Lexington, KY - All 84 horses presented at the first Horse Inspection at the 2011 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials were accepted by the Ground Jury without incident. This includes three American horses: Mandiba, BallyNoe Castle RM and The Good Witch. With their riders, Karen O'Connor, who contested her first Badminton in 1979, Buck Davidson, whose father Bruce was the first U.S. winner in 1995 and Jennifer Wooten-DaFoe who looks to cross Badminton off the list of CCI4*s to complete...

Wellington, FL - The Equestrian Sport Productions (ESP) Spring Circuit continued last week with week 5 on April 13-17. ESP was very pleased to see that exhibitor numbers at the show increased 25% from 2010. The horse show offered a full schedule of hunter/jumper competition, with three classes featured: the $10,000 Pennfield Feeds Open Jumper Welcome Stake, the $7,500 Reist Industries High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Stake at The Stadium, and the $30,000 ESP Spring 5 Grand Prix. The winner of...

Lexington, KY — Grant applications continue to come in to USA Equestrian Trust (USAET) but there’s still time to submit a proposal. All not-for-profits are invited to apply by going to the web site at https://www.trusthorses.org/grant/request.html to fill out the online grant application. The deadline is May 2 at 5 p.m. EST. Past recipients of grants include those doing equine health research, equestrian land conservation, and educational programs. The Trust welcomes applications for need-based...

Aaron Vale and Paparazzi. (ESI Photography.) Ocala, FL – Aaron Vale won the $25,000 Ocala Horse Properties, LLC Grand Prix on Saturday, April 9, during the Ocala International held at Sharn Wordley Equestrian in Ocala, FL. Just as Canada’s Francois Lamontagne had done the week before during the Ocala Jumping Classic, Vale won the $10,000 Blue Gate Farm Open Welcome on Thursday, April 7, as well as Saturday’s $25,000 Ocala Horse Properties, LLC Grand Prix during the Ocala International. Having...

Lucy Davis and Nemo. (Flying Horse Photography.) Thermal, CA - The 20th Anniversary of the HITS Desert Circuit was a success from start to finish, with beautiful weather, great competition and record entries for the first time since 2007. The fifth season at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, CA, was a world-class show jumping experience for trainers, owners, riders and spectators, alike. All four of the FEI World Cup Qualifying Grand Prix took place before sold-out VIP and general...

Tinne Vilhelmsson Silfven, Steffen Peters and Tina Konyot. (Photo by Susan J. Stickle.) Wellington, FL - The 2011 World Dressage Masters Palm Beach presented by International Polo Club Palm Beach finished in spectacular style on the evening of Friday March 11th, as eight of the world's top dressage pairs performed Grand Prix Freestyles for a sold out audience of 1200 at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center in West Palm Beach, FL. The performances got progressively more exciting as the evening...

Maddie Wright knows that dozens of saddle seat equitation riders are helping to find the cure for he (Photo courtesy St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.) Lexington, KY - “The UPHA Ribbons of Service program is a wonderful example of how young people can use their passion for saddle seat equestrian riding to help the children of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We are grateful to the United Professional Horseman's Association (UPHA) for developing the Ribbons of Service program, and...

Rodrigo Pessoa and Let's Fly. (Photo by Sportfot©.) Wellington, FL - Saturday Night Lights at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival brought a crowd of more than 4,200 spectators out to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center this weekend to watch Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa and Let's Fly jump to victory in the $231,000 FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix CSI 4*-W Presented by Bainbridge Companies. Pessoa earned the winning cut of prize money after an exciting jump-off of many of the top horses and riders...

Steffen Peters and Ravel (SusanJStickle.com) Wellington, FL – Before a sold-out crowd, the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center continued to play host to World Dressage Masters Palm Beach CDI5* presented by the International Polo Club. After Thursday’s Grand Prix and Friday afternoon’s Grand Prix Special, eight of the top riders from across the United States and Europe rode their freestyles on a cool Florida evening. And, by the luck of the draw – the best was saved for last. Steffen Peters and Ravel...

Its 12:30 PM and it has already been a really long day for me. This is how it has unfolded to this point, but I’m a little scared to see what happens next. 3:15 am - Woke up in a cold sweat after a dream that I was in Europe with the show jumpers and Ashlee Bond had lost her cat. I have no idea if Ashlee even has a cat. But we were in a major panic in the dream. 4:20 - Alarm goes off after a fitful sleep searching around a back road in Belgium for the lost cat. 4:30 - Drag self out of bed,...