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...

Eduardo Menezes and Calavda in the Jump-off (apturedMomentPhoto.com) Del Mar, CA - On two gorgeous southern California afternoons, two fabulous rides earned the lead in the high performance victory gallops for the $60,000 Grand Prix of California, sponsored by Equ Lifestyle and presented by Ferrari & Maserati of San Diego, and the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby, both on the grass Grand Prix Field. The competition was fierce with almost forty entries in both classes. Before the...

Lauren Hough and Ohlala (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Thursday's busy competition schedule also featured a $33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m speed class with the roster of top finishers including Lauren Hough (USA) and Ohlala, Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) and HH Let's Fly, and Eric Lamaze (CAN) and Wang Chung M2S. Course designer Alan Wade saw 52 entries with 16 clear rounds for the one round speed class. Once again, the rounds got faster and faster as some of the best went late in the line-up. Lauren...

Evi Strasser and Rigaudon Tyme Loxahatchee, FL - The International Horse Sport Champions Cup CDI-W's Sunday class offerings attracted a number of promising young horses whose riders hoped to give them experience in preparation for a move up the ranks. Local and international competitors alike persevered through windy weather to put in strong performances at Equestrian Estates' IHS Champions Park in Loxahatchee. Evi Strasser and daughter Tanya Strasser-Shostak both rode 9-year-old horses...

Eiken Sato and Espyrante (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Japan's Eiken Sato and Espyrante jumped to victory in the $82,000 Horseware Ireland Grand Prix CSI 3* on Saturday night during another exciting evening of international competition for week ten at the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). In a jump-off of seven nations, Sato beat out riders from Great Britain, Ireland, Venezuela, Germany, Greece and the United States for his first big win at the Pam Beach International...

Daniel Deusser and Cornet d'Amour (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Saturday night's $300,000 FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix CSI 5*, presented by The Bainbridge Companies, was an incredible display of world-class talent as Germany's Daniel Deusser, Brazil's Alvaro de Miranda and Great Britain's Ben Maher and Nick Skelton topped an all-star cast during the highlight event for week nine of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). Forty-five entries showed in the...

Charlie Jacobs and Flaming Star. (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Week four of the2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) continued on Thursday with a win for Charlie Jacobs and CMJ Sporthorse, LLC's Flaming Star in the $33,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 4. In a 23-horse jump-off, Jacobs and Flaming Star topped an all-star field with second place honors going to Conor Swail (IRL) riding Lansdowne and third place awarded to Brianne Goutal (USA) aboard Nice de...

Katie Dinan, Reed Kessler, and Brianne Goutal. Photo (Kenneth Kraus) Wellington, FL - The youngest rider in Saturday night's $50,000 Wellington Equestrian Realty Grand Prix was the winner as eighteen-year-old Reed Kessler and Ligist jumped to victory during the highlight event of week two at the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). With riders representing fourteen different countries competing in the class, the USA took the top seven placings and the young women were...

The competition field at The Mar-a-Lago Club on the Intracoastal Waterway. (Sportfot) Palm Beach, FL - The first ever $100,000 Trump Invitational Grand Prix CSI 2* debuted to rave reviews on Sunday, January 6, at the beautiful Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, FL. With some of the world's top show jumpers competing on the lawn of Donald Trump's scenic estate overlooking South Florida's Intracoastal Waterway, U.S. rider Kent Farrington jumped to victory in the inaugural class aboard...

Major equestrian competitions attended by U.S. athletes, both domestic and overseas, are listed in this weekly preview. Please look below to find competition listings by discipline* and breed. We hope you will follow the competitions that most interest you, but check Equestrian Weekly on Monday for a report of any top finishes by U.S. Equestrians. *lists of competitions in all international disciplines will include only FEI competitions or USEF Championships within the USA and international FEI...