Susan Hutchison and SIG Zuleika (Phelps Media Group, Inc.) Parker, Colo. - A crowd gathered in the Animo pavilion and on the grass to watch the $15,000 Open Welcome Stake in the Kathy and Brad Coors Grand Prix Arena for Week V of Summer in the Rockies at the Colorado Horse Park. FEI course designer Marina Azevedo from Campinas, Brazil designed a big, tough but fair track for the competitors. The Open Welcome was run as a II.2 ab allowing the competitors the option to either go to the jump off...

Kevin Staut and Silvana (Stefano Grasso/LGCT) Paris, France - It was a triumphant home win for France in Saturday night's seventh leg of the 2014 LGCT Championship, hosted for the very first time by the City of Lights - Paris. The inaugural Longines Global Champions Tour of Paris Grand Prix was won by a thrilled and emotional Kevin Staut and Silvana, who left the arena to resounding cheers and applause from the crowd. Second went to a very happy Pius Schwizer (SUI) with Toulago, and 3rd to...

Traverse City, Mich. - Peter Pletcher added to his blue ribbon collection from Wednesday with a variety of tricolor honors as the first hunter champions were crowned during the 11th Annual Horse Shows By the Bay Hunter/Jumper Series. Margaret Anderson's CR Beethoven clinched the Wrenwood Farm Grand Performance Hunter Championship and combined High-Performance/Second Year Green Hunter Championship, sponsored by Top Call LLC and Missy and Doug Smith, by winning four out of the five classes...

Will Connell (teamgb.com) Lexington, Ky. - United States Equestrian Federation Chief Executive Officer Chris Welton announced today the culmination of an expansive search for the USEF Director of Sport Programs by naming Will Connell to the post. From 2003 to present, Connell served as the British Equestrian Federation Performance Director with responsibility for the coordination and delivery of the UK Sport-funded World Class Program for disciplines of eventing, dressage, jumping, and...

Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) will be represented by three combinations at the 2014 FEI World Breeding Championships for Dressage Young Horses to be held August 6-10, in Verden, Germany. The following five- and six-year-old combinations will compete at the annual championship as self-funded Individuals. Five-Year-Old Division The U.S. will be represented by the following combination in five-year-old competition: Matthew Johnson (Lake Worth, Fla.) and his own...

Rotterdam, The Netherlands - The Hermès U.S. Jumping Team produced a two-round total of 27 in Friday’s Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup presented by Longines at CSIO5* Rotterdam to finish in eighth place. Katie Dinan and Nougat du Vallet (Shannon Brinkman) Led by Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland, members of the Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Short List for the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Lucy Davis, Jessica Springsteen, Katie Dinan, and Lauren Hough composed the American...

Chester Weber during the dressage test that led to a CAIO4* Saumur win (pixelvisuel.com) Saumur, France - Chester Weber took an early lead in Saumur on Friday, and when the cones phase of the CAIO4* ended on Sunday he'd turned that lead into a dominant victory. Weber (Ocala, Fla.) earned the individual Four-in-Hand win over 32 other drivers and was a nearly eighteen points better than his closest competitor. That wide margin of victory helped lead the U.S. team to a third-place finish in...

Saumur, France - Saturday's runs on the marathon course at the Saumur CAIO4* have helped the U.S. team hold onto second place, and stay in position to earn a top finish in Nations Cup competition. Led by Chester Weber (Ocala, Fla.), who finished second in the Four-In-Hand division with a 93.34 score, the U.S. team has a total score of 307.6. In the individual competition, Weber's marathon performance has him one step closer to a repeat of his 2013 win. On a total score of 126.25, he now...

Burbank, Calif. - For the second year in a row, Jenny Karazissis led the victory gallop in the $10,000 Memorial Day USHJA International Hunter Derby, this time aboard Undeniable (Kelly Straeter, owner). “I’m so lucky to be able to ride such incredible horses,” Jenny commented. “Undeniable is such a competitor and he’s such a nice mover that it just brings a smile to your face when you ride him.” The judges definitely loved his movement and expression, and...

Saumur, France - The rain that has plagued much of the week at the Saumur CCI3* continued on Friday but the two U.S. entries were undeterred as they slotted into the top 10 at the completion of the first phase. Land Rover Competition Grant recipient, Doug Payne, leads the American effort standing fourth heading into the cross country, with Elisabeth Halliday-sharp lying eighth after the dressage. Doug Payne and Crown Talisman (Eric Knoll) Payne (Apex, N.C.) and his own and Larry and Amelia...