Karl Cook and Banba (McCool Photography) Las Vegas, Nev. - Brazilian course designer Guilherme Jorge is brilliant at asking just the right questions for the field. With sixty-six entries, Jorge created a course that tested the technique necessary to tackle tight turns and tidy tracks. It included an interesting option fence - a skinny 1.40m gate 'winged' by a simpler vertical on each side. Heading home as fence 4, the skinny was the quicker choice to rollback to 5a-b; and later going...

Andres Rodriguez and Caballito (McCool) Las Vegas, Nev. - Wrapping up the indoor season, the Las Vegas National offers the final FEI classes on the West Coast until February 2014. Fifty-six horse and rider pairs representing eleven different countries gave it a go in tonight's $33,000 EquiFit, inc. Jumper Classic. The course was technical and the competition fierce. Brazilian Guilherme Jorge set the track. Knowing he had a large field, he intentionally built a course with technical...

Show season keeps moving forward and the scores keep coming in. At the last WSH show, the high score rider, Linda Coates-Markle, received a whopping 76% on NAWD Level 3 Test 1 (that is the western equivalent of USDF First Level) riding her Quarter Horse mare. Once again, this last weekend, shows featuring Western Dressage classes were held all over the country and WD riders on both sides of the nation received the highest Phyllis Ray and Starr in the warm-up (Darcia Drapeau) scores recorded at...

Eduardo Menezes flying on La Fleur 4 (McCool) San Juan Capistrano, CA - On yet another great day in Southern California, a small but stellar group of international competitors took on the challenge presented by world-renowned course designer Linda Allen in the $30,000 June Classic I Grand Prix, sponsored by St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort. Previous to this event, Hannah Heidegger dominated the final qualifier for the 2013 North American Junior & Young Rider Championships and young...

Amy Lewis and Sir Steinerman (David Honor) Lexington, KY - The final Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Training Session of Spring 2013 wrapped up Sunday at Oak Hill Farm in Lockport, Illinois. The two-day training session featured 11 horses between the ages of four and six and was once again led by USEF Young Horse Coach Scott Hassler. “We had a terrific training session at Oak Hill Farm in Illinois. There was once again a nice balance of U.S.-bred and imported horses,” said Hassler....

Aaron Vale dominated the Open Jumper divisions on the second day of the Tampa Bay Classic. He guided Kryptonite to the 1.40m victory in only 42.398 seconds (Kendall Bierer/PMG) Tampa, FL - The course was the talk of the day Thursday at the Tampa Bay Classic, as each consecutive rider was faced with a technical track that tested the best of their abilities. Riders gathered at the Covered Arena early this morning, and the cold weather only added to the mounting anticipation as some of the...

Thermal, CA - The fine tuning of an official rider’s list for the AIG Thermal $1 Million Grand Prix, presented by Lamborghini Newport Beach, was completed during last night’s rider meeting at HITS Desert Horse Park. With the touch-down of the East Coast manger’s picks in California, the final order of go was drawn and revealed that Candice King of Wellington, Florida will clip the hypothetical ribbon of the first-ever West Coast $1 million grand prix aboard Campbell VDL.....

Darragh Kenny and Any Given Sunday Wellington, FL - The grass was freshly cut, the vibrant and colorful jumps were set and music was playing in the background for the ninth week of The Ridge's 1.40m Grand Prix Invitational Series. Eleven went clear over Pierre Jolicouer's course, but no one could catch up to Darragh Kenny in the jump off. Aboard Any Given Sunday, the two were on a mission to claim first place and were not about to let anyone stop them. After completing the first round...

Jared Petersen and Titus 2:11 have been unstoppable the last few weeks at HITS Ocala. After two $50,000 grand prix wins in a row, the pair rode to victory in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis (ESI Photography) Ocala, FL - Jared Petersen and his father, Derek, were walking on air yesterday afternoon. Their excitement not only stemmed from the fact that Jared had just piloted Titus 2:11 to a win in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis, but also because it was...

Josephina Nor Lantzman and Chello Z topped a field of 52 to win $30,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis, at HITS Thermal before the HITS Desert Circuit takes a week off and returns with four more weeks of competition February 19 (©Flying Horse Photography) Thermal, CA - A week of thrilling show jumping competition culminating in the $30,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis, brought HITS Desert Circuit III to wrap Sunday, concluding the first half of the 2013 winter circuit. The...