I guess the beginning is a great place to start. I grew up in Maine, the oldest of five, to a father who was in the military and a mother who was a housewife until the youngest of my siblings was in Junior-High school. We grew up on the other side of middle-class, OK, we were poor. I grew up watching spaghetti westerns in black and white on Saturday afternoons. I always loved the intrigue of being a Cowboy, pushing cattle up the Chisholm Trail, fighting bad guys and Indians. Next to the pony...

Buenos Dias, Julie Wolfert, and Buenos Aires Parker, CO - Julie Wolfert, the leader after the first two phases in the CCI* and Open Intermediate divisions at the Colorado Horse Park CCI*, Training 3-Day and Horse Trials, stayed consistent in Sunday's show jumping and claimed victory in both divisions. Solid rounds with Buenos Dias in the CCI* and Buenos Aires in Open Intermediate secured her the double wins. Wolfert had a single knockdown with each horse, but excellent dressage scores on...

Todd Minikus and Quality Girl jumping their way to a win in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis, at HITS Saugerties (©ESI Photography) Saugerties, NY - After two in-the-money finishes last week at HITS Saugerties, Todd Minikus and Quality Girl kicked off Week II grand prix action by topping a ten-horse jump-off in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis. Minikus won the Week I $10,000 Brook Ledge Open Welcome at HITS Saugerties and picked up sixth and eighth-place...

Julie Wolfert and Buenos Dias Parker, CO - Many competitors had rave reviews for cross-country day at the Colorado Horse Park's CCI*/Training Three-Day/Horse Trials, but Julie Wolfert had more reasons than most to be happy. Wolfert turned in three double-clear cross-country rounds to cement her lead in the CCI* with Buenos Dias, taking over the lead in Open Intermediate with Buenos Aires, and moving up a notch from fifth to fourth in Novice Horse with Vindicated. "She was fantastic,"...

Shannon Dahmer and Rock On extend during the FEI Freestyle Test of Choice at the Colorado Horse Park's High Prairie Dressage II (Sue Weakley) Parker, CO - Shannon Dahmer rocked it with Rock On in the FEI Freestyle Test of Choice to score a 68.000% in today's High Prairie Dressage II at the Colorado Horse Park. The pair could swing "Dancing With the Stars" with their Grand Prix Freestyle featuring double pirouettes and spot-on one-tempis to "Eye of the Tiger" and other music from the iconic...

Kaitlin Campbell on Rocky W Devon, PA - This evening's open jumper class was the Idle Dice Open Jumper Stakes class. The class was named after famed jumper horse Idle Dice. Idle Dice was originally bred as a thoroughbred race horse, but he was discovered and retrained by Bernie Traurig who showed him as a hunter. He was later purchased by Harry Gill and shown as a jumper by Rodney Jenkins. Idle Dice won over $400,000 in his career (an amount that would triple if adjusted to the value of...

Devon, PA - This weekend at Devon, it was finally time for the adult hunters to take over the Dixon Oval and Gold Ring. Unlike professional riders, many adult amateurs work for a living at desk jobs and balance their riding time with not only a day job but family and other commitments. The Amateur Owner division is divided by age and also by height. The under saddle class for the younger high amateur owners was won by Kelsey Thatcher's chestnut Belgian Warmblood Fredrick. Blue ribbon in the...

Lexington, KY - The future of dressage was on full display over the holiday weekend in La Canada-Flintridge, California as talented combinations lined up in the 2013 Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Western Selection Trials. The rising stars of the sport were vying to earn both a qualifying score to represent the U.S. at the FEI World Breeding Championships for Dressage Young Horses in Verden, Germany in August and a spot on the Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Short List. Both the winner of...

Susie Artes and Zamiro are the only ones to answer Danny Foster's questions and nail the $30,000 Memorial Day Classic Grand Prix (Flying Horse Photography) Los Angeles, CA - Susie Artes delighted the crowd and dismayed the competition when she put in the only fault-free round to win the $30,000 Memorial Day Classic Grand Prix in grand style. “It was great to come back and win another grand prix after I won the $50,000 LA International Grand Prix in the fall,” Susie commented....

Western horses jog. English horses trot. Dressage horses trot. Everyone knows that. What does that mean for the western dressage horse? The western jog was a gait that could be ridden for long distances over the range or on the trail that horses could sustain without exhaustion and which could be sat comfortably. The trot is a gait that covers more ground at a reasonable tempo. To deal with the dynamics of the gait and to unload the horses back, some riders learned to post. Western riders bred...