Thermal, CA - With the start of the 2012 HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal, California just a few months away, HITS, Inc. announced today a revision to the Open Jumper schedule for the West Coast’s most popular six-week winter series. The 2012 HITS Desert Circuit will begin Tuesday, January 24 and run until Sunday, March 11, with an off-week slated for February 13-19. Highlighting the schedule for Open Jumpers, the HITS Desert Circuit will host four FEI World Cup Qualifiers, held in the...

Gladstone, NJ – The 2011 Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals-East concluded on Sunday afternoon with an exciting victory for 18-year-old Samantha Schaefer of Westminster, MD. Showing over two beautiful autumn days at the USET Foundation Headquarters in Gladstone, NJ, eighty-four hopefuls came out to show this weekend in the 30th annual competition. Schaefer earned the win with high scores across the board in a head-to-head final four jump-off. Judges Jimmy Lee and...

SAUGERTIES, NY – Jennifer Staniloff will always remember her first trip to HITS-on-the-Hudson in Saugerties, New York. On Saturday afternoon, the fourth grader was named Champion in the Children’s Hunter Pony Small Division at the 2011 Marshall & Sterling League National Finals aboard Nancy Buzzeta’s Shimmer. Staniloff of Setauket, New York and Shimmer led the way as they captured the blue ribbon in the first over fences class and then finished second in the under saddle,...

Samantha Schaefer and Lyn Pedersen's Mahalo on course during the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final (ESI Photography). Saugerties, NY – All bets were off Sunday morning as judges cards were wiped clean from Saturday’s first two rounds of the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final and the top 25 riders advanced to the final two rounds in the Strongid® C 2X Grand Prix Stadium at HITS-on-the-Hudson. With an impressive fourth-round score of 92.33 and a total score of 178.08,...

Upper Marlboro, MD - The 18th Annual Capital Challenge Horse Show looks forward to once again hosting the future of equestrian sport during its approaching 2011 competition. Pioneering new ideas in the sport, the Capital Challenge Horse Show is proud to support the nation's up-and-coming equestrians by featuring classes for emerging professionals and future equine stars. ?? This year's competition runs October 1-9, 2011, held at the Prince George's Equestrian Center in Upper...

Andre Thieme on course with his own Aragon Rouet at the 2011 Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix (ESI Photography). Saugerties, NY - As the rain subsided at HITS-on-the-Hudson on Sunday, some of the best equestrians in the world took to the course of the second-ever Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix. But, after a plane-ride from Germany, upwards of $20,000 in travel expenses and a long week of nerves it was Andre Thieme who will cash the coveted $350,000 winner’s check. During the qualifying season...

Jessie Lang and C. Quito won the 2011 $25,000 USHJA International Franktown Meadows Hunter Derby (Photo: Heather Bellock/PMG). Carson City, NV - The Sierra Nevada Mountain Range was the perfect backdrop for the second annual $25,000 USHJA International Franktown Meadows Hunter Derby on September 5, 2011. Labor Day's derby events included 250 plus spectators in attendance who were treated to a spectacular display of hunter riding when Jessie Lang captured the hunter derby win with C Quito,...

An all-star cast heads to this week’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR), second last leg of the HSBC FEI Classics™ 2011 (1-4 September). It is a particularly special year for Burghley, as it is 50 years ago that the historic Lincolnshire estate hosted its first competition by invitation of the 1928 hurdling Olympic gold medallist, the Marquess of Exeter. Since then, Burghley has hosted eight championships, including the first ever World Championships in 1966, and riders...

Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist McLain Ward and Grant Road Partners LLC's Antares F at HITS Saugerties (ESI Photography). Saugerties, NY — It was nothing less than fitting that one of the best equestrians in the world closed out one of the biggest circuits to ever come to HITS Saugerties. Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist McLain Ward rode Grant Road Partners LLC’s Antares F to the blue in Sunday's $100,000 Strongid® C 2X Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer...

McLain Ward captures his second victory of the week at HITS-on-the-Hudson in Sunday's $100,000 Strongid® C 2X Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, aboard Grant Road Partners' Antares (ESI Photography). Saugerties, NY — McLain Ward and Grant Road Partners’ Antares F had another impressive week of show jumping at HITS-on-the-Hudson Week VI with back-to-back wins to dominate the competition in the Strongid® C 2X Stadium. They took the blue in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand...