Lexington, Ky. - US Equestrian announces the establishment of the USEF Grant Program for the 2023 and 2024 Adequan ® /USEF Junior Hunter National Championships – East and West generously supported by Debbie Smith. Traverse City Horse Shows in Traverse City, Mich., will host the East Coast championship from June 27 through July 1, 2023, while Blenheim EquiSports in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., will host the West Coast championship from July 23 through 25, 2023. Debbie Smith established...

Tamie Smith (fourth from left) chats with daughter Kaylawna Smith-Cook after her LRK3DE CCI5*-L test ride with Passpartout (Kathleen Landwehr/US Equestrian) Tamie Smith is a name that is known in the eventing world, especially after her recent win with Mai Baum at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian™ CCI5*-L. Following in her mother’s footsteps and making a name for herself is Kaylawna Smith-Cook. This talented mother-daughter duo is taking...

Megan “Meg” Kepferle of Long Valley, N.J., was a longtime groom for Sinead Maynard (née Halpin) before starting her own business and pursuing her own riding goals. Kepferle groomed multiple times for Maynard at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian™, and she made her riding debut at the 2023 event in the CCI4*-S with Anakin, Rogue Won Syndicate LLC’s 2009 Thoroughbred gelding. When asked about her favorite memory grooming at the...

Mounted stewards play an important role during the cross-country phase of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian™. (US Equestrian) Responsible for crowd control, public engagement, and rounding up the occasional loose horse, mounted stewards play a fundamental role in the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian ™ , especially the cross-country phase. According to the event’s 2023 Mounted Steward Guidelines document,...

The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian™ is a dream competition for many aspiring eventing athletes. The same is true for LRK3DE first-timer Sydney Solomon of Dayton, Md. After attending the event as a spectator 15 years ago, Solomon set her sights on Kentucky, and she has worked hard and endured challenges to get here. Solomon, 26, makes her debut with Early Review CBF, a 2009 Hanoverian mare bred and owned by Laurie Cameron, and hopes for a positive...

James "Jimmy" C. Wofford (Chrissy Miller of Szemere Photography) James “Jimmy” C. Wofford had a profound influence on the shaping of equestrian sport as we know it today. He was a complete horseman, focused and skilled competitor, and a “teacher’s teacher” who will be remembered for his humor, charm, and wit. Wofford was born into an equestrian family on November 3, 1944, in Junction City, Kansas. His father, Col. John W. Wofford, competed for the U.S. Jumping Team...

Alex Waldrop, the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), shared U.S. horse racing’s history and recapped some of the challenges that horse racing has faced in the past 15 years. The challenges affected horse racing’s social license to operate and required earnest changes to improve horse welfare. “An old adage comes to mind: ‘If you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.’...

USEF Chief of Sport David O’Connor, University of Kentucky Equine Science professor and member of the FEI Equine Ethics and Welfare Commission, Dr. Camie Heleski, and Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare, Roly Owers, spoke to the USEF Annual Meeting about equestrian sport and the social license to operate. Here are five takeaways from their presentation. 1. Social license to operate is an unofficial but essential piece of the puzzle. Owers describes social license to operate as...

Lexington, Ky. - US Equestrian is pleased to announce Ryder Richardson (Parker, Colo.) as the winner of the 2022 USEF Youth Sportsman’s Award in recognition of his contributions and achievements this year. The USEF Youth Sportsman’s Award identifies outstanding youth members actively involved in their respective discipline or breed organizations and acknowledges their potential as future leaders in the equine industry. The American Connemara Pony Society and United States Hunter...

Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy – The Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team has officially secured qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, capturing the first team world championship medal for the program since 2002, as they hoisted the silver medal on the podium. The team finished on a final score of 100.3 behind the German team who took gold on a 95.2. New Zealand followed closely in third on a combined total of 100.7. The Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team captured the first team medal since 2002...