FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) teammates McLain Ward of Brewster, NY, and Margie Engle of Wellington, FL, took the two featured classes on opening day of the 29th Annual I Love New York Horse Show. Ward, a Team Gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, topped a huge field of 83 horses, riding Galant to victory in the WPTZ-TV News Channel 5 1.35m Jump-off. Riding fourth in the order at the North Elba Showgrounds, the 30-year-old Ward set the early mark to beat when he rode clean and then...

Susan Summers, riding Mags Motivator, finished first in a ride time of 9:54:59 at the CEI*** 100-mile endurance ride in Ashland, MT, on Sunday, June 11. Her average ride time of 10.48 miles per hour put her four minutes ahead of second-place finisher, Heather Stevens, riding RSA Count Laquen. Forty riders took the trail in the 4:30 a.m. eastern Montana dawn. The trail would take them over ranch land and through the Custer National Forest. Twenty-six FEI riders began this third and last...

With the victory gallop at Rolex now in the past, the East Coast eventing scene’s focus shifted to the final preparations for the New Jersey CCI** and CCI*** in early June and the Virginia Horse Park’s CCI* in mid-May. Many riders chose to have a final tune-up at the Maryland Combined Training Association (MCTA) Horse Trials located at Shawan Downs. Although MCTA Horse Trials are long time veterans of the spring eventing schedule, the organizers added both intermediate and advanced levels to...

Equestrian vaulting combines the strength of gymnastics with the beauty of dance on the back of a moving horse. It is one of the seven recognized disciplines in international equestrian sports. Vaulting is also used to develop basic equitation and in many therapeutic programs. Have you ever considered what vaulting might be able to add to your riding program? Would you need to train a horse for a vaulting club? Do you want to know what the judge is seeing when scoring vaulters? Whether you are...

Rider Aaron Vale of Aiken, SC, rode Alison Register’s 13-year-old Warmblood bay mare Alliance to a double-clear round victory over a field of 26 competitors in the H n’ D Stables’- and Wilton Connor Family-sponsored Lucky Sevens Welcome Stake on July 21. Alliance's first round time of 63.50 made him the third out of four mounts for Vale going into the jump-off. Their second clear round time of 34.70 was just one second enough to pull off the win. Pablo Barrios of Wellington, FL, aboard Wild Cat...

The USEF/Markel Young Horse Dressage Program kicked off 2006 with the first of three official Selection Trials at the CDI Three-Star/Y Cincinnati and Spring Classic I & II, held May 13–15 at Paxton Farm in Batavia, OH. This USEF/Markel Young Horse Dressage Central Selection Trial for the FEI World Breeding Championships showcased the region’s most promising dressage prospects in their quest to qualify for Verden. In a new format this year, the Selection Trial competition is comprised of two...

FEI representatives met with leading footing specialists in Windsor, England, on May 16 for a brainstorming session which will likely provide the criteria upon which all future championship arena footing is to be based. The meeting, which drew riding surface experts from around the world, was a proactive response to the report of the FEI Working Group assigned to assess problems associated with footing after the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The round table discussion covered many areas, including...

In the past five years, Over the Walls Horse Trials at Great Meadowbrook Farm has become one of the premier horse trials in the world. However, due to increasing costs and a lack of adequate sponsorship, Erik Fleming and Torrance Watkins have decided to cancel their event. “It’s a bittersweet decision as we have loved working with the finest people to create the finest event for the finest horses,” said Watkins. In its five years of running, Over the Walls has attracted national and...

Scene from the $75,000 HITS Grand Prix, May 30, 2004. (Courtesy HITS and Fionn Reilly/Ulster Publishing) Lexington, KY – Following a hotly contested open to the 2005 competition season in the warmer climates, and a highly-anticipated fight for the prize at the World Cup Finals in April, claiming the title of U.S. National Champion will be yet another challenge facing some of equestrian sport’s best athletes in June. Truly a headliner competition for the United States Equestrian...

Lexington, KY --The nations’ best reiners will be coming to the heart of Kentucky in 2005, as a result of the combined efforts of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA), and the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). The USEF Open Reining Championship will be the headliner class at Fiesta in the Park—a new show that offers reining and hunter-jumper events, side by side in the Kentucky Horse Park. The show, slated for August...