At least half a dozen U.S. riders aiming to represent the United States at the 2010 Eventing World Championships will launch their selection bids at the Galway Downs International Horse Trials on March 26-28. The CIC*** at Galway Downs will be a vitally important preparation event for these riders as they head for the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** in late April, the primary U.S. selection trial for the Eventing World Championships. Several Canadian World Championship candidates are also expected to...

The American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA) convention will honor Saddlebred Stars of Saddle Seat Equitation in a unique setting on Friday evening, February 19. The Lexington Country Club on historic Paris Pike will be the site of the Cocktail Buffet beginning at 6 p.m. Friday. The new event was made possible this year when ongoing construction of the newly expanded Saddlebred Showcase at the American Saddlebred Museum in the Kentucky Horse Park prevented the usual Museum reception that...

Kentucky Horse Shows, LLC, the management company for hunter/jumper competitions held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, will be featuring numerous improvements at the state operated facility during the 2010 horse show season. This year Kentucky Horse Shows, LLC, will be hosting the Kentucky Spring Horse Shows, the Kentucky Summer Horse Shows, the Adequan FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships Presented by Gotham North, the USEF Junior Hunter National...

HITS, Inc., is pleased to announce a monumental milestone in the world of horse showing—the simultaneous occurrence of a Show Jumping FEI World Cup Qualifier and a Dressage FEI World Cup Qualifier during Week III of the 2010 HITS Desert Circuit, February 9-14, in Thermal, CA. The ability to host one FEI event is impressive in and of itself, but to host two FEI events in the same week for two separate disciplines is a feat that really puts HITS in a class of its own. There are very few...

Ravel Settles for Second (SusanJStickle.com) Wellington, FL – Having convincingly won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Exquis World Dressage Masters on Thursday afternoon, the pressure was on Steffen Peters to continue his winning tear with Ravel. But unfortunately for the US fans, it was a repeat of 2009 and he still couldn’t eclipse Anky van Grunsven and her Olympic champion Salinero. The reigning Gold medalist wowed the fans with a classic fault-free performance and a score of 84.4% for the...

Photo by SusanJStickle.com (Steffen Peters and Ravel) Wellington, FL – Somehow it keeps getting better. After just collecting the United States Equestrian Federation's Horse and Rider of the Year accolades for 2009, US dressage superstars Steffen Peters and Ravel ran their streak to six major wins with a convincing effort at the Grand Prix at the 2010 Exquis World Dressage Masters. Ravel, a 12-year-old KWPN gelding (Contango-Hautain) owned by Akiko Yamazaki’s Four Winds Farm appeared even...

Photo by Sport Fot/Thierry Billet (Louis Jacobs on Kachina in the 1.45m.) The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) had a successful third week of competition on January 27-31. The week featured the $75,000 Nespresso Grand Prix, CSI** and the $55,000 Nespresso Battle of the Sexes, along with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation classes. The week three title sponsor was Nespresso. In order to provide the best coffee to riders at the FTI WEF, Nespresso is the official coffee at...

The USEF Dressage Pony Handbook has now been updated for 2010 and is available for free download from the USEF website at www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsdisciplines/discipline/alldressage/dressagePonies.aspx .

Photo by Robbi Meisel (Aaron Vale and Platinum) The $25,000 Jacksonville A-Z Grand Prix sponsored by North Florida Hunter Jumper Association on January 30 closed out Week IV of competition with one of the most successful riders in show jumping, Aaron Vale, adding another win to his illustrious career. After a week of observation, course designer Allen Rheinheimer put all he learned about the starting field into a lengthy and technical 13 obstacle-16 effort test with a time allowance of 96 tight...

As of Wednesday, January 20, all rule changes for review at the USEF Annual Meeting have been updated with their final votes, and will now be available under the ‘Search for Completed Rule Changes’ of the site. Everyone is encouraged to use this search function—it’s the fastest and most up-to-date way to find rule changes. Please go to www.usef.org and click on "Rules & Regulation," then "Rule Book," then "Rule Change" to find the link to the search or visit www.usef....