It takes more than a little rain to put a damper on a custom that goes back decades. A field of 20-plus riders braved the showers to ride their beautifully turned-out horses at the Essex Fox Hounds Thanksgiving Meet in Peapack, N.J. “Rain, snow;...

Forty years ago, California’s Santa Anita racetrack hosted one of the greatest show jumping competitions of all time—the Olympics. That ended in a team gold for the USA, as well as individual gold for Joe Fargis and silver for Conrad Homfeld. On...

It’s the West coast’s version of “indoors,” the time-honored circuit that runs from the end of September through the beginning of November in the East. The Las Vegas National, hosting the Marshall+Sterling Insurance/U.S. Hunter Jumper Association...

Three times a winner at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Alex Matz wrapped up that trifecta with his first-ever Longines FEI World Cup qualifier victory Saturday night. Alex is the 28-year-old son of U.S. Olympian Michael Matz, who won the...

“Consistency.” According to judge Scott Fitton, that was the key to Taylor Cawley’s hard-won victory in the ASPCA Maclay hunt seat horsemanship championship at the National Horse Show on Sunday. “We just felt like she stayed right there the same...

The MARS Maryland 5-star made a big leap in quality for its third year in 2023, then burnished the details in 2024. “Every year, we just constantly try to figure out, `How do we tweak and adjust elements?’ ” said Terry Hasseltine, executive...

The seemingly endless speculation is over: the Winter Equestrian Festival showgrounds have been sold, with an ambitious nine-figure plan for upgrades on an expanded venue in Wellington, Fla. The buyers are former owners, a group including...

At last! Two thirds and a second at the first three MARS Maryland 5-star events finally added up to a victory Sunday in the fourth renewal for a doggedly determined Oliver Townend of Great Britain. As he sought to reach his goal, the former world...

Could this be the year that Britain’s Oliver Townend finally wins the MARS Maryland 5-star event? After making the podium in the first three editions of the competition, but falling short of victory, he  moved closer to taking the title for the...

As I was telling you in Thursday’s story about the first half of the MARS Maryland 5-star event’s dressage phase, Mai Baum and Ballaghmor Class would be the ones to watch on the second day of competition at Fair Hill. And so they were. Overnight...

The world’s newest 5-star three-day event may not have drawn a huge field of entries, but there are some very impressive names among the 23 horses going for a piece of the $325,000 purse this weekend. Although the MARS Maryland 5-star is only in...

JJ Torano became the youngest rider ever to win the Dover Saddlery/U.S. Equestrian Federation Hunter Seat Medal Finals, topping a field of 169 on Sunday at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show. A 14-year-old who eligible to ride as age 13 (giving...

Nature vs. nurture. It was the first thing that came to mind when I realized the top four competitors in the Platinum Performance/ U.S. Equestrian Federation Show Jumping Talent Search Finals East came from equestrian families. In case you’re not...

They’re a hard-working power couple who rode away from Dressage at Devon with several blue ribbons last weekend. But the story of Shannon Stevens and her husband, Olympic team member Marcus Orlob, is about more than victories. Behind each of the...

How does she do it? Silva Martin has three rambunctious little boys at home (and an energetic eventer husband, Boyd Martin). At Dressage at Devon she is riding five horses. No, make that six, because five wasn’t enough. Friday night, Silva got on...

It’s been 15 years since Kevin Kohmann last rode at Dressage at Devon, and now he’s busy making up for lost time. The Floridian won Friday’s Prix St. Georges and Saturday’s Intermediate I, both with scores over 70 percent on Scala, an intriguing...

“It’s a simple sport, but it’s hard to do,” mused Brett Parbery as he wrapped up the Jewel Court Stud USA's Masterclass Thursday evening during Dressage at Devon, after giving short lessons to five riders involved in everything from western...

It was going to be a second chance, of sorts. Marcus Orlob’s Olympic ride on Jane in Paris was cut short after a judge spotted a tiny scratch on her white hind leg, a trifle she sustained after spooking when the horse before her left the ring. Jane...

They have been a pillar of U.S. dressage teams through more than 80 international competitions, with 59 victories over eight years. The career of Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper has included silver medals at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games and...

The breed and performance competition is great during the week of Kingsview Partners Dressage at Devon, but going beyond that, this Heritage show offers a fun experience combined with the opportunity to learn. It’s really a multi-dimensional...

Cancellation of the November Las Vegas qualifier for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ North American League has led to new possibilities for the Marshall+Sterling Insurance/USHJA National Championships, which had been scheduled to run...

So much incredible competition went on in all the disciplines this weekend that it was positively head-spinning trying to keep up. But we managed. First, let's deal with the richest grand prix in the world, the $3 million (Canadian) CPKC...

Jump-offs can be cutthroat affairs when the stakes are high and there is, as the British would say, all to play for. Speaking of the British, they accounted for two-thirds of the top placings in Saturday’s Core Specialty Insurance $250,000 4-star...

Jack Levy wasn’t a horseman to begin with. He was in the nursing uniform industry, where he did wholesale, retail and catalogues when he got a call from Miller Harness Co., which was looking for a CEO with his skill set.. His experience got him the...

Michael Barisone made progress toward resuming his career as a dressage trainer on Friday, when a judge gave permission for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team alternate to leave New Jersey and travel to his Florida horse farm. “I do think it is appropriate...

It was an obvious decision -- after winning her second Olympic individual gold medal this month and earning a host of other global titles over the years, German dressage queen TSF Dalera BB will be retired from competition, rider Jessica von...

For three-time Olympian Adrienne Lyle, the Adequan®/USEF Brentina Cup Dressage National Championship has taken on the status of a tradition. The Cup for riders under 25, is named for the stellar dressage mare ridden by Adrienne’s coach and mentor,...

