Saturday: Australia wins with American close on their heels -- Sunny skies led way to speedy hazards on a very successful Saturday. The out of time favorite, Boyd Exell won the marathon by 0.8 points in front of Chester Weber who is still leading going into cones. In the team competition, three teams were eliminated and one team elected to retire due to disobediant horses. The single horse division also had two competitors which had to retire after severe problems in the hazards. However, no...

Lexington, KY – There were a handful of changes on the leaderboards today as the marathon proved a fair but demanding challenge at the 2009 USEF National Driving Championships at the Kentucky Cup and Lexington Driving Classic which is also serving as a test event for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The USEF National Four-in-Hand Championship remains in Chester Weber’s grasp, after a second place marathon performance – less than a point behind Australia’s Boyd Excell – was good...

Wednesday: skies were gray, but horses shone bright. -- Aside from the world championships in Gladstone NJ, never before has a driving competition had the turnout it had today. Three nations were represented and a total of 16 four in hand teams were present. Over a handful of competitors from the West Coast came to compete in pony, single, pair and team divisions. 97 competitors in total came ready to compete. The Canadians had a bit of a rough begining with two horses being held from one team...

Six USEF National Driving Championships Draw Quality Competition to the Kentucky Horse Park Lexington, KY – For the first time ever, all six USEF National Driving Championships are running con Chester Weber Leads USEF National Four-in-Hand Driving Championship (Picsofyou.com) currently, and the first day got off to a fantastic start at the 2009 Kentucky Cup and Lexington Driving Classic which is also serving as a test event for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. All six FEI...

Some of the world’s most stunning horses arrive next month in Fort Worth, TX, for the International Andalusian and Lusitano Horse Association’s (IALHA) 2009 National Championship Horse Show. Hundreds of Andalusian and Lusitano horses from the United States, Canada and Mexico, along with their owners, riders, exhibitors and trainers, will gather October 12-17 for show competition, exhibitions and clinics at the popular Will Rogers Equestrian Center show venue. Affectionately known as the "Horse...

The largest gathering of FEI Four-in-Hand drivers ever in the Americas will go head-to-head October 1-4 at the Kentucky Horse Park for Kentucky Cup Driving, the third official test event for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The CAI-A competition will be held in conjunction with the annual Lexington Combined Driving Classic (also the 2009 USEF National Driving Championships), and will feature drivers from Australia, Canada, and the United States. Several drivers competing in the test...

Kassandra Barteau and GP Raymeister at 2009 NAJYRC (Flashpoint Photography) Lexington, KY – Three-time USEF National Champion and NAJYRC Gold Medalist Kassandra Barteau has topped the United States rankings for the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final for Young Riders and has earned an invitation to Frankfurt, Germany for the Final, to be held December 17-20. Twenty-one year-old Barteau of Maple Park, Illinois and her mount GP Raymeister (a 10-year-old bay Holsteiner stallion owned by...

The two American Hanoverian Society (AHS) inspections scheduled for October 11, 2009, at Some Day Soon Farm in Mt. Airy, MD, and Wood's Lane Farm in Mt. Airy, MD, have now been combined and will be held at Hedgeland Equestrian Center in Waterford, VA. The following are directions to Hedgeland Equestrian Center: From Leesburg: at junction of Route 15 and Route 7 (bypass) go Route 7 west 3.8 miles and exit at Route 9 (Hillsboro/Charlestown, WV). Turn right at end of exit ramp (Route 9 west). Go...

Today at Arabian Sport Horse Nationals (SHN), my fellow Arabian horse lovers and I were treated to a preview of the new Arabian Horse Galleries at the Kentucky Horse Park's International Museum of the Horse. The Purebred Arabian Trust funded a 9,000 square foot building to be added on to the existing museum, although they are still requesting donations to finish the exhibit. Those of us at SHN were invited to a special presentation (with a sales pitch artfully thrown in) to see what the...

When I'm at home, I generally have a pretty good sense of direction. Even when I don't know where I'm going, I can apply logic based on where the mountains are, what direction the freeway is, etc., and keep from getting lost. My husband gets lost often, but I probably shouldn't tell you that because he's reading this. Anyhoo...something about flying to Kentucky has thrown me completely off kilter. I can't tell which way is north or south, in what direction our hotel...