Wayne, IL - As many people on the East Coast braced for Hurricane Irene, those at the Lamplight Equestrian Center enjoyed another day of sunshine and beautiful temperatures. Medals were awarded in the USEF Dressage Seat Medal Finals presented by Dressage Today 13 & under division and champions crowned in the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships 4- and 5-year-old divisions. Bronwyn Cordiak & Sarasanna GP (Photo: Chuck Swan/Swan Studios, LLC). The USEF...

Lexington, KY — May in Kentucky was all about the catch-ride. One ride. One horse. One shot at history. At Louisville, it meant a late-replacement jockey, John Velazquez, would win his first Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom. At Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park that same weekend, it meant students facing their own last-minute leg-ups, with just minutes to assess a horse before entering the Alltech Arena and their date with destiny at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association...

Ireland won the opening leg of the 2011 FEI Nations Cup™ series in a nail-biting thriller at La Baule in France today. On an afternoon when the form-book was turned on its head, Robert Splaine's side of Shane Sweetnam (Amaretto Darco), Billy Twomey (Romanov), Cian O'Connor (Larkhill Cruiser) and Cameron Hanley (VDL Southwind) produced superb jumping to finish with a two-fault advantage over the runners-up from Belgium, while the mighty German side had to settle for third spot in...

Maddy Darst with Mom Mindy Darst at Horse Shows by the Bay (Photo courtesy Horse Shows by the Bay). Traverse City, MI - Opportunities are endless for hunter riders attending Traverse City, Michigan's Horse Shows by the Bay this summer. Besides being located in the ultimate vacation destination of the Midwest, the varied festival schedule will be featuring new events and awards, ensuring participants that important items like earning lots of points, capturing coveted ribbons and winning big...

McLain Ward and Miss Liberty 7 Wind Their Way to The Winners Circle McLain Ward showed the crowd that he deserves his many accolades, as he piloted Miss Liberty 7 to a perfectly planned and executed round to win the $10,000 Gem Twist Sprint Gambler's Choice at the 64th Pennsylvania National Horse Show. The Gambler's Choice competition is very different from the standard style of classes offered at horse shows. In the Gambler's Choice, the course designer places fences around the...

Ravel and Steffen Peters (Amy McCool) San Juan Capistrano, CA – Overnight leader Steffen Peters returned to the Oaks Blenheim ring with Ravel in the USEF National Grand Prix Dressage Championship and the USEF Selection Trial for Dressage, and made it quite clear that he was not going to relinquish his lead. Owned by Akiko Yamazaki, Ravel, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding took some of the much more experienced horses to task and never looked in danger of making a mistake. The elegant...

Diana DeRosa (2007 Pan American Games Bronze medalists Todd Minikus, Laura Chapot, Cara Raether and Lauren Hough) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—It was a battle between the host country—Brazil—and the teams from Canada and the United States for the team show jumping medal today at Deodoro Stadium outside Rio de Janeiro. Fittingly, it was the host country’s most popular equestrian athlete—Rodrigo Pessoa—that was the last to go in the two-round series of Nations Cup...

Team USA does it again by bringing home the Team Gold medal in reining. Pictured are: Dell Hendricks, Tim McQuay, Aaron Rahlston and Matt Mills. (By Ceci Flanagan-Snow) More than 38,000 fans of reining and driving descended on the 2006 World Equestrian Games on Friday to watch the exciting marathon phase of four-in-hand driving and the Team medal competition in the Western discipline of reining. It was a Gold-medal day for Team USA’s reiners, while three American drivers took to the...

By Bob Langrish (Beezie Madden and Authentic are leading all show jumpers at the WEG for two days in a row.) It’s double duty again at the 2006 World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Aachen, Germany, as two disciplines played out simultaneously – one of them in the Main Stadium (show jumping) and the other having its first-day opener in Stadium 2 (four-in-hand driving). Both of the disciplines have fans running back and forth to take in the action. In show jumping, it’s Day One of a...

By Bob Langrish (Beezie Madden and Authentic in the Main Stadium in Aachen, Germany.) (Aachen, Germany)— The 16 efforts put in front of the 116 show jumpers going round during the 1st qualifier and speed class for the individual and team FEI World Championships in Aachen were a bit more than a few could handle. And for Team USA, there were few bumps along the road translating into less than a handful of downed rails in a windy Main Stadium. Over the day, six horses were eliminated, and...