Ammeretto and David Beisel (Tricia Booker Photography) Traverse City, MI - Ammaretto and David Beisel cruised to the blue ribbon in the $2,500 CMJ Sporthorse 1.40m Jumper Speed Stake, one of Thursday's featured classes at Horse Shows by the Bay. Over a Chris Brandt-designed track, Beisel and the bay Dutch Warmblood (Numero Uno--Ranna) jumped clear in 63.61 seconds as the 11th of 12 competitors in the ring. Beisel, of Goshen, OH, has ridden the 8-year-old stallion for the past five years and...

Mark Bluman of Colombia rode G&C Lagran to victory in the $10,000 Open Welcome, presented by Manchester Designer Outlets, on Thursday, July 4, at the Vermont Summer Festival in East Dorset, VT. (David Mullinix Photography) East Dorset, VT - Mark Bluman of Colombia won the $10,000 Open Welcome, presented by Manchester Designer Outlets, held Thursday, July 4, at the Vermont Summer Festival. The six-week equestrian competition is running July 2 through August 11 at Harold Beebe Farm in East...

Aachen, Germany – Strong performances continue from the U.S. competitors at the 2013 CHIO Aachen. In the CAIO-4 competition, Chester Weber maintained his Individual lead following the cones phase. Caroline Roffman rode Sagacious HF to a second place finish in the CDI-U25 Grand Prix Test, while Laura Kraut had a second place finish of her own with longtime partner Cedric. Driving CAIO-4 competition continued Friday in Aachen with the Prize of Soers cones phase, which counted towards...

Aachen, Germany - The fifth and final discipline hosted at the 2013 CHIO Aachen kicked off Friday, with many of the top eventers from throughout the world going head-to-head. Two of the three phases of CICO3*competition were held as elite combinations performed their dressage tests and went to task over a demanding show jumping track. The U.S. will head out onto Saturday’s cross country in sixth place with all to play for. The four Land Rover Competition Grant recipients represented the U....

John Pearce and Johnny B Good (Mary Adelaide Brakenridge) Parker, CO - A crowd of spectators gathered to watch spectacular show jumping at the much-anticipated $30,000 Nutrena Summer in the Rockies III Grand Prix in the Kathy and Brad Coors Family Grand Prix Arena at the Colorado Horse Park on a perfect Colorado Saturday afternoon. In the first round of the event, 19 horse and rider combinations battled it out over international course designer Alan Wade's track, attempting to progress to...

Lexington, KY - Team U.S.A after finishing second in Friday's Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup presented by Longines (Shannon Brinkman) The U.S. string of top Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup performances continued Friday in an exciting showdown at CHIO Rotterdam. Eight teams took on the 12 obstacle challenge of Dutch course designer Louis Konickx and the formidable all female team of Americans Beezie Madden, Laura Kraut, Lauren Hough, and Lucy Davis finished second. With a total score of five faults they...

Sonoma, CA - Chelsea Jones exceeded her own expectations on Saturday evening by finishing 1-2 in the $15,000 Stübben Grand Prix during the Sonoma Horse Park’s HMI June Classic. The 26-year-old young professional qualified for the jumpoff aboard both her mounts, but with five other strong pairs joining her for the second round, she knew that the jumpoff wouldn’t be a cakewalk. So it was much to her surprise when the cards fell in her favor – not once, but twice. Early in...

Wannahave stretches over the open water with McLain Ward (Spruce Meadows Media Services) Clagary, Alberta - The $33,000 McDaniel & Associates 1.45m Derby had 24 entries, and six of those were able to clear the course without faults. The track, designed by Werner Deeg of Germany, featured 16 numbered obstacles and 19 jumping efforts, including the grob, open water, dry ditch combination, and jumping off a bank. Speeding around by six seconds faster than the next competitors were McLain Ward...

Jonathan Holling of the United States, pictured here riding Downtown Harrison, will attempt to defend his title at the Volvo Bromont CCI*** Three Day Event to be held June 6 to 9, 2013, in Bromont, Quebec. (Cealy Tetley, www.tetleyphoto.com) Bromont, Quebec – The 2013 Volvo CCI3* Bromont Three Day Event, The Todd Sandler Challenge, gets underway at the Bromont Olympic Horse Park in Bromont, Quebec, on June 6, concluding on June 9. Over the past 27 years, Bromont has attained elite status...

I guess the beginning is a great place to start. I grew up in Maine, the oldest of five, to a father who was in the military and a mother who was a housewife until the youngest of my siblings was in Junior-High school. We grew up on the other side of middle-class, OK, we were poor. I grew up watching spaghetti westerns in black and white on Saturday afternoons. I always loved the intrigue of being a Cowboy, pushing cattle up the Chisholm Trail, fighting bad guys and Indians. Next to the pony...