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Equestrian Weekly

The all new Equestrian Weekly newsletter showcases the best of US Equestrian, including new Learning Center videos, the USEF Network schedule, and original articles. Equestrian Weekly keeps members informed about affiliate news, international competitions, information on rule changes, membership updates, special member offers, and more.

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First Batch of Coaches Participate in Inaugural Para Dressage Fast-Track Program

by Dana Riddlemoser | Mar 12, 2019, 3:00 PM EST

Participants in the first USEF Para Dressage Coach Certificate Fast-Track Program. Photo: Jean Pierre Hourdebaigt According to US Equestrian Para Dressage Technical Advisor and Head of Coach Development Michel Assouline, a coach has two students: one is themselves. This was obvious for the 11 coaches who participated in the first USEF Para Dressage Coach Certificate Fast-Track Program on March 3-4 at Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center in Loxahatchee, Fla. Vinceremos is a United States...

An Insider's View: Licensed Officials Share Advice and Thoughts

by Margaret Buranen | Jan 29, 2019, 3:00 PM EST

What are licensed officials at equestrian competitions really thinking? We asked four to share their wisdom on a range of topics: tips for competitors, insights into the challenges of officiating, and more. Photo: Andrea Evans/US Equestrian Danny Robertshaw, Lisa Gorretta, Donna Pettry-Smith, and Cindy Mugnier all graciously agreed to discuss their work in different areas of equine sport. The joy of competing in their respective disciplines, and the desire to give back to those disciplines or...

US Equestrian Members are Making it Happen

by Glenye Cain Oakford | Jan 10, 2019, 6:05 PM EST

All around the country, US Equestrian members are having a positive impact on horse sports and breeds, as well as on their communities. They’re teaching lessons, launching youth and amateur programs, volunteering at competitions, serving on their breeds’ boards and committees, and much more. At US Equestrian’s 2019 Annual Meeting, we caught up with three members who described how their organizations are introducing people to the equestrian life and building...

Warrior Horses Raise Spirits and Funds to Treat Pediatric Cancer

by Glenye Cain Oakford | Dec 25, 2018, 9:00 AM EST

Ryan Melendez knows a lot about the comfort and strength people derive from their connection with horses. Ryan Melendez (right) with a Warrior Kid meeting her Warrior Horse (Courtesy of Warrior Horses) Ryan, the son of judge and trainer Bill Melendez and rider Kristal Raiger, grew up riding and showing Arabian horses . After he was diagnosed with Very High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2015 at age 17, the younger Melendez found that the equestrians and horses in his life supported him...

Double the Joy: Caudill Finds Success in both Dressage and Western Dressage

by Glenye Cain Oakford | Dec 18, 2018, 3:00 PM EST

For Andrea Caudill, the road to better horsemanship so far has wound through four disciplines. Caudill, who grew up in Rochester, Minn., started riding in an English saddle at age seven. By age 14, after she got her first horse and joined 4-H, she had switched to Western tack and later competed in reining . Since moving to Amarillo, Texas, where she works as an editor for the American Quarter Horse Association’s AQHA Media, Caudill has shown to a high level in both dressage and Western...

All Ears: Caring for Your Horse’s Ears

by Margaret Buranen | Dec 4, 2018, 3:00 PM EST

Mother Nature designed horses’ ears to be pretty much self-cleaning. She worked on the principle of preventing a problem, rather than correcting it. “In most situations, the normal amount of hair a horse has in its ears keeps debris out and the ears stay clean,” explained Dr. Nimet Browne of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute , in Lexington, Ky. Photo: AdobeStock/Mark But if you do clean your horse’s ears, Browne recommends doing it “not more often than once a week....

Maggie Hill: Multi-Disciplinary Approach Paying Off

by Glenye Cain Oakford | Nov 20, 2018, 3:00 PM EST

Maggie Hill on O'Ryan at the 2018 Devon Horse Show and Country Fair. Photo: Brenda Carpenter Photography Maggie Hill is only 16, but she’s already got a wealth of experience with several different disciplines. Hill recently took the reserve championship in the Pennsylvania National Horse Show’s large junior hunter, 15 and under, section aboard Stella Styslinger’s Cassanto. Her other successes this year also included a championship in the Devon Horse Show and Country...

Integrating a New Horse into a Herd

by Margaret Buranen | Nov 13, 2018, 3:00 PM EST

Good biosecurity protocols are key when a new horse arrives. Photo: AdobeStock/Rita Kochmarjova When a new horse joins your barn, he also joins your herd of horses. As he finds a place in your heart, he also finds his place in the herd. Your new horse’s connection with the other horses begins before he steps out of the trailer at his new home. Thinking of that relationship focuses your attention where it should be first: on the health of all of the horses. “Be sure the new horse is...

Horseshoe Greetings Lives the Equestrian Life

by Glenye Cain Oakford | Oct 30, 2018, 3:00 PM EST

When the staff at Horseshoe Greetings need inspiration for the company’s equestrian line of greeting cards, all they have to do is step outside the office. Horseshoe Greetings, the equestrian branch of the corporate greeting company Wall Street Greetings, is based at a historic farm in Versailles, Ky., that company founders Laura and Tim Members of the Horseshoe Greetings staff, with Jefferson the Welsh pony and Brussels the retired hunter. Photo: Moon Ko Voss own. Among the...

A Passion for Dressage

by Glenye Cain Oakford | Oct 23, 2018, 3:00 PM EST

Jenaya Olsen, a 14-year-old dressage rider from Naples, Fla., is one of the youngest equestrians to earn a United States Dressage Federation gold medal by achieving four scores of 60% or higher—two at Intermediate and two at Grand Prix level—at USEF-licensed/USDF-recognized competitions, achieved when she was 13. She credits her mom—dressage rider and coach Nicole Olsen—and coach Franziska Seidl in Ocala, Fla., with helping her achieve her gold medal. We caught up with...