Elani Rager and Castor in $25,000 HITS Grand Prix. (Brent Ericsen Photography©. ) Tucson, AZ - February 9, 2011 - Competition at the 2011 HITS Arizona Winter Circuit kicked off last week at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson, AZ, with the first of six weeks of A-rated horse shows. Highlighting the week for High-Performance riders at the Sundance Welcome was Sunday’s $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, which was won by Elani Rager of Corrales, NM, and Lisa Upplegger’s...

SAUGERTIES, NY - Less than two weeks after announcing plans for a $100,000 Hunter Final for its popular 3’3” Devoucoux Hunter Classic, HITS has decided to quintuple the purse and make history again by offering the richest hunter class in the sport of show jumping. The $500,000 HITS 3’3” Hunter Prix Final will be a culmination of more than 30 Devoucoux Hunter Prix qualifying classes offered at all HITS horse shows from January 19 through September 4, 2011. The Final will be take place September...

Mario Deslauriers and Urico. (Photo by Shannon Brinkman for USEF.) Lexington, KY - The Jumping World Championships presented by Rolex at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games kicked off today with the speed competition. More than 120 horses would jump through Conrad Homfeld's beautifully designed course before the day was done. This first round of the jumping was the speed competition, so all the riders were aiming to have fast and clear rounds. Coming off a brilliant Team Gold medal win...

Cesar Parra and Olympia (SusanJStickle.com Photo) Gladstone, NJ – In his first opportunity to ride for a US National Championship, Cesar Parra capitalized on the chance and took home top honors at the USEF National Intermediaire I Dressage Championship at the 2010 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions. A Colombian native, Parra began riding under the US flag in 2009, since then he has reaped the reward. “I wanted to go for it,” said Parra after his ride. “These are very good riders,...

Brant Gamma (Kelly Loria bested the competition to take the Individual Gold medal.) Lexington, KY - On the last day of the 2010 Adequan FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North, the USEA Eventing Championships concluded with the stadium-jumping phase of the three-day event for both Juniors and Young Riders on Sunday. In the Juniors, the Gold medal went to Kelly Loria, representing Area VI/VII/VIII, who proved she is a new rising star on the eventing...

Photo by Emily Daily (Karen O'Connor and Mandiba after their victory.) The standings shifted radically beneath Karen O'Connor's feet Sunday afternoon during the show jumping phase of the Adequan United States Eventing Association (USEA) Gold Cup CIC***W division at The Event at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, MT. Aboard Joan Goswell's Mandiba, the pair stood strong and posted a double-clear round in the stadium to decisively retain victory. "For me, today was great," O'Connor said. "I rode him early...

It's not like Rachel Boggus has time on her hands. In addition to riding and showing three horses across all the divisions, the amateur rider who trains with Michael Dennehy also is completing the last year of her anesthesiology residency at the University of Colorado Medical Center. "I don't have a lot of free time," Rachel admitted. "When I do, I am riding and showing. It's really hard for me to stay away and sometimes that means very long days with very little sleep, but I wouldn't have it...

Photo by Dr. C. Mike Tomlinson (Missy Ransehousen, Chef d'Equipe for Para-Dressage at 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.) The United States Para-Equestrian Association would like to announce their qualified riders for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) Selection Trials scheduled for June 24-27, 2010. The amount of Para-Dressage participants has tripled in one year, which means more para-equestrians are challenging themselves to international competition. The riders making...

Photo by Lauren Fisher/PMG (Lisa Goldman and Morocco won the $10,000 SJHOF High Junior/AO Jumper Classic.) It was a fantastic day for 21-year-old Denise Wilson of Oconomowoc, WI, and Blue Gate Farm LLC's Life is Life 15 when the pair raced to victory in Saturday afternoon's $30,000 Showplace Productions Grand Prix. Held in the beautiful Grand Prix Ring at the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL, the grand prix was the first of three in the 2010 Showplace Spring Spectacular Horse Show...

Chester Weber and his Winning Team (Picsofyou.com) Driving US Drivers with the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games on the brain competed at the CAI-B Garden State CDE at the Horse Park of New Jersey. Chester Weber and his Four-in-Hand team notched yet another win, finishing with 116.64 penalties. Josh Rector was second and Bill Long rounded out the top three. In the Single Horse division, Kim Stover and her Connemara/Thoroughbred cross Laughlin finished on 113.33 for the win. Scott Monroe...