Photo by Kristin Bednarski The build-out for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games has officially begun, and trucks carrying temporary seating and other structures dot the Kentucky Horse Park grounds as workers unload materials and prepare to begin construction. “These guys will probably be here until September,” said Sean Doane, venue manager for the World Games 2010 Foundation. Workers began erecting temporary seating on Monday, June 21, beginning with Stands A and C, which line the...

Thursday, June 17, marks 100 days to go until the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Still looking for a good reason to come? We’ve got you covered. We came up with 100 reasons to come to the Games. 100. You get to walk on the bluegrass. It’s pretty famous in Kentucky. 99. You know that saying “When pigs fly?” Horses actually do fly here...over jumps. 98. Because trail riding is fun, but horses do much cooler things at the 2010 Games. 97. You get to meet someone from a different country,...

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...

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...

Riders4helmets website aims to encourage more equestrians to wear helmets Leading equine digestive health product Succeed® has teamed up with helmet advocate Jeri Bryant to launch an online helmet awareness campaign— www.riders4helmets.com . The campaign is designed to educate equestrians on the benefits of wearing helmets. The Equestrian Medical Safety Association (EMSA) states that head injuries account for approximately 60% of deaths resulting from equestrian accidents. Approximately...

Rising to this year's "Let the Games Begin!" theme, the Wisconsin Morgan Horse Club (WMHC) had a winning presence at the 2010 Midwest Horse Fair. Preliminary numbers show that Friday's attendance set a record (18,500) and the total attendance for this year's three-day event exceeded last year's by 4,000 for a total attendance this year of 54,000. This is a great venue for promoting the Morgan breed. The WMHC booth was located near the front of Barn #1, so a maximum number of visitors had the...

Photo by Rebecca Walton/PMG (Cara Raether had her second victory in a row at the Kentucky Spring Classic, winning the $20,000 Bluegrass Classic with Lyonell. ) Saturday night's amazing finish in the $55,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix, sponsored by Audi of Lexington, will go down in history. The crowd went wild when Todd Minikus and Pavarotti crossed the finish line in an exciting 35.24 seconds to take over the lead during the jump-off, but when Cara Rather and Ublesco managed to stop the...

Dressage At the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL, the Lamplight Dressage CDI3* took place. Joe Sandven and his Hanoverian gelding Rachmaninoff were first in the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle. On the small tour Kassandra Barteau dominated, finishing first and third in the Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire I with Toscano and GP Delano respectively. With Toscano, she was also won the Intermediaire I Freestyle with a score of 69.950%. For full results please click here . Jumping Show...

During the off-season, with the help of a few professional horsemen and women, the Mid Atlantic Morgan Horse Show Committee revamped the show’s class schedule. In doing so, many classes were added, so this year, the show now starts at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23. Added classes include a saddle class in all of the Youth divisions: classic, English pleasure, hunter, park, and Western. There is now a Saddle Seat Equitation qualifier for the 13 & under and 14-17 age groups. Also added were junior...

CCI3* Winners Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister (Stockimageservices.com) Eventing It was a smooth weekend at the Jersey Fresh CCI3*, CCI2* and CIC3* all held concurrently at the Horse Park of New Jersey. Tiana Coudray guided her distinctive grey gelding Ringwood Magister to a convincing win in the CCI3* with a final score of 45.6. Coudray led after dressage by a huge margin of 16.8 points. She then rode carefully on the cross country and picked up just 4.8 time penalties, meaning she went...