Please save the date and plan on joining us for the 43rd Annual Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) International Conference to be held in Lake City, FL, at The Oaks Equestrian Center—an O’Connor Signature Facility on October 21–24, 2010. This event is for riding instructors, barn managers, equine facility owners, trainers, horse professionals and general horse owners and enthusiasts. Participants get to ride in sessions on school horses. This event is open to the public. The CHA...

Consistent with the USEF Veterinary Committee’s mission of addressing horse welfare issues, the Veterinary Committee passed a motion at their mid-year meeting in support of restricting the use of NSAIDs in horses at USEF licensed competitions. The motion supports the use of only one NSAID at a time and was forwarded to the Chair of the Drugs and Medications Committee for review. Under the current USEF rules, no more than two of the seven approved and quantitatively restricted NSAIDs are...

Registration is now open for one of the finest annual training opportunities in the U.S. for first responders, emergency medical technicians, veterinarians, firefighters, and other emergency/rescue personnel—the Technical Large-Animal Emergency Rescue (LAR) Training provided cooperatively by USRider and Eastern Kentucky University (EKU). Two rescue training seminars have been scheduled for March 2010. The first course, scheduled for March 22-24, 2010, is open to the public, with emphasis...

Victoria Birdsall and Alex Parrish emerged as East Conference champions in the regular season of the 2009 Cavalor Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series. The Cavalor Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series conducted its 2009 series with classes at more than 100 horse shows across the nation, giving competitors an abundance of opportunities to accumulate points throughout the year. The series featured separate divisions for amateur-owner and junior riders with standings kept...

August, September, and October have been very busy months for the Oldenburg Horse Breeders' Society, a division of the Verband der Züchter des Oldenburger Pferdes. After having a successful Elite Foal Auction at the end of August, everyone headed to see many Oldenburg Horses and Weser-Ems Ponies crowned champions at the German Bundeschampionate. Oldenburgs such as the stallion Con Air, who won the six-year-old jumper division, and ponies such as the Weser-Ems stallion, Cyrill WE, who...

The sixth annual United Professional Horsemen's Association (UPHA) Classics Incentive Sale will be held in conjunction with the UPHA American Royal National Championship Horse Show at Kansas City, Missouri’s Hale Arena, on Friday, November 20, at 9 a.m. The purpose of this sale is to raise incentive money to be paid back on the local and national levels in the UPHA Classics program, offering breeders a viable marketplace for their two-year-olds. Two-year-olds purchased through the 2009 sale...

Judgement, Olympic Gold Medalist Beezie Madden's long-time partner, will make his final appearance before fans in a ceremony to be held on Sunday, November 1, during the Animal Planet Sporthorse Cup at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Touranment. The storied 18-year-old dark bay stallion is a two-time winner of the Cup, and arguably one of the most successful American-bred stallions in show jumping history. Madden, who has ridden the horse to world fame, will ride Judgement once again into...

The American Paint Horse Association’s (APHA) annual convention and membership meeting concluded recently in Colorado Springs, CO, where 107 leaders of the association met to elect the group’s executive committee, decide on rule change proposals and work within committees to continue to advance the popular horse breed organization. APHA’s newly elected executive committee now includes: • President Linda Vance, Winlock, WA • President-elect Dr. Travis Titlow, Lincoln, CA • Vice President Scot...

The National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) is proud to announce the creation of the NRHA Show Steward Program to begin in 2010. The first certification of NRHA Show Stewards will be held during the January 22-24, 2010 NRHA Judges School in Oklahoma City. The NRHA Board of Directors approved this trend-setting program at its August 2009 meeting with the intent to train and certify individuals to assist show management and judges with the interpretation of rules when necessary, to observe the...

The United States Equestrian Federation, Inc. (USEF) is pleased to announce the launch of the USEF Dressage Youth/Pony Pilot Program for Fall 2009.This program is designed to seek out, educate and assist the development of the young riders, and will be under the direction of Lendon Gray, appointed by the USEF Dressage High Performance Committee. “I am thrilled that USEF is going to help to develop the best equitation and riding skills in our younger riders,” Gray said. “It is so much easier to...