Photo by SusanJStickle.com (Canada's Belinda Trussell and Anton won the opening class in the WEF Dressage Classic, the FEI Grand Prix CDI***. ) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) featured four disciplines in its tenth week of competition on March 17-21. The week featured the $75,000 Equine Couture/TuffRider Grand Prix CSI** and the WEF Dressage Classic, CDI***, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week ten title sponsor was Equine...

Photo by ESI Photography (Emma Kennedy, the owner and rider of Summer Hill, captured Sunday's $5,000 Pony Commotion. ) The Ocala Winter Finals wrapped up another exciting week of show jumping that included two of the four remaining qualifying grand prix classes this winter for the Pfizer Million at HITS Post Time Farm in Ocala, FL. Maryland’s Tracy Magness captured the win in the $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, aboard Mr. and Mrs. John Barko’s Tarco Van Ter Moude for...

Photo Courtesy Showplace Productions (Ledges Sporting Horses show grounds.) Showplace Productions is pleased to announce that they are now under way with the 2010 Ledges Winter Horse Show Series at their Ledges Sporting Horses Show Grounds. Ledges Sporting Horses is the home of the Ledges Winter Series of indoor shows. Located two hours northwest of Chicago in Roscoe, IL, Ledges boasts a spacious indoor facility, and numerous outdoor arenas for hosting events in the summer. From December to...

Photo by Lauren Fisher/PMG (Mary Ann Grant and Tamaro will perform in the brand new figure skating and dressage exhibition at the 2010 Challenge of the Americas. ) The Ninth Annual Challenge of the Americas is excited to announce a very unique new dressage and figure skating performance to the Challenge lineup. Held in Wellington, FL, on Saturday, March 13, 2010, the evening will get under way at 5:30 p.m. with musical grand prix team quadrilles, four-bar jumping and a figure skating dressage...

Photo by Diana DeRosa (Liza Boyd and Brunello) "He is my Olympic hunter," commented Liza Boyd after she nailed her third victory in the 14th Annual American Hunter-Jumper Foundation (AHJF) Hunter Classic Spectacular in Wellington FL, aboard her seasoned mount, Brunello. She won the very first one riding Monday Morning in 1997 and then in 2008 tasted victory again on Fiyero. Now just 3½ months after the birth of her first child (Ellen) it was important to prove she still had what it takes. Yet,...

Photo by ESI Photography (Laura Pfeiffer on Thorstin on course in the $10,000 U-Dump Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper High Classic) HITS Post Time Farm wrapped up a strong week of AA-rated show jumping this past Sunday, February 14, as the show grounds were buzzing with action for the opening week of the season. The big news for the rated circuit is that HITS Ocala will host a total of 12 qualifiers for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix that will take place on September 12 in Saugerties, NY. The...

Photo by Diana DeRosa The atmosphere at the fourth annual Bowling for Equestrians was electrifying. From the thunder of the bowling balls as they sped down the alleys to the misty fog that made the psychedelic lighting system sparkle. The game room was showered with kids testing their skills while young and old alike threw bowling balls down the alleys in hopes of a spare or strike. The fundraiser, which is the brainchild of the American Hunter-Jumper Foundation (AHJF), was held at Greenacres...

Photo by Robbi Meisel (Eirin Bruheim and NLF Trans Atlantic) Thermometers were up and down, weathermen forecasted gloom and doom with the supposed arrival of three inches or more of snow, and like all good businesses the managers of the Gulf Coast Winter Classics decided to aire on the side of caution by cancelling Friday classes. The good news was that aside from some nasty rain, it truly was a “non event” day as Bob Bell co-chairman had hoped. Saturday saw the return of warmer temperatures,...

Breeder Ken Borden, Jr., has characterized his Little Bit Farm, Inc., as “small but mighty.” They have had growing success and many year-end awards for both farm and horses, but this past year was a banner one. For 2009, Little Bit Farm is the leading dressage breeder for both the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and the United States Dressage Federation (USDF), with five USDF Horse of the Year winners and two of their four approved stallions entering the record books. Masterpiece...

2009 USEF Farnam/Platform Horse of the Year (Shannon Brinkman/USEF Archives) Louisville, KY – Annually, five of the USEF’s 130,000 registered horses achieve so much in a year that they are named USEF Horses of Honor and enter the running for the title of Farnam®/Platform™ Horse of the Year. In 2009 all five of these horses were nothing short of remarkable. But one forever changed the face of his sport, and with that, Ravel was voted the 2009 USEF Farnam®/Platform™ Horse of the Year. It began in...