It’s time for the 13th annual Capital Challenge Horse Show, held in Upper Marlboro, MD. As one of the show’s largest corporate sponsors, Ariat International, Inc., a leading manufacturer of equestrian riding boots and apparel, will be sponsoring the American Hunter-Jumper Foundation’s (AHJF) Emergency Relief Fund focused GOT ARIAT! Program during the World Champion Hunter Rider classes. Established in 1995, the AHJF Emergency Relief Fund was created to provide financial support to the families...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The U.S. Olympic Committee today announced equestrian athlete Megan Benjamin and swimmer Brendan Hansen as its August Athletes of the Month. The USOC Team of the Month was awarded to the USA National Baseball Team. Benjamin (Saratoga, Calif.) won the gold medal in women's vaulting at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany on August 27. She was the first American woman to win the title. The Germans have won 20 of the last 32 World Championships. Benjamin was also...

Another successful show for Alexandra Thornton of Bedminster, NJ, placed the 12-year-old in the winner’s circle once again. This time, her triumph made history at the highly regarded Hampton Classic in Bridgehampton, NY. Thornton, who trains with renowned judge and trainer Susie Humes, piloted her way to the division tricolor in the Younger Small Junior Hunters aboard her mount Tobasco, a small, yet scopey chestnut gelding. She then continued her winning ways and became the youngest rider to...

PhelpsPhotos.com/USEF Archives (On the first day of the USEF Pony Finals National Championships, 14-year-old Amber Henter, of St. Petersburg, FL, was in first place in the medium green pony division with a score of 250.) Lexington, KY – Excited children were all abuzz today at the Kentucky Horse Park with their favorite ponies by their sides, all hoping for an experience at this year’s Pony Finals that they will remember for a lifetime. This is the first year that Pony Finals is observing a...

Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation® is pleased to announce the United States representatives to the FEI/WBFSH World Breeding Championship for Young Horses in Dressage, to be held August 3-6, 2006 in Verden, Germany. The results of all three USEF/Markel Young Horse Dressage Selection Trials were tallied and horses from each age group (five-and six-year-olds) with an average score of at least 7.5 from the two weighted, selection trial classes were ranked to form the...

Season tickets for the 2007 Las Vegas FEI World Cup Finals are available for sale to the general public as of June 16, 2006. Tickets are expected to sell quickly, so spectators are advised to purchase early. The FEI World Cup Finals in both show jumping and dressage return to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV, on April 18-22, 2007. In 2005, the FEI Budweiser World Cup Jumping Final and the FEI World Cup Dressage Final presented by Offield Farms, were held simultaneously in the same...

Over the weekend of April 29-May 1, 2006, at a dressage competition in Beaufort, Luxembourg, American breeder Susan Thomas had the joy of watching her homebred stallion Patriot win several S-level classes at his first international dressage competition. Patriot is by Thomas Farm's stallion Pharaoh (Parabol-Almeo-Zeus) and was produced by embryo transfer out of Thomas Farm's accomplished grand prix mare Safir (by Diamond). Thomas sent her young stallion to Oliver Luze at Gestut Tannenhof in the...

Mike Ferrara (Arabian stallion A Temptation takes the championship in Arabian Pleasure Driving Amateur Owner to Drive with Barbara Chur of Strawberry Banks Farm in East Aurora, NY, at the U.S. Arabian Nationals. ) The 39th annual U.S. National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show (U.S. Nationals) is underway with exciting competition in Albuquerque, NM. The 10-day show, held October 20-29, is the flagship event for the Arabian horse industry, featuring top-quality horses, a shopping...

The Monarch International’s Show Circuit Magazine Professional World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) title is one that is sought all year by top professional hunter riders throughout the country. The four riders who amass the most points at their top four WCHR shows, plus at the final WCHR event, the Capital Challenge Horse Show, then compete head-to-head in an unparalleled ride-off. As Professional WCHR, the winner not only earns the most prestigious title available to a hunter rider, but...

The weekend of October 21-23, 2005, a week before the Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) festivities take place in downtown Washington, D.C., local riders will compete at Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD. This horse show allows riders to qualify for the Local Finals at the MCI Center that will take place on Sunday, October 30. Along with the qualifying classes, this competition features the USEF Zone 3 Finals and offers Regular “C” rated points for the Maryland...