Ocala, FL - February 15, 2011 - It wasn't just an illusion when Taylor McMurtry and her own Just An Illusion won Sunday's $50,000 EMO Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health. The horse-and-rider combination celebrated their first Grand Prix win ever to conclude the Ocala Winter Classic. "I'm so happy!" exclaimed McMurtry, 18, who found her way to the top on a beautiful sunny day at HITS Post Time Farm. "I'm overwhelmed. Especially since it was my goal to win a Grand Prix this year, I am...

Donna Miller and ArdCeltic Art. (Photo courtesy Donna Miller) Lexington, KY - Each year at the United States Equestrian Federation Horse of the Year awards dinner, two Connemara Ponies are honored with special awards from the American Connemara Pony Society for excellence in USEF eventing and hunter competitions. The McKenna Trophy is awarded in memory of Joan McKenna, and is presented to the high scoring purebred or halfbred Connemara competing in USEF eventing competitions at the Preliminary...

Photo by Flying Horse Photography (Michelle Parker and Socrates de Midos) In honor of the Fourth of July holiday weekend and to wrap up four weeks of competition managed by Blenheim EquiSports, the $25,000 Red, White & Blue Grand Prix presented by the St. Regis Monarch Beach, invited 19 horse-and-rider duos onto the Michel Vaillancourt-designed course at the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park. Vaillancourt remarked, “I think today’s course dimensions are very worthy of this class. It is...

Kate Levy of Katonah, NY, won the Whiteface Mountain 1.45m Jump-off to kick off the 41st Annual Lake Placid Horse Show. Levy was the third of 20 entries to try the 12-jump, first-round course at the North Elba Showgrounds. She rode her mount, Vent Du Nord, to one of what would be eight fault-free rides. She then turned in another fault-free ride in 37.350 seconds to take an early lead that would hold for the remainder of the class. Placing second was Hillary Dobbs of Sussex, NJ, who had two...

GULFPORT, MS—Translated to English, “let the good times roll” easily sums up the series that Lebanon, OH-based, Wilhelm Genn continues to enjoy in Gulfport with two $25,000 Grand Prix victories this week. Riding the Laura Ryan-Barnaclo owned Chantal, on Friday, Genn celebrated victory in the $25,000 EMO Insurance sponsored Grand Prix and again on Sunday in the $25,000 Nutrena Grand Prix. 2008 Beijing Olympic co-course designer Steve Stephens arrived in Gulfport with one goal in mind – to test...

Photo by Robbi Meisel (Eirin Bruheim and NLF Trans Atlantic) Thermometers were up and down, weathermen forecasted gloom and doom with the supposed arrival of three inches or more of snow, and like all good businesses the managers of the Gulf Coast Winter Classics decided to aire on the side of caution by cancelling Friday classes. The good news was that aside from some nasty rain, it truly was a “non event” day as Bob Bell co-chairman had hoped. Saturday saw the return of warmer temperatures,...

The Official Prize List for Equestrian Sport Productions Holiday & Horses AA rated Horse Show CSI-W is now available both online and in hard copy. The cover of the program was designed by Mette Olesen Phillips, one of the winners of the Winter Equestrian Festival Poster Contest. The Holiday and Horses show will run from Wednesday, November 25, through Sunday, November 29, 2009. In addition to the AA USEF rated class schedule, the show will include a Friday evening $50,000 FEI World Cup...

Margie Engle, one of the winningest grand prix riders in the history of the sport, recently added another accolade to her long list of accomplishments. The Olympic and Pan American Games veteran reached the $1 Million Club of the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) Rider Recognition Program sponsored by World Equestrian Brands. The program was created in 2005 to track the overall lifetime money earnings of professional hunter and jumper riders. Each year, total monies won are added...

Lexington, KY – The US Hunter Jumper Association has been a supporter of the FEI North American Junior/Young Rider Championships since 2006, serving as the title sponsor of the show jumping championships since 2007. They continue their support this year as the presenting sponsor of the Jumping Championship at the 2009 Adequan FEI North American Junior/Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC). The title sponsor of Jumping is longtime NAJYRC supporter CN. Having served as...

The Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) is giving members one more chance to win big money at the 62nd National Appaloosa Show & World Championship Appaloosa Youth Show in Jackson, MS, by extending the deadline to purchase slots for futurity and sweepstakes to June 1, 2009. The 2009 slot purses promise to be large. More than $85,500 was paid out in 2008, so get in on the action and purchase a slot in one of the following four classes: · 3-year-old Western Pleasure Futurity · 3-year-old Hunter Under...