Photo by Flying Horse Photography (Martel and Jenny Karazissis.) The hunters were stellar on a surprisingly cool Saturday in San Juan Capistrano. Forty-one competitors galloped around the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby course with 14 returning for the Handy Round. Jenny Karazissis piloted Martel (Star Lane Farms, owner) with poise, winning both rounds for the top prize. The first round included 11 efforts, with four 4’ options. The course flowed smoothly, not too many trouble spots,...

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...

Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) has named Eirin Bruheim to represent the United States at the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore August 14-26, 2010. The Youth Olympic Games will feature 3,000 athletes from 205 nations in 26 different sports, including Equestrian, which will be represented by Jumping. Like the Olympic Games, athletes will participate in Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and live in the Youth Olympic Games Village. The Youth Olympic Games will be...

The Portola Valley Training Center in Menlo Park, CA was the site of the June 5-6 Selection Trials for teams hoping to represent the US at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. It was a celebration of top vaulting and Woodside Vaulters' 20th anniversary as a vaulting club. Again, the team competition was fierce. All five declared teams were present and the top two repeated the last trial's placings. FACE topped the leader board with an impressive overall score of 8.272, an improvement of more...

Hunters had a big week at the High Prairie Farms Spring Final. More than 20 horse-and-rider combinations competed in the $2,500 United States Hunter Jumper Association National Hunter Classic on a perfect May evening in the main hunter ring. When it was all over, Libby Copeland claimed the championship riding Remember When (Jennifer Wallen, owner). Copeland, a Kansas City native, rides and trains out of Michael Dennehy’s Bridlewood Farms. She has been there for a little more than a year after...

Photo by James Leslie Parker (Laura Chapot.) Laura Chapot took top honors at the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair, winning the Open Jumper Championship on Bradberry with 30 points and also taking the Leading Open Jumper Rider title for the fourth time in six years, and the fifth time overall. Along with her four wins in the Open Jumper division that counted towards the leading Rider title, Chapot also won two six-year-old classes and a seven-year-old class for an unprecedented seven jumper...

Lexington, KY - The Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Selection Trials concluded the 2010 qualifying season with competitions held across the country in Illinois, California and Virginia to select the U.S. representatives for the 2010 FEI World Breeding Championships to be held in Verden, Germany, August 5 - 8, 2010. The first Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Selection Trial was held at CDI 3*/Y/J Wayne & Dressage at Lamplight in Wayne, IL, May 21 - 23, 2010. Dominating the Five-Year-Old...

Before a crowd of more than 500 people, as the bright sun set over the San Francisco Bay on Saturday evening, Tamra Smith and Kelly Loria jumped to victory in the two divisions of the $30,000 Preliminary Challenge, the feature of the Spring Event at Woodside. Loria, 16, of Lafayette, CA, rode Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds to top the 15-horse field in the Preliminary Rider Challenge, earning a check for $2,500 and a CWD Custom Saddle. Smith, 34, of Hemet, CA., rode CSI to top the 11-horse field...

Photo Courtesy Epona and Hassler Dressage (Lauren Spreiser and Ellegria with Kyra Kyrklund.) This week several horse-and-rider combinations were privileged to participate in clinics given by Kyra Kyrklund. Kyrklund, who lives and trains out of her farm in West Sussex, Great Britain, is a world-class dressage trainer and has represented Finland in six Olympic Games. Kyrklund is a heavily sought-after coach who has trained multiple Olympic medalists; at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games she had...

Photo by Dr. C. Mike Tomlinson (Mary Jordan, a Grade IV Para-Dressage rider used this competition as a practice before the selection trials at the end of June.) This year is the most exciting calendar year for the United States Para-Equestrian Team in history. It will be the first time ever that the para-dressage team will compete with all of the equestrian disciplines at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ (WEG) in Lexington, KY. The hopeful WEG riders first stop this summer was May...