The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) joins the global Olympic Movement in celebrating the two-year countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games on Tuesday, July 27. In conjunction with the London Organizing Committee's celebration activities, the USOC is sharing thoughts from some of its top 2012 Olympic hopefuls, organizing athlete appearances, distributing Olympic sport storylines and Games fun facts, launching an online feature series and commemorative video on a www.TeamUSA.org , and...

Many of the country's top horses and riders will once again return to Chicago to compete at Showplace Production's horse shows this year as pursuit of the coveted $60,000 Showplace Leading Rider Series begins for the 2010 season. Returning for its fourth consecutive year, the Leading Rider Series has made an exciting addition to its lineup this year, adding six divisions of leading hunter awards along with the previous jumper honors.The 2010 Leading Rider Series will offer $32,500 in jumper...

Randi Muster/Mustphoto, Inc. (Richard Spooner and Cristallo) Wellington, FL – The test of endurance which serves as the USEF Selection Trials for the US Show Jumping Team for the Alltech 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games continued with the fourth round of jumping in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Twenty-six American horses jumped in the penultimate Trial and clear rounds continued to prove very valuable. There were four clear rounds and three that added...

THERMAL, CA —The Maple Leaf was flying high at the HITS Desert Horse Park during Desert Circuit IV when a pair of Olympians from Canada had Grand Prix triumphs during an action-packed week of show jumping at HITS Thermal. On Saturday night, Pearce aboard Forest View Farm's Chianto, beat out the 22 other starters to challenge international course designer Bernardo Cabral's first-round track, as well as the eight riders who advanced to the jump-off in the $50,000 Purina Mills CSI-W Grand Prix,...

Photo by Flying Horse Photography (McLain Ward and Phillipa) Two-time Olympic Gold medal winner McLain Ward raised the roof during the $50,000 Strongid® C 2X CSI-W Grand Prix when he rode Sagamore Farm's Phillipa to the triumph before an enthusiastic crowd that filled the indoor arena at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, CA. Ward traveled from Brewster, NY, to get a jump start on qualifying for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix that will take place at HITS-on-the-Hudson, in Saugerties, NY,...

Photo by Randi Muster (Pablo Barrios and La Gran) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) began their competition on Wednesday, January 14, with opening jumper classes in the International Arena. The first week of the FTI WEF is sponsored by G&C Farm and runs through Sunday, January 17. The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of competition that conclude on April 4, 2010, and almost $6 million in prize money will be awarded through the circuit. This week's course designer is...

Mikala Munter Gundersen and Festivo Win Equilite Sponsored Class International dressage trainer and competitor Mikala Munter Gundersen was in the ribbons at the Wellington Classic Holiday Challenge, winning the USEF Third Level Test 3 with Christine DeHerrera’s Westphalian gelding Festivo. The class was sponsored by Equilite, makers of Sore No More, Herbal Blends and Botanical Animal Flower Essences, and Gundersen took home a giant tote filled with Equilite products. “Christine, who owns...

Photo by PMG/Ken Kraus (Jennifer Waxman and Venturo) The United States Equestrian Team Foundation (USET) is pleased to announce that 18-year-old Jennifer Waxman of Chagrin Falls, OH, has been awarded the Lionel Guerrand-Hermès Trophy, recognizing a Junior/Young Rider who exemplifies the USET Foundation's ideals of sportsmanship and horsemanship. The award was established in 1983 by Patrick Guerrand-Hermès in memory of his son Lionel, an Olympic hopeful trained by U.S. Eventing...

Twenty-nine of the most promising young stars of the eventing community competed in the 2009 East Coast Irish Draught Horse Society of North America (IDHSNA)/United States Eventing Association (USEA) Future Event Horse (FEH) Finals in Lexington, VA, at the Virginia Horse Center. Held in conjunction with the popular Virginia Horse Trials, the classes for yearlings, two-, and three-year-old young horses were quite competitive as an array of well-bred horses were presented to judges Carter Bass...

The U.S. team at the FEI World Pony Driving Championships in Greven-Bockholt, Germany, is currently in fourth position in the standings after dressage. The U.S. drivers put down excellent performances in the past two dressage days and are only one point behind The Netherlands, who is in third position. Host nation and team title defender, Germany, ahead of Belgium, leads the standings. Germany’s Franz-Josef Lehmkuhl, who will end his active driving career after this event, won the Single...