Joel Kiesner. (Photo by Stuart Vesty.) Welcome to the second of many features profiling various people in equestrian sport - athletes, trainers and more. The profiles are published regularly in the United States Equestrian Federation's Week in Review e-newsletter. This week meet Joel Kiesner, whose lifelong experience has evolved into training methods focused on maximizing the best assets and talent of the Arabian horse. His exceptional talent and abilities have resulted in numerous awards -...

Ravel rocked last night. Plain and simple. It was the best I have ever seen him go and I have been lucky to see him go really well quite a few times. Steffen agreed today when I saw him, he said he felt it and was really excited about the work he was doing last night, but when he arrived here and Anne Gribbons saw him, he was convinced. The horse somehow keeps getting better. After the class last night I went to Del Ray Beach where I am staying with some friends and I got to catch up with a...

The eventers invaded the International Ring at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center on Saturday night, as PRO DerbyCross took center stage before the $30,000 Hermes Puissance. It was good fun, each team had three eventers, one show jumper and one polo player. They jumped three similar, modified courses. Everyone was really game, show jumpers Laura Kraut and Katie Prudent were recruited to jump the solid fences and both not only had a blast – they looked like they knew what they were...

Alida D'Angona, Miss Massachusetts 2011. (Photo courtesy AMHA.) Shelburne, VT — Alida D'Angona, 24, from Bolton, MA, recently was crowned Miss Massachusetts 2011, and will be a presenter at the American Morgan Horse Association's annual awards banquet on Saturday, February 26 in Boston. Born in California, D'Angona traveled with her family as a child across the world to live in Hong Kong before settling in Bolton. With an interest in music as well as the sciences, D'Angona quickly became...

Ceci Butler-Stasiuk (GenieSS, Inc) Lexington, KY - Endurance athlete Ceci Butler-Stasiuk has been named this year's recipient of the Maggy Price Endurance Excellence Trophy, sponsored by Gold Medal Farm and Larry and Valerie Kanavy.This award is given to the endurance athlete who earns the most points in selected Ranking Trials during the ride year. Butler-Stasiuk (Humble, TX) and DJB Cytron Kon JMF, owned by her mother Darolyn Butler, won the Florida Horse Park CEI3* 160km ride in January and...

Fair Hill, MD - Youthful enthusiasm combined with practiced precision led the way at the 22nd annual Dansko Fair Hill International Festival in the Country. The thirty-three horse field includes a broad range of competitors, including Olympians and riders that have just returned from the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Amateur rider and former Young Rider Nate Chambers, Vienna, Virginia, was really pleased with the performance of his 14 year-old warmblood gelding, Rolling Stone II....

Clark Montgomery Wins From Gate to Wire with Loughan Glen (Stockimageservices.com) Elkton, MD - There was a plenty at stake at the Dansko Fair Hill International, as 44 CCI2* horses and 24 CCI3* horses went to task in the USEF National Eventing Championships over Sally Ike's show jumping courses on a perfect October day. Hannah Burnett did something no one has ever done, the 2009 National CCI2* Champion returned to Fair Hill with Richard Thompson's St. Barths and finished on her dressage score...

Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen (Stockimageservices.com) Elkton, MD - Cross Country conditions were perfect as a blustery and sunny day dawned at the Dansko Fair Hill International and 89 horses took to Derek DiGrazia's cross country track to contest the USEF National CCI2* and National CCI3* Eventing Championships. The CCI2* competitors were first out and Clark Montgomery (Chatahoochee Hills, GA) took no time in reassuring his lead from the dressage with a foot-perfect performance on Loughan...

Lexington, Kentucky - Saddlebred trainer Michael Ray Benn, of Liberty, Missouri, passed away on Friday, October 1, 2010. Benn had been a resident of Liberty for the past seven years and earned his living doing what he loved – training American Saddlebred Horses. He spent his younger years working with Don Hulse and Dale Pugh, and was the head trainer at Callaway Hills Stables in Columbia, Missouri for twelve years, before operating his own training barn in Springfield, Missouri. Most recently...

Lexington, KY - The USHJA International Hunter Derby made its debut to the world this morning, at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Four of the country’s top hunter riders, demonstrated and educated over 1000 spectators about the exciting International Hunter Derby. The course, which demonstrated the tight turns necessary for a handy hunter, a variety of derby fences and the hand gallop, was designed by Bobby Murphy. The USHJA demo riders were: Jen Alfano and Jersey Boy, Peter...