Lauren Kieffer and Vermiculus (Kasey @ Rare Air Photography) Lauren Kieffer’s return to the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Land Rover is particularly nostalgic, because her mount this year—Vermiculus—is a full brother to Snooze Alarm, the horse that brought Kieffer to her first Rolex Kentucky back in 2010. Bred in Indiana by Lawson and Jeanne Williams, Snooze and Vermiculus are Anglo-Arabians, by the Arabian stallion Serazim and out of the Thoroughbred mare Wake...

Good biosecurity practices are key to disease prevention when horses are grouped together at competitions. (Randi Muster/Mustphoto, Inc.) Ask horse owners to name their most-feared horse diseases, and chances are equine herpesvirus, or EHV, will be on the list. Recent reports of EHV in Texas, Louisiana, California, and Kentucky serve as a reminder that, with the spring competition season getting underway, it’s important for equestrians to be vigilant and take preventive measures, from...

Julie McCrady won the 2015 Third Level Freestyle Adult Amateur Championship with her Hanoverian mare Remanessa, and looks to return to Lexington again this year to try for a Fourth Level title. (Susan J. Stickle) Lexington, Ky. - “You bet I’ll be back. I’ve declared and I made my hotel reservations in Lexington months ago!” Every November since 2013, Julie McCrady and her husband have made the trek to Kentucky from Raymore, Mo. with their home-bred Hanoverian mare...

Mattias Tromp and Avon Win the $50,000 Longines Cup (Shawn McMillen) Bridgehampton, N.Y. - Mattias Tromp (USA) trumped the competition to win the $50,000 Longines Cup at the 41st annual Hampton Classic Horse Show riding Avon, owned by Beyaert Farm, Inc. Pablo Mejia Villa (COL) was second on his Reglisse Top and Catherine Tyree (USA) was third on Enjoy Louis, owned by Mary and Joseph Tyree. There is an important horse show scheduling update for Sunday. Due to weather forecasts, the horse show is...

The United States’ Karl Cook pilots Tembla to the win in the $135,600 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Langley. (FEI/Rebecca Berry) Langley, British Columbia, Canada - The USA’s Karl Cook jumped Tembla to a thrilling win in the $135,600 Longines FEI World Cup™ Qualifier, presented by Noel Asmar, at Langley CSI3*-W. Thunderbird Show Park hosted the first leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League West Coast sub-league on Sunday, August 28. “As Tembla...

Wayne, Ill. – Two divisions apart of the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions determined their champions on Saturday. Bebe Davis and Feivel Mousekewitz claimed the AGCO/USEF Young Rider Dressage National Championship title, while Jenna Upchurch and Greystoke earned top honors in the AGCO/USEF Junior Dressage National Championship. In the USEF Pony Rider Dressage National Championship division, Hannah Irons and Bohdjan took the early lead with a steady ride in the FEI Pony Team Test....

Rio 2016 continue to mess up a perfectly functional transport system, U.S. Dressage rider hits another Personal Best, and the Jumping horses have started leaping. All is good in Rio. The transport (to be more precise the Drop Off / Pick Up) debacle would be comical if it wasn’t so disruptive to everything that we (and other Nations) have been doing for the last two weeks. To then be told that it was our fault and that we, the Teams, were disobeying the rules was insulting and insane....

I started this blog this morning with the aim of completing by the start of the jumping competition and extolling the virtues of the Glorious 12th. However it is now evening and the blog is only just being started due to the time consuming shenanigans of the Annoying 14th. It has been one of those days that Rio 2016 have perfected the art of creating; frustrating and unnecessary. Casting my mind back to the Glorious 12th, I still get goosebumps combined with deep reoccurring nervous tension...

Piber Köflach, Austria – The U.S. Driving Team of Donna Crookston, Sterling Graburn, and Suzy Stafford, along with individual Leslie Berndl, made a valiant effort at the 2016 FEI World Driving Championships for Singles, which proved to be a true championship test. The strong international field consisted of 75 combinations from 23 countries, and after four days of competition, the U.S. team finished 14th. Sterling Graburn and Mannkato (Krisztina Horváth/Hoefnet.com) Graburn (Paris,...

Early nights all round for the dressage and eventing teams; and I bet there are a ton of people out there that wish they could turn in to their slumber pits early as well. Overnight equine arrivals plus the huge amount of work that the equestrian experts supporting the Rio 2016 Organising Committee have had to undertake, has ensured that there are many tired people out there. But these experts have done an excellent job getting the venue ready and whilst there remain frustrations and areas...