Grass Lake, Mich . – The country’s top para-dressage athletes and horses have gathered at the Waterloo Hunt Club this week to compete in the 2016 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championships sponsored by Deloitte and the Selection Event for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Five athlete-and-horse combinations are entered in the National Division, while eight combinations plan to compete in the High Performance Division. Of the 11 athletes scheduled to compete this weekend, nine...

McLain Ward and Tina La Boheme Win $50,000 Devon Welcome Stake (Rebecca Walton/Phelps Media Group) Devon, Pa. - It is no secret that Olympian McLain Ward has been on a hot streak recently, racking up six major victories from New York to Rome in just three weeks. The $50,000 Devon Welcome Stake CSI4* proved to be no exception as Ward rode away with the top two spots, winning the event aboard Tina La Boheme and placing second with his reigning Pan American Games double gold medalist mount,...

Ocala, Fla. – A dominant team of veterans will represent the United States this week at the country’s only qualifier for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final in September in Barcelona, Spain. CSIO4* Ocala will host eight teams in the prestigious Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup presented by Edge Brewing Barcelona on Friday. The Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Team of Lauren Hough, Beezie Madden, Todd Minikus, and McLain Ward have drawn fifth in the order and will look to earn...

Lexington, Ky. - Adult amateur riders showing off their Third Level freestyles were first in the Alltech Arena early Sunday morning, but it was the final competitor down centerline who impressed the judges the most on the last day of national championship action at the US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan®, held November 5-8, 2015 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. Julie McCrady won the Third Level Freestyle Adult Amateur Championship with her home-bred Hanoverian mare...

Elkton, Md. – The quest for National Championship titles got underway this week with two days of dressage at The Dutta Corp. Fair Hill International. Athletes from 24 states performed their tests as part of The Dutta Corp./USEF Three- and Two-Star Eventing National Championships. Tamra Smith and Mai Baum currently lead the CCI3* with a score of 38.5 while Will Coleman and Tight Lines sit atop the CCI2* leaderboard on a score of 42.5. Tamra Smith and Mai Baum (Shannon Brinkman Photo)...

Conor Swail and Viva Colombia (SEL Photography) Lexington, Ky. - The Split Rock Jumping Tour hit the mark in multiple ways this past weekend. With a mission to create an "unparalleled show jumping experience", the second event in Lexington, KY, was spectacular from the ground up. The intimate equestrian event was well-attended and received high praise. The first investment that Split Rock Jumping Tour founder and President Derek Braun made after the May event was in the footing. ESI stepped in...

Gladstone, N.J. – Cold winds and rain could not dampen the spirit of young equestrians competing in the Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals East held today at the iconic United States Equestrian Team Foundation headquarters in Gladstone, N.J. After judges Chrystine Tauber and Candice King scored the Phase I flat work test and the Phase II gymnastic course, Victoria (Tori) Colvin (Loxahatchee, Fla.) holds the early lead with a remarkable score of 240. The young...

Lexington, Ky. - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) has named an additional combination to represent the United States at CICO3* Aachen, held in Aachen, Germany, August 12-14. The U.S. has now been invited to send a full team of four athlete-and-horse combinations. The following combination has been named as the fourth member of the U.S. Team: Colleen Rutledge (Frederick, Md.) and her own Covert Rights, a 2006 Thoroughbred Cross gelding The U.S. Team will also include (in ranked...

Lexington, Ky. - The stage is set for the 2015 US Pony Finals to begin at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. From August 4-9, over 800 ponies from across the country will compete with their youth riders in hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. Through Saturday, competition for the US Hunter Pony Championships presented by Sallee Horse Vans will take place. Riders will vie for championships in Small, Medium, and Large Regular Hunter and Green Hunter divisions. The Hunter Pony...

Bratislava, Slovakia – A team of up-and-coming athletes will represent the U.S. in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup at CSIO3*-W Bratislava, July 23-26 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Under the guidance of Chef d’Equipe DiAnn Langer, the team consists of Audrey Coulter, Allyssa Hecht, Michael Hughes, and Hannah von Heidegger, all of whom are competing on their first senior team. The U.S. team has drawn eighth in the order of 13 teams. Coulter (San Francisco, Calif.) has climbed from the Young...