The 126th National Horse Show opened up competition on Wednesday, October 28, at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament in Syracuse, NY. The National Horse Show holds classes for hunters through Friday, October 30, and their highlight event, the ASPCA Maclay National Championship, will be held on Saturday, October 31. The Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament holds jumpers classes through Sunday, November 1, in the War Memorial at the Oncenter Complex. "We are very excited to...

Honoring Ravel, November 5, will celebrate the accomplishments of the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup Dressage Final Champion and CHIO Aachen World Equestrian Dressage Champion. Arroyo Del Mar Farm, home of Steffen Peters and Ravel, will create a perfect environment for the intimate dinner. The evening will include Peters’ narrative video of his experiences and once-in-a-lifetime rides with Ravel and a special appearance by Ravel. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Equestrian Aid Foundation....

Melissa Jackson and Wellington Capture Grand Prix Win Sponsored By the Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center Melissa Jackson and her 12-year-old Hanoverian, Wellington, captured the win in the Grand Prix at the Wellington Classic Dressage’s Autumn Challenge of Champions show, held in conjunction with the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Region 3 Dressage Championships. The Grand Prix was sponsored by The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center, and...

Victoria Birdsall and Alex Parrish emerged as East Conference champions in the regular season of the 2009 Cavalor Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series. The Cavalor Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series conducted its 2009 series with classes at more than 100 horse shows across the nation, giving competitors an abundance of opportunities to accumulate points throughout the year. The series featured separate divisions for amateur-owner and junior riders with standings kept...

The Agricultural Marketing Group at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM, has undertaken the first scientific saddle fit study of Western performance saddles. Using a force sensor array (FSA) pressure pad, which shows exactly how the saddle applies contact to the horse, different levels of pressure are shown in different colors and in three dimensions. The focus of the study is on barrel and roping saddles, but the results are applicable to all types of Western saddle users. Using this...

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) is pleased to announce that 47 USDF members successfully completed the USDF “L” Education Program between April and October of 2009. The USDF “L” Education Program is designed to prepare candidates to enter the United States Equestrian Federation “r” Judges Training Program, to qualify individuals to judge schooling shows, and to give competitors, trainers, and instructors greater insight into the evaluative techniques of judging dressage. The...

While their senior counterparts strutted their stuff down the centerlines in the CCI** and CCI*** divisions at the Fair Hill International Horse Trials, four- and five-year-old stars-to-be were flashing their talents in the Spalding Labs/United States Eventing Association (USEA) Young Event Horse (YEH) East Coast Championships. Youngsters from around the eastern United States gathered to show their potential in conformation, dressage, and jumping in their own championship division, which ran in...

The Spalding Labs/United States Eventing Association (USEA) Young Event Horse (YEH) West Coast Championships will be held at Galway Downs in Temecula, CA, on Thursday, October 29. The YEH championships will be running in conjunction with the Galway Downs Three-Day Event and Horse Trials. So if you are already headed that way, be sure to put your Young Event Horse on the trailer as well. Entries are still being accepted for the YEH West Coast Championships. For more information, be sure to look...

The 2009 Irish Draught Horse Society of North America (IDHSNA)/United States Eventing Association (USEA_ Future Event Horse East Coast Championships will take place this Friday, October 30, beginning at noon, in the East Complex Arena of the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, VA. Come out and watch the yearlings, two-, and three-year-old future eventing superstars. Competitors' times are now posted on the Virginia Horse Trials website at www.vahorsetrials.com/pages/va_FEH_times.htm . The...

The smart money is often in the progeny of Smart Chic Olena, whether it be in the reining, cutting or cow horse pen. The stallion showed his prowess through his offspring when he first became an NRHA Million Dollar Sire in 1999. Now 10 years later, Smart Chic Olena (Smart Little Lena x Gay Sugar Chic, by Gay Bar King) continues to prove his progeny’s power and is National Reining Horse Association’s (NRHA) third Five Million Dollar Sire with $5,006,800 in offspring earnings. The 1985 stallion...