Today at Arabian Sport Horse Nationals (SHN), my fellow Arabian horse lovers and I were treated to a preview of the new Arabian Horse Galleries at the Kentucky Horse Park's International Museum of the Horse. The Purebred Arabian Trust funded a 9,000 square foot building to be added on to the existing museum, although they are still requesting donations to finish the exhibit. Those of us at SHN were invited to a special presentation (with a sales pitch artfully thrown in) to see what the...

Besides delighting my readers with scintillating stories (we writers like to use words like "scintillating" because we think it makes us sound writerly), my main purpose for being at Sport Horse Nationals here in beautiful, damp Kentucky is to help out (in other words, provide slave labor for) my good friend and mentor, Patience Prine-Carr. This means that I get a lot of mane pulling and braiding practice every day. While it's good for me to get the practice, it's frustrating because...

August 22, 2009 Saturday was such an eventful day! We allowed the horse's to rest in the stalls on Friday to become accustomed to the climate and to calm their nerves down from the 12 hour drive. So after their relaxing day of rest, we got to work them. All 9 horses were perfect and we worked them to the best of their abilities. The funny part about Saturday though came after we worked the horses. Customers of ours and my family went to a café on the show grounds to enjoy lunch. And...

Louisville! Is it that time already??? I still can't believe it's already the last 2 weeks of August! We prepare this whole year just to go to the "Big Dance" and make lasting memories. But what a lot of people don't realize is how much work we go through as trainer's children to go to Louisville. Well I'll tell you my 2 days so far at the World Championship Horse Show and hopefully you can see a different side to "My Life." August 20, 2009 • Today was the day we would...

Maxance McManamy and Beacon Hill (Brant Gamma Photographery) Lexington, KY —Both the Team and Individual medals were decided today in three-day eventing as both the CCI** and CCI* riders returned to the arena to complete their show jumping test in the USEA North American Junior & Young Rider Eventing Championships. The leader board was shuffled on the cross-country course, so the Gold medal was up for grabs. Today was the final day of competition as show jumping wrapped up at the 2009...

Laura Kraut and Cedric (Shannon Brinkman) by Joanie Morris Lexington, KY – Tomorrow, the first horse in the ring of the very first Meydan FEI Nations Cup™ will be representing the United States in La Baule, France. The 10 best Jumping teams in the world go head-to-head to kick off the prestigious summer tour. Christine McCrea will lead it off for the U.S., the Fairfield, CT rider will ride Candy Tribble and Windsor Show Stable’s Vegas – fresh from a good performance at...

Las Vegas, NV – After defending Rolex FEI World Cup Champion Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum broke the timing beam at 32.04 seconds with Shutterfly at the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup Final, the question remained: how do you beat this horse? US superstar McLain Ward tried with Sapphire, the pair looked phenomenal. Foot perfect, lightning fast and with some seriously bold moves, Ward went with two remaining in the 13 horse jump-off and there was reasonable consensus that Sapphire’s effort...

Diana DeRosa (Karen O'Connor and the pony Theodore O'Connor take the lead after cross-country.) Rio de Janeiro—Cross-country day at the XV Pan American Games dawned clear and sunny July 21 at the Deodoro venue. With five Americans in the top five places after the first phase, and a firm grip on the team lead after the first phase, there was a lot at stake on the 10-minute track. When the dust settled, a pony took on all the horses and rewrote history. Pathfinder Karen O’Connor, from...

Hickey Heads to Brazil (Phelps Photo) Gladstone, NJ – Storms threatened but the sun hung on Sunday June 17 at the final day of the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions and so did Christopher Hickey and Regent making them the final champion of the Festival and putting them at the top of the list of four named for Pan American Games Selection. The top three combinations from today’s competition are named were named to the team pending the USEF High Performance Working...

(Lexington, KY) − The USEF is pleased to announce that the Woodside Horse Trials and the Jersey Fresh CCI**/CCI*** will host the selection divisions for this summer’s Pan American Games on consecutive weekends. This year anyone vying for a spot on the US Eventing team will have to contest a selection division in Menlo Park, California at the Horse Park at Woodside (May 24-27) or at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown, NJ (May 31-Jun 3). Both competitions will showcase the country’s...