Effective immediately, Dr. Richard Wilkes, State Veterinarian with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, has cancelled all public horse sales and auctions throughout the Commonwealth through Monday, March 5, 2007. This is one of the continuing efforts to stop the spread of Equine Herpes Virus-1 (EHV-1) currently present in Northern Virginia. The cancellation order is effective statewide. While EHV-1 is not harmful to humans, people can spread it on their shoes or with...

(Lexington, KY) - The United States Equestrian Federation, Inc.®, invites licensed dressage competitions to apply to become an official USEF “qualifying competition” for the 2008 USEF High Performance and/or Dressage Developing Programs. Competitions licensed for dates from June 4, 2007 – June 8, 2008 will be considered at this time. A completed application for each licensed competition must be submitted to the USEF office and received by April 16, 2007. Applications received after this...

The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) has announced that the Arabian Breeders Sweepstakes (Sweepstakes) program has paid more than $2.7 million in Sweepstakes prize money, Breeders Incentive and Nominated Sire payback to owners and breeders out of a $3.1-million pot of available prize money for 2006. More than $1.2 million was paid to owners who enrolled their horses in the annual Points program. More members received Sweepstakes earnings in 2006 than ever before. Payouts involved 5,922 horses...

Phillip Dutton, recently recognized by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) as a United States competitor, has been added to the USEF Eventing High-Performance A List with the horses The Foreman, owned by Ann Jones, and Truluck, owned by Ann Jones and Shannon Stimson. Dutton was also added to the USEF Eventing High-Performance B List with the horse Connaught, owned by Bruce Duchossois. Dutton will be invited to participate in USEF training sessions with Coach Captain Mark Phillips....

On Saturday evening, February 17, 2007, one of the most unique auction items will be the opportunity for one guest to join judges George Morris, Susie “Paula Abdul” Schoellkopf, Gene “Randy Jackson” Mische, and Mason “Simon Cowell” Phelps to select the top two finalists in the EQUUS Equestrian Idol competition. The celebrity lineup also features Robert “Ryan Seacrest” Dover, who will be the emcee and promises entertaining banter with the judges. The guests will ultimately be called upon to...

An exciting new program for potential hunter and hunter seat equitation judges was approved at the January 2007 USEF Board Meeting, with an effective date of April 1, 2007. The purpose of the mentor program is to assist qualified horsemen in the pursuit of a USEF judges’ license in the hunter and hunter seat equitation divisions. An additional component is to assist ‘r’ judges in obtaining ‘R’ status in hunter, hunter seat equitation, and hunter breeding. Information about and an application to...

The Paso Fino Horse Association (PFHA) hosted it’s annual judges and stewards clinic in Ocala, FL, February 2-4, 2007. Friday evening, three Applicant Judges attended a four-hour workshop that addressed calling classes and show etiquette. They ended the evening with a written test and a gait test. The next day 21 certified judges and stewards joined the applicants to learn more about illegal tack, ring management, positive judging, equitation and determining a horse's age by...

In a new format for this year, the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Junior, Young Rider, and Young Adult (“Brentina Cup”) Dressage Championships will all be held in Gladstone, NJ, June 14–17, 2007, in conjunction with the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Intermediaire I and Grand Prix Championships at the United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation/Collecting Gaits Farm Dressage Festival of Champions. “Bringing the top horses and riders from all five divisions together will be an...

Families and visitors of all ages are invited to celebrate the history of the west and extraordinary beauty of the horse at the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, CO. The calendar is packed with more than 30 unique and diverse events designed to entertain, educate and enthrall. Highlights of the 2007 calendar include the CIC* Three-Day Event, June 1-3, followed by Dressage at High Prairie, June 8-10. The Rocky Mountain Quarter Horse Show, held on June 21-24, features Western, English and halter...

The 2007 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series is officially underway, and it promises to be even bigger and better than ever before. The series will see classes at more than 100 horse shows across the country before culminating in year-end championships at the National Horse Show in Wellington, FL, in December. The series hosts separate divisions for junior and amateur-owner riders in two Conferences—the East Conference and the West Conference. Series standings are used to help...