On August 1, the Youth National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show came to an end after eight days of top-level horse show competition, a shopping expo and the Arabian Horse Youth Association (AHYA) Annual Convention. This was the show’s 17th year in Albuquerque and is estimated to bring about $10.2 million to the city. The largest class, Arabian Hunter Pleasure Junior to Ride, age 14-17, hosted 79 horses and was won by Kool Enuff, owned and ridden by Kirsten McKillop of Alamo, CA....

Last year the Capital Challenge Horse Show offered a new event to the schedule—the Emerging Pro Challenge. The Challenge class was designed for professionals who may be knocking on a door that is typically opened by riders like Scott Stewart, Louise Serio, Peter Pletcher and a handful of other hunter riders who have graced the Show Place Arena with top scores on numerous horses. The $5,000 Emerging Pro Challenge was designed to give riders competing in the professional divisions (future...

Bruce Davidson, Jr., (USA) brought the 2009 HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing qualifiers to a most satisfying climax, jumping clear in the final phase with both horses, despite a severe storm, to score a memorable one-two in the last qualifier, at Mansfield, Canada, and spring into second place in the rankings behind Mary King (GBR). Davidson led throughout on My Boy Bobby, the handsome liver-chestnut Irish-bred on whom he scored his best four-star result, third in the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event...

The 22 ponies of the eight American competitors at the World Combined Pony Championships in Greven-Bockholt, Germany, passed the veterinary inspection on Wednesday morning without problems. Single pony drivers Sherri Dolan, Sara Schmitt and Suzy Stafford, pony pair competitors Miranda Cadwell and Tracey Morgan and pony team drivers Kathleen Whaley, Laurie Astegiano and Allison Stroud presented their adorable ponies to the veterinary delegates and judges in Greven. Team USA arrived in Greven...

Lexington, KY – After nearly four months of top competition between the best show jumping nations in the world, the title of Meydan FEI Nations Cup Champion came down to the final round of the final leg at the Dublin International Horse Show in Dublin, Ire. With the US jumpers holding their own throughout the duration of the tour, they ended up barely beaten for the top spot in the standings by France. The two countries tied for fourth on 20 faults a piece in the final, which left France with a...

Ailish Cunniffe is crowned Equisport Insurance/USEF Pony Medal Championship Final winner. (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY—By midday Sunday, the Kentucky Horse Park began to look vacant. Ponies were unbraided and cooled, loaded trailers rumbled toward home and the usually lively vendor row was filled with merchants striking their tents and packing their wares. After four days of fierce competition in the Pony Hunters and Jumpers, the whirlwind that is the 2009 USEF Pony Finals...

Jumper champions Sydney Shulman and Set Sail (USEF Archives/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY—It was a day of champions at the 2009 USEF Pony Finals as ribbons and top honors were handed out in the Regular Pony Hunters as well as the Individual Jumper Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park on a sun-drenched day where the competition was as hot as the weather. Beginning early in the day was the Medium Pony Hunters where there was no shortage of graceful rides and impressive rounds from the ponies....

Team Gold medalists—Zone 8—from the Team Jumper competition. (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY —Last night the joint was, as they say, jumpin’. Day three of the five-day USEF Pony Finals National Championships kicked off this morning with Phase I for the Regular Pony Hunters (model and under saddle), moved on to the Small Pony over fences class, and segued by sunset into the rousing 2009 USEF National Pony Jumper Team Championship. This year’s Small Pony Hunter title...

Lexington, KY – With excitement building toward the annual U.S. showcase for future international dressage horses, the USEF has announced the final entries for the 2009 USEF National Developing Horse Dressage Championship presented by the Dutta Corporation & Performance Sales International and the 2009 Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships. National Championships in four age divisions will be contested August 21 – 23, 2009 in the picturesque setting of Lamplight Equestrian...

Hi. My name is Tristan, or Only Option. My rider is 11-year-old Sophie Gali. I am here at the USEF Pony Finals National Championships, trying to make Sophie proud. It was a long, but fun trip from Maryland to here in Kentucky. On the way here, I passed the time eating, napping, and chatting with other friends in the trailer. My brother Louis made the trip with me, along with some of the cute babes from Rolling Acres. It was the first time I had seen Louis in a while. I have been practicing hard...