A free trip for two to the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup™; Finals in Las Vegas will be awarded to one lucky winner of a contest being offered through the Finals’ producer Las Vegas Events, Inc., the equestrian website EquiSearch.com and Animal Planet, the cable television network that will broadcast coverage of the World Cup Finals. The Rolex FEI World Cup™ Finals in both jumping and dressage return to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, April 18-22. In 2005, the Jumping and Dressage Finals were...

Merial, maker of Zimecterin® Gold (ivermectin/praziquantel), announced Jonah Christensen of Salt Lake City, UT, won the grand prize of the Zimecterin Gold Drive Home the Gold giveaway. Christensen will take home a new 2007 FORD® F-250 truck worth approximately $32,000. “We’ve always used and trusted Zimecterin brand products to deworm our horses,” Christensen says. “I plan on continuing to use Zimecterin Gold. It’s always been easy to use and has helped keep my horses healthy.” Christensen uses...

The development of a world-class equestrian center is underway in the state of Texas and slated to open in 2009. In November 2006, voters in Dallas, TX, approved the balance of more than $14 million in bonds that would allow the city, as a collaborative partner, to move a step closer to making the Texas Horse Park a reality. Fundraising is now underway by Texas Horse Park, Inc., to match the city’s commitment. Situated on more than 500 acres, the Texas Horse Park will border the 6,000-acre...

The Arabian Horse Association (AHA) has announced that the Arabian Breeders Sweepstakes (Sweepstakes) program has paid more than $2.7 million in Sweepstakes prize money, Breeders Incentive and Nominated Sire payback to owners and breeders out of a $3.1-million pot of available prize money for 2006. More than $1.2 million was paid to owners who enrolled their horses in the annual Points program. More members received Sweepstakes earnings in 2006 than ever before. Payouts involved 5,922 horses...

The American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA) and American Saddlebred Registry, which conduct their annual convention this week in Lexington, KY, announced results for the year ending December 31, 2006. On a combined basis, net income for the two corporations rose 15.5% to an all-time high of $194,166, from last year’s $168,146, the previous high. Combined revenues increased over $180,000, to $2,109,443, net of the Registry’s gross revenues for prize programs, as well as unrealized gains on...

The American Saddlebred industry is mourning the loss of longtime Saddlebred breeder and exhibitor Barbara J. Blacklaw, who died Friday morning, January 26, in Palm Springs, CA. Barbara and her husband of nearly 50 years, Bill Blacklaw, operated Singing Hills Stables in Oregon City, OR, for the past 39 years, breeding and training American Saddlebreds. Together their contribution to the Saddlebred industry in the Northwest and across the country has been remarkable. Barbara's love of the...

Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center (KESMARC) and Main Street Management Services, Inc., (Main Street) proudly announces the formation of a joint venture to build a world-class equine sports medicine facility in Ocala, FL, as an integral part of the redevelopment of the 426-acre Farnsworth Farm into a unique equestrian community. Groundbreaking is scheduled for second quarter of 2007 with targeted completion by the beginning of 2008. Dedicated to the recovery and...

Beezie Madden (center) accepted the Farnam/Platform Horse of the Year Award on behalf of owner Abigail Wexner. Pictured with Madden are USEF President David O'Connor (left) and Farnam's Chris Jacobi. (Geoff Oliver Bugbee/USEF Archives) At the final social event of the 2007 Annual Meeting in Louisville, KY, the much-anticipated Farnam®/Platform™ USEF Horse of the Year Awards celebrated the equestrian world’s hardest working athletes—the horses—from across the spectrum...

KERx Special Needs Nutrition, a division of Kentucky Equine Research, recently unveiled EquiShure™, a timed-release buffer designed to reduce the problems associated with subclinical acidosis in horses. EquiShure is scientifically proven to stabilize the pH of the hindgut. Horses fed diets rich in grain or high-fructan pasture grasses often experience a sharp decline in the pH of the hindgut, which in turn causes a deleterious shift in the microbial population. When changes in the microbial...

The United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation awarded a $2 million grant to the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) in November 2006 in support of the organization’s eight High Performance programs. The High Performance disciplines are dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, reining, para-equestrian, show jumping, and vaulting. USET Foundation funding provided support, in whole or in part, for High Performance athletes to participate in both national and international events in...