Kate Mullen & "Elnieta" win the HorseShow.com/CDS Dressage Seat Equitation Challenge on the first day of the CDS Championship Show (Jennifer M. Keeler) Rancho Murieta, CA - California is well-known as home to some of the best dressage horses and riders in the country, and many of those were on display as the first championship titles of the weekend were awarded today at the California Dressage Society (CDS) Annual Championship Show at the Murieta Equestrian Center in Rancho Murieta, CA,...

Well fall is under way and I am trying to clear a little writer’s block. The last shows of the year are winding down. We are headed for the last ones in our area the last two weekends of the month. Fall is time to evaluate progress and prepare for next season. Some of us set goals for training, some for clinics, some for next year’s show season. We look at our feeding programs, exercise programs, breeding programs and whatever else we are running. I always find myself thinking ahead...

Caitlin Boyle following her win in the IHJA Junior Medal Finals (Emily Riden) Wayne, IL - The long anticipated Illinois Hunter Jumper Association (IHJA) "A" Medal Finals sponsored by Barrington Saddlery, were the highlight of the Grand Prix Ring today at the Showplace Fall Classic Championship Horse Show at the Lamplight Equestrian Center. An all day slow rain didn't stop competitors since the new GGT footing was perfect in the rain. Popular course designer Skip Bailey of Wellington, FL,...

Kent Farrington and Willow (Rebecca Walton) North Salem, NY - Kent Farrington was on fire Saturday, topping the $50,000 Hermès Classic with his talented mount Willow by besting a nine-horse jump-off with a double clear effort in 37.91 seconds. Forty-one of the country's top equestrian athletes turned out for the event at the 2013 American Gold Cup CSI4*-W, held at Old Salem Farm, but it was Farrington who had all the answers to beat Ireland's Darragh Kenny with Prof De La Roque...

Welcome to the fifth nstallment of a different kind of blog from WDAA! The purpose of this post is to allow the reader "into the heads" of both a trainer/judge/competitor, Karen Abbattista and her student, Deborah Herbert, a Florida WDAA member. We would like to share with you some moments in Deb's journey as she pursues her riding goals with her AQHA mare "GenuineArcticSpring", barn name "Belle". Please enjoy as you follow along with these posts that we consider interesting or challenging...

Jimmy Torano and La Bonita putting on a show in the final round of the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final (©ESI Photography) Saugerties, NY – Jimmy Torano of SW Ranches, Florida admits that he and Kathryn Haefner, who owns La Bonita, gambled on the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final, entering the five-year-old German-bred Warmblood mare in the highest stakes hunter class in the world. Lady Luck, however, was on their side at HITS Saugerties this week. Or, perhaps, La Bonita is...

Saugerties, NY - Sunny Drescher of Hinesburg, Vermont put on a dominating performance in the National PHA Junior Medal Final at HITS Saugerties this weekend. Piloting her own Sting, a seven-year-old Westfalen gelding, to the top score of 86 in the first round, Drescher led the class from start to finish, mastering the test and clinching the blue ribbon. The National PHA Junior Medal Final highlighted the Friday of HITS Championship Weekend at HITS-on-the-Hudson in Saugerties, New York and...

John Pearce and Chianto jump to a win in the $50,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis, making it two in a row for Pearce at HITS Saugerties this week (ESI Photography) Saugerties, NY – On the heels of a win in Friday’s $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix with Son of a Gun, John Pearce of Bermuda Dunes, California jumped his way to another blue on Sunday in the $50,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented, by Zoetis, this time aboard Forest View Farm’s Chianto. Celebration, however, soon...

Team Weber on the marathon course at Caen. (Photo courtesy of Madeleine Augustsson) Ocala, FL – Nine-time U.S. national four-in-hand champion Chester Weber remains undefeated in France following his second win there in the CAI-A4 Caen August 23-25, against a field of 12 drivers and 60 horses representing seven nations. Team Weber’s win at the CAI-A4 Caen is especially significant as the competition was the test event for the 2014 World Equestrian Games. In early June, Weber had the...

Victoria Press and Mayfair won the $50,000 Hampton Classic Hunter Derby on the opening day of the show (Shawn McMillen photo) Bridgehampton, NY - Victoria Press, of New York, N.Y., rode her horse Mayfair to victory in the $50,000 Hampton Classic Hunter Derby, presented by Meadow View Farms, on the opening day of the Hampton Classic Horse Show. Press-at 14 the youngest rider in the 42-horse starting field-confidently guided Mayfair to the best score of the second round to claim the blue ribbon...