Joel Kiesner. (Photo by Stuart Vesty.) Welcome to the second of many features profiling various people in equestrian sport - athletes, trainers and more. The profiles are published regularly in the United States Equestrian Federation's Week in Review e-newsletter. This week meet Joel Kiesner, whose lifelong experience has evolved into training methods focused on maximizing the best assets and talent of the Arabian horse. His exceptional talent and abilities have resulted in numerous awards -...

McLain Ward and Sapphire on their way to the Pfizer Million winner's circle (© ESI Photography.) Saugerties, NY - Sunday’s Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix was an epic show jumping event that has sent waves of excitement throughout the world. When HITS announced its intentions to host a million dollar grand prix class as the finale to its 2010 show season, reactions ranged from excitement to disbelief since a purse of that size had never been offered before, especially in the United States. Fast...

Cara Brykett, left, showed the pony, who is owned by Gail Ray of Silver Meadows Training Center in A (Photo by Washburn Photography) Ardmore, Okla. (August 30, 2010) – Isn’t He Just Magical managed to outshine all of the other Shetland Ponies at the 2010 American Shetland Pony Congress Show in Ardmore, Oklahoma, when he won the Vetrolin® Grooming Award, sponsored by Farnam. Winning the title of “Best Groomed” pony at the show earned Isn’t He Just Magical and...

I'm here at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park (KHP) in Lexington, Kentucky, for my third Arabian Sporthorse National (affectionately known as SHN)--although it is the seventh anniversary of the event splitting off from US Nationals to give sport horses a chance to shine all on their own. This year is the first that SHN has been held at the KHP, and boy are the gums flapping about the facility! Walking around the park, you'll pass one group oohing and aahing about how beautiful it is and...

Morton, IL- In a gesture of goodwill, the American Shetland Pony Club (ASPC) is sending a gift of two American Shetland Ponies to the Hong Kong Equestrian Federation to salute their efforts for hosting the 2008 equestrian events of the Olympics. The two Shetland riding ponies are currently in quarantine in Lexington, KY, awaiting their flight to Hong Kong scheduled for June 6. The two show ponies will fly from Chicago to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Equestrian Federation (HKEF) will host a special...

A free trip for two to the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup™; Finals in Las Vegas will be awarded to one lucky winner of a contest being offered through the Finals’ producer Las Vegas Events, Inc., the equestrian website EquiSearch.com and Animal Planet, the cable television network that will broadcast coverage of the World Cup Finals. The Rolex FEI World Cup™ Finals in both jumping and dressage return to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, April 18-22. In 2005, the Jumping and Dressage Finals were...

The American Saddlebred industry is mourning the loss of longtime Saddlebred breeder and exhibitor Barbara J. Blacklaw, who died Friday morning, January 26, in Palm Springs, CA. Barbara and her husband of nearly 50 years, Bill Blacklaw, operated Singing Hills Stables in Oregon City, OR, for the past 39 years, breeding and training American Saddlebreds. Together their contribution to the Saddlebred industry in the Northwest and across the country has been remarkable. Barbara's love of the...

Beezie Madden (center) accepted the Farnam/Platform Horse of the Year Award on behalf of owner Abigail Wexner. Pictured with Madden are USEF President David O'Connor (left) and Farnam's Chris Jacobi. (Geoff Oliver Bugbee/USEF Archives) At the final social event of the 2007 Annual Meeting in Louisville, KY, the much-anticipated Farnam®/Platform™ USEF Horse of the Year Awards celebrated the equestrian world’s hardest working athletes—the horses—from across the spectrum...

With U.S. qualifying more than half over, the race to earn berths in the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final is tightening up. Final qualifying events in both the East and West Coast Leagues will decide which horses and riders will represent the U.S. in the World Cup Final in Las Vegas, April 18-22, 2007. Las Vegas, the world’s premier city for exciting entertainment, will once again be the backdrop for the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup™ Finals in both jumping and dressage. In 2005, the FEI...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 22, 2006 (Lexington, KY) – A number of exhibitors using the GPA brand of helmets while competing in USEF licensed events may be unaware that they are not wearing an ASTM/SEI certified model as required by USEF rules. Helmets purchased in Europe, from online stores in Europe, or possibly from EBay, if the helmets originally came from Europe, may not meet the ASTM/SEI standard as required by USEF GR318.2-GR318.7. Riders should check the buckles of their GPA helmets...