It’s been a long road for Aaron Vale and Carissimo 25 this year, winding through Abu Dhabi, Rome, elsewhere in Europe and now Dublin. But he and the brilliant chestnut reached the personal pinnacle of their partnership (so far) with a third-place...

It was a historic day at the Olympics, for Germany's Michael (Michi) Jung and the British. Let's rename the country "Very Great" Britain. The British eventing team of Laura Collett Ros Canter and Tom McEwen at the Paris Games defended its Tokyo...

The U.S. made it into Friday’s Olympic team show jumping competition by finishing second in Thursday’s qualifier, which sorted out the 10 countries that will ride for medals Friday from the 20 entered in that discipline at the Games. Those...

In a shocking development, Britain’s dressage queen, Charlotte Dujardin, has been provisionally suspended by the FEI a week before she was scheduled to ride in the Olympics, after a 2.5-year-old video surfaced that showed her making “an error of...

After nearly five years of tumult that included a high-profile trial, jail time and stays in psychiatric institutions, a court hearing this week indicated dressage trainer Michael Barisone may be a step closer to resuming his life with horses....

Here’s a lesson that rider Richard Vogel learned the hard way in the Rolex Grand Prix Sunday at Aachen—don’t celebrate your victory until you’re sure you’ve won. The German, a real star in the show jumping at the International Equestrian Festival...

The U.S. didn’t bring its Paris Olympic eventing team to Aachen, but the squad that finished second Saturday at the International Equestrian Festival demonstrated the country has some impressive depth for the future. Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello...

It was a disappointing way to spend the Fourth of July for the Americans at the Aachen International Equestrian Festival. The U.S. show jumping team failed to qualify for the second round of the 1 million Euro Mercedes-Benz Nations Cup Thursday...

Arguably, the Aachen World Equestrian Festival is the greatest horse show on earth. But Adrienne Lyle won’t be joining her U.S. Olympic dressage teammates there this week. Instead, she’s staying at Swiss equestrian Daniel Ramseier’s farm in Germany...

Incredible! Or as the Germans like to say, “Wow, wow, wow!” That sums up the personal best (by far) performance of Marcus Orlob and Jane at the Schafhof Dresseur Festival in Germany, the final competition for Olympic hopefuls before the U.S. team...

The death of Chromatic BF shortly after a brilliant performance at the FEI World Cup Show Jumping Finals in Saudi Arabia April 18 was a devastating development that seemed unreal. The 13-year-old Oldenburg appeared to be in great condition as he...

When was the last time you went to a show where there were smiles all around, with exhibitors who weren’t scrambling for points or fretting about trying to qualify for a bigger show? For me, it was yesterday--at the Alumni Tournament of Champions,...

The final day of Grand Prix competition at the Hagen, Germany, 3-star dressage show Sunday on Friday kept multi-Olympic veteran Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper ahead of the other U.S. riders in competition for a place on the team for the Paris Games...

The second day of Grand Prix competition at the Hagen, Germany, 3-star dressage show on Friday kept multi-Olympic veteran Steffen Peters ahead of the other U.S. riders in competition for a place on the team for the Paris Games this summer. Steffen...

The Essex Horse Trials has a special character. It's not just the fact that it's held at two unique venues, it also has great footing and as an added attraction, a car show.  Really. There's nothing else quite like it. When Sara Kozumplik saw that...

Ireland reigned supreme for the third time this week in the Dixon Oval, as Jordan Coyle took the $226,000 Sapphire Grand Prix of Devon with a bold performance on an equally determined For Gold while a standing-room-only crowd cheered him on. “My...

The backdrop for the press conference following the $25,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Devon Horse Show was a wall covered with photos of riders who have been inducted into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame. John French, one of...

Germany won the Nations Cup at the scenic Piazza Di Sienna in Rome with zero penalties Friday, as powerhouse Ireland finished second on 4 penalties, while Belgium was third with 8. The U.S. and Mexico also had 8, but slower cumulative times than...

During the two decades since the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association was formed, Britt McCormick has served it in various capacities as a volunteer. But since becoming the organization’s first president from west of the Mississippi, he is working on...

She was outspoken, determined and totally devoted to three-day eventing. The sport lost one of its most ardent advocates last week, when Trish Gilbert died at 83. Doing it all, and doing it well, was the trademark of a very practical woman who was...

The sixteenth time was the charm. New Zealand’s Caroline Powell won the MARS Badminton Horse Trials’ Whitbread Trophy on Greenacres Special Cavalier after 15 previous outings in the event. "I wasn’t ready for that," said Caroline, 51. "I thought...

EquiRatings gave New Zealand’s Tim Price only a 10 percent chance of winning the  5-star MARS Badminton Horse Trials this weekend, but he’s on track to prove them wrong. On a testing cross-country course designed by Eric Winter, the optimum time of...

Oliver Townend, last month's Kentucky 5-star winner with Cooley Rosalent, is missing out on a chance to make history this week. With a win at the Burghley 5-star last year and then Kentucky this year, all he would have had to do was win the...

Saturday’s Kentucky Derby had a stellar line-up, with the likes of $2.3 million yearling purchase Sierra Leone, erratic but brilliant Fierceness and undefeated Japanese star Forever Young, not to mention 17 other contenders. It's the one day of the...

Sweden, which is dominating the Longines Show Jumping World Cup Finals, got a winner in the co-featured dressage competition today, as Patrik Kittel took the prize on Touchdown during his ninth career start in the indoor championship. The show in...

Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden didn’t just win the Longines FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final this afternoon, he did it in a style worthy of his number one global ranking. The defending champion was fault-free in each segment of the competition in...