Photo by Sport Fot/Thierry Billet (Louis Jacobs on Kachina in the 1.45m.) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) had a successful third week of competition on January 27-31. The week featured the $75,000 Nespresso Grand Prix, CSI** and the $55,000 Nespresso Battle of the Sexes, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week three title sponsor was Nespresso. In order to provide the best coffee to riders at the FTI WEF, Nespresso is the official coffee at...

Photo by Robbi Meisel (Aaron Vale and Platinum) The $25,000 Jacksonville A-Z Grand Prix sponsored by North Florida Hunter Jumper Association on January 30 closed out Week IV of competition with one of the most successful riders in show jumping, Aaron Vale, adding another win to his illustrious career. After a week of observation, course designer Allen Rheinheimer put all he learned about the starting field into a lengthy and technical 13 obstacle-16 effort test with a time allowance of 96 tight...

2009 NAJYRC Reining Team Gold Medalists for Team North Central, from left: Ian Barnard, Alex Bauwens (Waltenberry) Denver, CO - Attention Reining Young Riders! The Adequan© USEF Youth Reining National Championship will once again take place at the NRHA Futurity, in Oklahoma City on June 26th, 2010. Reining young athletes who wish to compete for the prestigious national title must have earned points in any of the qualifying shows held since May 18, 2009, and rank in the top-twenty in their...

Hickstead, winner of the Individual Gold and Team Silver Medals at the 2008 Olympic Games under Canada’s Eric Lamaze, is now available for breeding in North America. Hickstead is a 1996 brown Dutch Warmblood stallion standing 16 hands. Sired by Hamlet, his dam is Jomara, by the well-known and recently deceased stallion, Ekstein. Hickstead’s bloodlines also feature such prominent show jumping names as Nimmerdor, Notaris, Ulft, Le Mexico and Joost. Based on his performance record, Hickstead was...

Maxance McManamy, 2009 USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year, shown during the 2009 North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (USEF Archives) Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) announces that Maxance McManamy has been selected as the 2009 USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year. McManamy will be honored at the USEF’s Annual Meeting, January 13-17, 2010 in Louisville, KY, as part of the Pegasus Awards held Saturday evening. The Ruth O’Keefe Meredith...

Classic Company President Bob Bell is feeling pretty special thanks to the kind folks of the Georgia International Horse Park, City Manager Tony Lucas, and Randal Mills, the Mayor of Conyers, who proclaimed Friday, November 7 as “Bob Bell Day” in the city of Conyers. The proclamation was an expression of appreciation to The Classic Company for 15 years of quality hunter/jumper events held at the former Olympic venue. Mayor Mills shared how Classic Company was the first major equestrian event to...

For the third year in a row, the National Equestrian Centre in Lake St Louis, MO, was home for a week to some of the best Friesian horses in the world. Judges for the International Friesian Show Horse Association (IFSHA) World and Grand National Championship Horse Show were Lois Heyerdahl for dressage and sport horse in-hand divisions while the carriage pleasure driving horses were pinned by Audrey Bostwick. Three USEF Friesian judges—Gary Mullen, Todd Trushel and Dr. Walter de la...

Dressage at Devon, one of the nation's most important dressage and sport horse breeding shows, has awarded more than $51,000 to owners and breeders in the Born in the USA Breeders Awards series since its inception in 2003. Developed by the Dressage at Devon Committee to recognize and reward the achievements of American breeders, the awards are distributed in 14 divisions, and include prize money, rosettes and other prizes. Each year the program has grown and now the Born in the USA Breeders...

The North American Anglo-Arabian Horse Association (NAAAHA) sponsored their third High Pont Championship Awards this year at the Sport Horse National Championship Show. Eighteen Anglo-Arabians competed all week at the Kentucky Horse Park. The five-year-old gelding One More Round++// (Al Jassur Laddin x Winifred) earned Supreme Champion Anglo-Arabian Sport Horse honors thanks to winning the Champion in Sport Horse Under Saddle Amateur To Ride (ATR), Reserve Champion in Hunter Hack ATR and Adult...

Judgement, Olympic Gold Medalist Beezie Madden's long-time partner, will make his final appearance before fans in a ceremony to be held on Sunday, November 1, during the Animal Planet Sporthorse Cup at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Touranment. The storied 18-year-old dark bay stallion is a two-time winner of the Cup, and arguably one of the most successful American-bred stallions in show jumping history. Madden, who has ridden the horse to world fame, will ride Judgement once again into...