The World Equestrian Festival, perhaps the largest single week's horse show in the world, began Wednesday in Aachen, Germany, with the United States announcing a top team for the Samsung Super League. Aachen CHIO has added championship vaulting to the lineup of show jumping, dressage and four-in-hand driving that will be contested by 145 athletes from 23 nations on more than 400 horses, in front of what is expected to be well above 300,000 spectators during the five days of competition. For...

Sally Ike has been named Managing Director of Show Jumping Sport Programs for the USEF. She will continue to be based at the Gladstone, NJ, office and will report directly to Jim Wolf, Executive Director of Sport Programs. In addition to being an experienced international competitor, Ike has 17 years of experience as a discipline director and Chef de Mission with the international teams programs. She competed for the U.S Equestrian Teams in three-day eventing, and was a member of the 1968...

With the victory gallop at Rolex now in the past, the East Coast eventing scene’s focus shifted to the final preparations for the New Jersey CCI** and CCI*** in early June and the Virginia Horse Park’s CCI* in mid-May. Many riders chose to have a final tune-up at the Maryland Combined Training Association (MCTA) Horse Trials located at Shawan Downs. Although MCTA Horse Trials are long time veterans of the spring eventing schedule, the organizers added both intermediate and advanced levels to...

The Friends of Winter Miles will sponsor an event to raise community awareness of the Winter Miles Horse Park, the first equestrian park in Seminole County, FL. The Round-Up will be Sunday, May 21, 2006, from 1-4 p.m. at the future site of the Horse Park. The Round-Up will feature live music, barbecue, carriage and pony rides, games and raffles. The event will also serve as an opportunity for the public to see the site and show their support for this important community asset. Advanced tickets...

Michael Matz and Kentucky Derby 132 Winner Barbaro (Anne M. Eberhardt ) Lexington, KY – Imagine having an Olympic Silver medal of your very own. Imagine winning the greatest horse race in the world - the Kentucky Derby. To achieve either is a milestone in any horse lover’s life. To do both is almost unthinkable. That is unless you are Michael Matz, who has created his own exclusive club. And it has exactly one member. The 132nd Kentucky Derby was an exceptional day for this former...

A team of the top United States show jumpers prepared on Wednesday, May 3, to launch the defense of their Samsung Super League championship at this French coastal resort city. The U.S. won it's first ever elite Nations Cup victory at this same show a year ago, which also marked the first major team event under the leadership of George Morris as chef d’ equipe. The Americans followed the win at La Baule with victory in Aachen, Germany, and high enough placings at the other six two-round events,...

The 61st annual Del Mar National Horse Show wraps up its third and final week with Hunter/Jumper Week, May 2–7. Coming on the heels of Western Week (April 20-23) and Dressage Week (April 27-30), Hunter/Jumper Week features the Del Mar National’s showcase event, the $100,000 HBO Grand Prix of Del Mar, an American Grandprix Association event, on Saturday, May 6, at 7 p.m. All Hunter/Jumper Week events are open to the public and staged at the Del Mar Equestrian Center on the Del Mar Fairgrounds....

Lexington, KY – Tucker Johnson of Hobe Sound, FL, took first in the FEI Driving Four-in-Hand class at the USEF 2006 CAI-B Oldwick at Cedar Lane Farm held April 28-30. Johnson and his team of Warmbloods posted scores of 54.66 in dressage, 88.51 in marathon and 6.00 in cones. James Fairclough of Newton, NJ, and James Richards of Atlanta, GA, were second and third respectively. This four-in-hand competition was one of several selection trials for the 2006 FEI World Games to be held late this...

Marc Manning (Australian Andrew Hoy on Master Monarch) Rails fell like raindrops during the final day of the 2006 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Farnam at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, on Sunday, April 30. The performances were as unpredictable as the weather, which opened the door for Australia’s Andrew Hoy and his Master Monarch to prove they were indeed the masters of the three-day CCI**** grueling showdown. The pair was atop the leaderboard and winners of one of...

Marc Manning (Becky Holder and Courageous Comet tackle the Head of the Lake on the cross-country phase.) It was a big and challenging course that greeted the 59 horse-and-rider combinations going into Saturday’s grueling cross-country phase at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Farnam. And while many Kentuckians’ minds were on next weekend’s Kentucky Derby and the “most exciting two minutes in sports,” the eventing world and tens of thousands of...