m. at the 2007 Adequan/USEF Open Reining National Championship. This event draws top reiners from around the country and is hosted by the Clayton Woosley Hall of Fame Reining at the Kentucky Horse Park. Matt Mills and Bobbie Cook’s horse, Easy Otie Whiz, won last year’s championship with a score of 231. The pair went on to be a member of the gold medal winning...

James R. Wolf has been selected by the USEF to assume the leadership of the Federation’s High Performance discipline programs as the Executive Director of High Performance. He had been serving as Interim Executive Director. Jim has many years of administrative and competitive experience in horse sports. Prior to joining the USEF staff full-time, he managed the USET’s three-day eventing squad at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, where he was responsible for the coordination of the...

ATHENS, GREECE— As U.S. equestrians, already medal-adorned from the Olympics, hang up their proverbial tack for another four years, a new team swiftly takes the ring, anxious for their turn at the spotlight in the city of ancient Olympic glory. Along with athletes from 141 countries, Paralympic riders from the United States will make their debut at Athens’ Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony Friday—setting out to replace hearts full of hope with medals of gold. The...

The facilities for providing first-rate care of horses brought to Hong Kong for the Olympic Games in August have been given the thumbs-up by members of the Animal Welfare Advisory Group (AWAG) who visited the two equestrian venues. “I think the welfare of the horses is being very well taken care of,” said Chan Pui-tin, after he and five colleagues inspected the venues on June 24.. “We have asked a lot of questions on a range of topics, big and small, such as whether the horses will suffer from...