Walk Tall II and Cian O'Connor (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Ireland's Cian O'Connor is back in Wellington for the remaining weeks of competition at the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival after an exciting 2012 season. Following a fantastic Florida circuit last winter, O'Connor and his top mount, Blue Loyd 12, traveled to London to earn an individual bronze medal in this summer's Olympic Games. Blue Loyd was recently sold to young Canadian rider Nicole Walker, and...

Lezirias, Portugal - On Sunday all three U.S. drivers completed the cones phase of the FEI World Driving Championships for Singles, securing a sixth place team finish. This strong finish demonstrated a marked improvement for the U.S. Driving Team after having placed 11th at the 2010 World Championships. Leading the U.S. individually was Sterling Graburn, who completed his second World Championship in 22nd place. Germany claimed the Team Gold medal, while Switzerland grabbed Silver and The...

Lezirias, Portugal- The United States sent three drivers onto the marathon at the FEI World Driving Championships for Singles. The U.S. team now stands in eighth place after the completion of competition on Saturday that saw drivers navigate through eight hazards. Sterling Graburn (Georgetown, KY) and Larry Denny’s 11-year-old Dutch Harness gelding Ulano made an accent up the leaderboard following a speedy marathon phase. The 2012 USEF National Single Horse Champions posted a blistering...

Scott Brash and Sanctos van het Gravenhof (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Great Britain's Scott Brash guided Sanctos Van Het Gravenhof to victory in Saturday night's $200,000 FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix CSI 4* presented by The Bainbridge Companies at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). In a suspenseful jump-off, Brash beat out Richard Spooner (USA) and Cristallo, and Kent Farrington (USA) and Voyeur, who finished second and third. Sponsored by the Bainbridge Companies,...

Ashlee Bond and Wistful won the 1.40m Open Jumper class at the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show (Photo: Heather Bellock/PMG). Lexington, KY - It was cool and overcast for the start of the second day of the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park. While the highlights of the week include the $100,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals, the $25,000 CSI-W Hagyard Lexington Classic World Cup Qualifier and the $40,000 Bluegrass Festival Grand Prix, today's events in the Rolex...

Mt. Eden Team (Primo Ponies Photography). Dressage At the CDI-W Milton in Canada, David Marcus competed two horses throughout the weekend. In the Prix St Georges class, Marcus and Don Kontes finished in fourth with a score of 66.711%, while he tied for fifth with Chevri's Capital with a 65.570%. Marcus once again had strong finishes in the Intermediaire I class, finishing third with Chevri's Capital with a score of 69.737% and fifth with Don Kontes with a score of 67.895%....

Lexington, KY - Congratulations to Katherine Denny of Lafayette, LA for winning the National Junior Hunter Championships Grant. This grant of $1000 towards an educational expense is won by a rider who is eligible to participate in the USEF Junior Hunter Finals East or West and has written the winning essay demonstrating how the horse show experience has affected his/her life and what difference the grant would make to themselves or their family. Katherine stated that “Horse shows are a place to...

Lexington, KY - Week Two of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is in the books and it has been one for the ages. It was an extremely busy week for competitors and spectators alike as six of the eight disciplines represented held competitions during the second week of the Games, with most days seeing at least two competitions going on at once. DRESSAGE Grand Prix Freestyle Simply put, it was the greatest night of dressage action in the history of the sport on American soil. For the...

The purpose of the USEF Young Horse Dressage Training Sessions is to identify and develop top equine dressage talent in the United States for a future career at the FEI level and international competition on U.S. teams. Mirroring the existing high-performance development programs, horses should be actively training and competing and therefore may be invited to participate in training sessions with the aspiration of their participating in the 2008 Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Program (FEI...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) is pleased to announce and congratulate its new USDF Certified Instructors. The USDF Instructor Certification Program is designed to set a standard of excellence in dressage training and instruction in the United States and to educate dressage riders, instructors and aspiring instructors. New USDF Certified Instructors include; Meaghan Byrne of Beverly, MA; Nancy Burba of St. Gabriel, LA; Lisa Bukowski of Stillwater, MN; Jontelle Forbus of Staunton,...