At the August American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) Board of Director's Meeting, locations for the 2008 Judge's School were selected in be held conjunction with Diamond Jubilee in Del Mar, CA, in April; Southern States Regional Morgan Horse Show in Raleigh, NC, in May; and North Star Morgan Americana in St. Paul, MN, in July. These three-day events combine classroom work with learner judging under a stringent itinerary in an actual horse show setting. Overseen by two to three administrators,...

In October of every year hundreds of Iberian horses and their owners gather in Ft. Worth, TX, at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center to compete for national titles in numerous disciplines. The schedule includes many classes—from carriage to English and Western, from hunt seat to Doma Vaquera and much, much more. Every year the schedule of competition is exciting, educational and beautiful to watch. There are also many unique shopping opportunities oriented toward Iberian horses that will be...

The United States Hunter Jumper Assocation (USHJA) held a judging clinic on Friday, August 3, in Wayne, IL, in conjunction with Showplace Productions during Equifest I. Diane Carney, a local trainer and clinician, acted as mediator between the crowd of more than 100 people and the judges. The clinic had three riders demonstrate both hunter and handy hunter rounds, while each spectator was given a judge's card and scored each of the rounds individually. The riders were Tina Judge, Brenda Mueller...

Late on August 2, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the funding bill for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for Fiscal Year 2008 after removing the overly broad language that was opposed by the horse industry. When the USDA funding bill was reported out of the House Appropriations Committee two weeks ago, it included language that was intended to apply to slaughter horses. But the provision was so broadly drafted that it would have applied to all horses and been...

From Louise Parkes/FEI THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST.......ESPECIALLY IF MELANIE HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT....... The USA has been drawn first to go in tomorrow's sixth leg of the Samsung Super League with FEI series at Hickstead, England but Melanie Smith-Taylor, who is deputising in the absence of team manager George Morris, is not concerned. Lying last on the leaderboard the US really needs a good result in order to climb out of the relegation zone, but Melanie has every faith in her squad. "I...

Diana DeRosa (Mara Dean and Nicki Henley lead heading into cross-country in Rio de Janeiro.) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – The American event riders got off to a fantastic start on July 20 at the XV Pan American Games taking the lead in the team portion of the competition and sweeping the top five places individually. American combination Mara Dean riding Nicki Henley went to the head of a quality field of 27 horse-and-rider combinations riding before the ground jury of Barry Roycroft, Jo...

The United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation awarded the 2007 Intermediaire I Dressage Championship Trophy to Christopher Hickey and Regent at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions presented by Paul Miller Auto Group, held June 14-17 at Gladstone, NJ. The USET Foundation awards the Intermediaire I Dressage Championship Trophy annually to the winner of the Intermediaire I National Championship. Ivan Bezugloff, Jr., the founder and editor of the former Dressage and...

Flat tires are the leading cause of disablements involving horse trailers. USRider is involved in a research project with Dr. Tomas Gimenez to test the benefits (if any) of using air vs. nitrogen to inflate tow vehicle and horse trailer tires. An electronic air pressure monitoring system is being used to assist with the research. During the research, Dr. Gimenez and USRider have noted significant safety benefits resulting from using this system. “At USRider, we are all about safety when it...

The American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) is pleased to announce that the famed Morgan horse Santa Fe Renegade (Gradell’s Vigilante X Sable N’ Mink) and his trainer, Eitan Beth-Halachmy, will be the main attraction during the closing ceremonies of the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, on September 3. Santa Fe Renegade is owned by Bernice Ericksmoen of Granite Bay, CA. The event-filled ceremony will take place before 50,000 spectators and be televised worldwide in more than 140...

The Paso Fino Horse Association Scholarship Committee has successfully launched its 2005-2006 Fundraising Campaign with its First Trainer Services Auction. The committee teamed up with the Professional Trainers’ Association to raise more than $22,000 at the national show. The auction allowed members to bid on two months of training and board with some of the top trainers in the breed. Dwight Graber, Scholarship Committee member, praised Trainers’ Association President Alice Page and “super...