Del Mar, CA - Twenty-nine horse-and-rider duets danced under the lights in the Del Mar Horse Park covered arena on the evening of September 4 in the $50,000 Grand Prix of Showpark CSI-W, presented by EquiFit, Inc. With riders representing eight different countries vying for the top prize, as well as points on the World Cup leader board, course designer Anthony D'Ambrosio had the task of building a course that tested both the scope of the horse and eye of the rider. Four earned a spot in the...

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...

Congratulations to all the reining athletes from the U.S. who have successfully qualified for the USEF Selection Trial for the Adequan U.S. Reining Team. Competing at competitions throughout the United States, the high-performance reining competitors listed below have successfully met the qualification criteria to be able to advance to the Official Selection Trial—the place and time where the Adequan U.S. Reining Team will be selected for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG)....

Photo by Ken Braddick (A frisky Satchmo with rider Isabell Werth during the vet check.) All 16 horses that were presented for veterinary inspection were passed Wednesday to start in the €100,000 (US$138,000) Exquis World Dressage Masters at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Three German combinations, three Dutch, six from the U.S., three from Canada and one pair from Denmark will perform in the €10,000 (US$14,000) Nürnberger Versicherungsgruppe Grand Prix at 1 p.m. It is the only...

The American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) is pleased to announce those members who will receive the top awards at its Annual Convention in February. For the first time, awardees are announced prior to the convention, with hopes that friends and family will be able to join them for this special recognition before the Morgan community. The 2009 AMHA Annual Convention will take place in Sacramento, CA, February 18-21. Man of the Year and Woman of the Year Awards honor those individuals for...

Newark, OH – The American Trakehner Association (ATA) is pleased to announce its 2008 Awards of Merit. The awards were announced at the ATA convention this fall. Additional details on the awards can be found on the ATA website at www.americantrakehner.com. The Koenig/NowPac Young Riders’ Dressage Award is a monetary award presented to the highest scoring junior/young rider competing in dressage on an ATA Trakehner or part-Trakehner horse. The 2008 recipient is Laura Noyes of Delaware, OH. Noyes...

In only it's sixth year of existence, the Springpferdezuchtverbandes Oldenburg-International or "OS" has made history with the Champion of the 2008 Stallion Licensing who will now be known as 'Le Champ Ask' after being purchased by Stutteri As—the jumping stallion station of Blue Hors—for 1.1 Million Euro. The OS branded stallion was impressive from the first moment of the testing. The stunning presence of this stallion along with his expressive trot and balanced canter on the lunge...

Exhibitors at the recent Sport Horse National (SHN) Championships were pleasantly surprised by the news that they won some unexpected cash at the show. Where did their windfall come from? Less than one year ago, the SHN Payback Program was born by a group of longtime Arabian breeders and riders. By offering cash rewards, the group hopes to encourage interest and enthusiasm in the Sport Horse Nationals show, as well as the breeding of Arabians specifically for the sport-type disciplines of...

Olympian Laura Kraut captured another big event when she won the grand prix of the CSI Madrid on May 19th, which qualifies her for the 2007 European Championship and for the 2008 Olympic Games. Riding Anthem, a 1991 bay Dutch Warmblood gelding who is a familiar mount for Kraut, she finished in 35.84 seconds. For her win, Kraut is 43,000 euros richer. In the second place was Bernardo Alves of Brazil. Alves completed the course in 36.84 seconds aboard Topic Van’t Voorhof. The best rider...

Laura Kraut extended her lead to 13 points over Beezie Madden in the race for American Grand Prix Association (AGA) Rider of the Year following a fifth place finish in the Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix in Kentucky over the weekend. Meanwhile, victories by Aaron Vale in Kentucky and Rich Fellers in California have juggled the standings and moved both of those riders into contention for the American Grand Prix Association title. Entering its 27th year, the AGA Grand Prix Series of Show Jumping is...