Varsity Equestrian is pleased to announce the inaugural Collegiate Equitation Challenge to be held at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL, on Friday, February 26, 2010, at 7 p.m. in the International Arena. The tournament will be run in the Varsity Equestrian head-to-head format. Equitation and sale horses will be on loan from local professionals. Sixteen riders, 14 from NCAA schools and two from Florida schools, were invited to compete with selections based upon individual...

World-renowned equine nutritionists and veterinarians have been tapped to speak at the 17th Kentucky Equine Research Nutrition Conference, to be held April 26-27, 2010, in Lexington, KY. The theme of this year’s conference is “Feeding and Veterinary Management of the Sport Horse,” which is particularly appropriate considering the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are being held in Kentucky this fall. “Top-notch nutrition and veterinary care are vital components of sport-horse management,...

Photo by Don Stine (One More Round++// with Alexis Doughty riding, shown with trainer Ben Flynn and Bill Doughty.) One More Round++// (Al Jassur Laddin x Winifred), owned by Bill and Alexis Doughty of Cape Charles, VA, was named the 2009 Arabian Horse Association (AHA) High Point Horse of the Year. The 2004 bay gelding earned 467 points in 2009 by competing in over 200 classes at 20 shows. The rigorous show schedule, which was carefully balanced with rest time, began in January and ended in...

Photo Courtesy AHA/Conley Driediger (Conley Driediger with gelding, Winning Afire+//.) Alexis Starer Doughty of Cape Charles, VA, and Conley Driediger of Yarrow, BC, Canada, were named the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) Adult and Youth Amateurs of 2009, respectively. Doughty earned an impressive 646 points at 22 AHA-recognized shows in 2009, while Driediger earned a whopping 485.5 points from 17 shows. The AHA Amateur Achievement Award program began in 2002 and tracks the points of individual...

Photo by Diana DeRosa (Liza Boyd and Brunello) "He is my Olympic hunter," commented Liza Boyd after she nailed her third victory in the 14th Annual American Hunter-Jumper Foundation (AHJF) Hunter Classic Spectacular in Wellington FL, aboard her seasoned mount, Brunello. She won the very first one riding Monday Morning in 1997 and then in 2008 tasted victory again on Fiyero. Now just 3½ months after the birth of her first child (Ellen) it was important to prove she still had what it takes. Yet,...

SmartPak™, the industry leader in daily dose supplement packaging, has introduced a new educational resource guide for horse owners and barns. The Guide to Supplements and Horse Care provides horse owners with a new way to learn about their horse’s health and supplements. “We’ve compiled our 10-plus years of supplement expertise into one easy-to-read resource that we think will be a favorite go-to for horse owners,” said SmartPak founder and president, Becky Minard. "We've included customer...

Photo by Robbi Meisel (Wilhelm Genn and Chantal) Lebanon, OH-based Wilhelm Genn had a stellar second week at the 2010 Gulf Coast Winter Classics with victories in both Thursday’s $5,000 Welcome Open Jumper Stake aboard Happy Z and Sunday’s $25,000 Gulf Coast Grand Prix with Laura Ryan-Barnaclo’s Chantal. Deciding the path this week’s jumpers would take was one of the sport’s most revered course designers, Michel Vaillancourt, who began testing their limits on Thursday with a curvy 15-effort...

Photo by ESI Photography (Laura Pfeiffer on Thorstin on course in the $10,000 U-Dump Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper High Classic) HITS Post Time Farm wrapped up a strong week of AA-rated show jumping this past Sunday, February 14, as the show grounds were buzzing with action for the opening week of the season. The big news for the rated circuit is that HITS Ocala will host a total of 12 qualifiers for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix that will take place on September 12 in Saugerties, NY. The...

Waiting to Jump (Shannon Brinkman/USEF) Lexington, KY – Thirty-three of the country’s best riders are going to line-up for a nod to represent the United States at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The Road to Lexington will run through the Winter Equestrian Festival when the USEF Selection Trials for Show Jumping grace the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Club. Five trials over 11 days means an action-packed time in Wellington, FL – further highlighted...

Photo Courtesy Highlife Farm (Highlife's Burberry) Highlife’s Burberry, a Weser-Ems pony stallion bred by Highlife Farms, has made history as the first U.S.-bred Weser-Ems pony to be licensed as a breeding pony. Burberry’s sire is Highlife’s Bodyguard, a Weser-Ems German Riding Pony that stands at Highlife Farms, home to world-class sport horses and one of the country’s most prominent breeding farms. “It is really exciting to have bred a pony that turns out to achieve a ‘first ever’ title,”...