I guess the beginning is a great place to start. I grew up in Maine, the oldest of five, to a father who was in the military and a mother who was a housewife until the youngest of my siblings was in Junior-High school. We grew up on the other side of middle-class, OK, we were poor. I grew up watching spaghetti westerns in black and white on Saturday afternoons. I always loved the intrigue of being a Cowboy, pushing cattle up the Chisholm Trail, fighting bad guys and Indians. Next to the pony...

Evi Strasser and Rigaudon Tyme Loxahatchee, FL - The International Horse Sport Champions Cup CDI-W's Sunday class offerings attracted a number of promising young horses whose riders hoped to give them experience in preparation for a move up the ranks. Local and international competitors alike persevered through windy weather to put in strong performances at Equestrian Estates' IHS Champions Park in Loxahatchee. Evi Strasser and daughter Tanya Strasser-Shostak both rode 9-year-old horses...

Jessica Springsteen and Vindicat W (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Twenty-one-year-old Jessica Springsteen of Colts Neck, NJ, guided Stone Hill Farm's Vindicat W to the winning round in Sunday's $82,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic to conclude week nine of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF), sponsored by The Bainbridge Companies. Showing on a beautiful afternoon at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL, Springsteen...

Lauren Hough and Ohlala (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Week nine's CSI-W 5* competition at the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) continued on Friday with a win for Lauren Hough (USA) and Ohlala in the $33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m speed class, a Longines FEI world ranking event. Week nine, sponsored by The Bainbridge Companies, runs March 6-10, 2013. The week will feature the $300,000 FEI World Cup CSI-W 5* presented by The Bainbridge Companies on Saturday evening, and the...

Peter Wylde and Zidane. (Sportfot) Wellington, FL - Week three of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) began with the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m speed class on Wednesday morning at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC). The win went to Olympic gold medalist Peter Wylde (USA) aboard Windward Farm and Jessica Suida's Zidane, a nine-year-old KWPN gelding by Sam R x Cantos. Week three of the FTI WEF runs January 23-27. The week will feature the FTI Consulting...

Nick Maupin is a 19-year-old student at the University of Wisconsin majoring in Business Marketing and plans to graduate in 2015. From Sussex, Wisconsin, he is on the five-gaited section of the 2012 U.S. Saddle Seat World Cup Team. It would not surprise any member of the Saddle Seat world to hear me say that the discipline is generally, along with Saddle Seat Equitation, a female dominated sport. Quite possibly the only time one will see a male majority in a class is in the Open divisions. Not...

Lilly Ulrich and Monetenegro garnered the Grand Junior Hunter Championship at the 66th Buffalo International Horse Show. (Kendall Bierer/PMG) Buffalo, NY - The final day of the 66th Buffalo International Horse Show got underway this morning at the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center. The day was filled with fierce competition as horse and rider combinations vied for the top honors in their respective divisions. The Junior, Pony and Children's Hunter divisions concluded their second day of...

Jennifer Alfano and Miss Lucy made a clean sweep of the High Performance Hunter division at the Buffalo International Horse Show. Not only did the pair capture the division's championship, but they were also awarded the Grand Hunter Championship for their efforts throughout the professional division.(Kendall Bierer/PMG) Buffalo, NY - It was the second day of the 66th Annual Buffalo International Horse Show, and the competition was fierce as the hunter action continued. Today marked the closing...

Paige Johnson and Chiron S won the $40,000 Bluegrass Festival Grand Prix Victory at the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show. (Kendall Bierer/PMG) Lexington, KY - t was the final day of the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show, and the excitement was high as the $40,000 Bluegrass Festival Grand Prix got underway in the Rolex Stadium. It was a bittersweet finale to the fourth week of the Kentucky Summer Series, with 41 entrants competing for the top prize. Paige Johnson and Chiron S were one of only four to...

Shane Sweetnam and Amaretto D'Arco rode to the top of the leaderboard during the $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic at the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show. (Kendall Bierer/PMG) Lexington, KY - The lights were bright in the Rolex Stadium as the onlookers cheered on their favorite horse and rider combinations in a highly competitive 14-horse jump off. It was the $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic that took center stage tonight, seeing a field of 50 entrants vie for the top prize and valuable series...