It all started just a week ago tonight. Lars Petersen was at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Fla., for the Friday Night Lights freestyle and walked over to speak with his old compatriot, Andreas Helgstrand. Lars, a Danish...

The U.S. Equestrian Federation's annual meeting wrapped up last night in Naples, Fla., with a salute to the country's standout horses in six breeds and disciplines. The Smart Pak/USEF Horse of the Year Awards featured not only high-score horses in...

The most inspiring moments at the U.S. Equestrian Federation's annual meeting come during the evening when the Pegasus Awards are presented. The international and national stars, the volunteers, the notable people who have devoted their lives to...

One of the state's best-known stables has been sold, with plans in the works for refurbishment that will bring Duncraven back to its glory days. The facility in Titusville, Mercer County, had been on the market for several years. Though it is in...

When you want an answer, you have to ask for one. So my question to Andreas Helgstrand (CEO of the Global Equestrian Group that owns the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center) was whether he is planning to move Wellington, Florida's, Adequan...

My headline, which I have always used for New Year's stories over the decades, comes from a seldom-sung verse of a favorite carol, Deck the Halls. Last year at this time, the headline signaled the hope that 2021 would be better, so good riddance to...

The holidays offer the perfect occasion to showcase a feel-good tale, so here's one that fills the bill. During Dressage at Devon last fall, I spotted a lovely palomino, and marched right over to him. That was only natural; palominos are rare in...

With the major competitions of 2021 now behind us, how do you get your eventing fix until the season starts again in earnest? Here’s an easy answer that offers an opportunity for entertainment and education while relaxing by the fireplace. Sip that...

During the Maryland 5-star three-day event last month, word circulated that Lee Carter, the executive director of Equestrian Events Inc., had been named executive director of the Kentucky Horse Park. A TV station had covered the Kentucky Horse Park...

What’s in the future for Monmouth at the Team? The former Monmouth County Horse Show made an impressive statement as a boutique fixture in Somerset County, with the lure of lavish hospitality and a welcoming style. Most important in terms of...

The Washington International Horse Show is moving out of its namesake city for the third time since its founding in 1958, heading to Prince George's Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, Md., for 2022. The show, formerly 4-star rated, will be a...

As the USA’s dressage technical advisor, at last summer’s Tokyo Games she led the way to the country’s first Olympic team silver dressage medal since 1948. But now Debbie McDonald is out of a job. According to a U.S. Equestrian Federation...

It has been an incredible year for New Jersey dressage riders, who made quite a mark at major competitions, ending their spectacular season with last weekend’s U.S. Dressage Finals. Heather Mason of Flying Change Farm in Lebanon has found the key...

Michael Barisone was “incoherent” after the Aug. 7, 2019 shooting for which he was charged with two counts of attempted murder, according to a Washington Township, N.J., police officer who responded to the scene. Detective Derek Heymer recounted...

In her equitation championship debut, Ella Witt of Califon won the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association 3’3’ Hunter Seat Medal Final East last Saturday aboard Stakkair, owned by Redfield Farm. But only a few days later on the horse show roller coaster,...

The winner and runner-up in  the HITS $400,500 grand prix were new faces, which German course designer Werner Deeg considers a good thing. The finale of the Saugerties, N.Y., spring/summer series was won yesterday by 25-year-old Megan McDermott on...

Whether he was on the red carpet, running a horse show, pulling out all the stops to organize a party or helming his public relations firm, Mason Phelps Jr. was always a force to be reckoned with. He knew everyone and had a knack of getting them to...

The Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event May 5-9, the Garden State Horse Show on the same dates and the Essex Horse Trials July 17-18 will be welcoming the public after the U.S. Equestrian Federation announced this week it will allow a...

News that a limited number of spectators from the general public will be allowed under new Covid protocols at U.S. Equestrian Federation-licensed shows starting May 3 did not come in time to save the 2021 Devon Horse Show and Country Fair. In...

The stunning announcement came today that the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair is cancelled for the second year in a row, as the organizers and board cited “far-reaching operational and financial implications due to on-going (Covid-related)...

From the outside, much looks familiar this year at the Winter Equestrian Festival and Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Fla. The palm trees at the entrances sway in a slight breeze, amid inviting landscaping blooming with brightly...

Rumors have been swirling about whether this spring's Devon Horse Show and Country Fair will be cancelled for the second year in a row due to the Covid situation. But the welcome announcement came today that one of the country's most beloved shows...

The group trying to save the 2021 Land Rover Kentucky 5-Star Three-Day Event got another reprieve today. They now have until Wednesday at 6 p.m. to raise a bit more than $300,000 to wrap up the $750,000 goal set by Equestrian Events Inc., the...

An accident of local geography started Nancy Jones on a career with horses that went from the ground up to national recognition, earning her the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s 2020 Jane Marshall Dillon award. Jonesie, who runs her business at...

If you haven’t been to the grounds of the Winter Equestrian Festival or the Adequan Global Dressage Festival since Covid shut them down last March, don’t be surprised to find things quite different on your return this year. Those fleeing to...

The headline today is from the fourth verse of “Deck the Halls,” one of my favorite carols. It’s quite appropriate; for most of us; Covid 2020 can’t pass away fast enough. Here we are in the middle of the “holidays,” which haven’t felt very festive...

Moments of glory with horses usually are fleeting, but the disappointments too often seem to come like clockwork. Kim Herslow actually enjoyed more than few of those splendid special moments with Rosmarin, a Hanoverian she bought in Germany as a...

A lifetime ban against hunter/jumper trainer Bob McDonald has been lifted by the U.S. Equestrian Federation, as the U.S. Center for SafeSport closed a case against him involving allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor in 1973. McDonald was...

The Covid cancellation of their sleepaway riding camp put a big hole in the summer for Charlie Brandy and Maya Green. But like others who have risen to the pandemic challenge instead of stewing about it, the teens found a way to keep busy while...

The persistent question of how the USA’s three major fall indoor shows could run during a pandemic-plagued season was answered today: They are going ahead, even though it won’t quite be business as usual in the Covid era. It’s good news, following...

Things are really revving up at the Horse Park of New Jersey, where this weekend’s horse trials attracted a waiting list of 100, with everyone eager to get back in action after long weeks without competition. The park conducted a low-key opening...

She’s been the Winter Equestrian Festival’s overall open jumper champion rider at least since 2009, though Laura Chapot hasn’t kept track of how many times the honor has come her way over the years. And while she claimed the title again in...

Making the most of an advantageous position in the jump-off, Kent Farrington won the $213,300 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Lexington last night with his longtime partner, the fleet mare Gazelle. Eighth to go in the nine-horse tiebreaker,...

The re-do of the American eventing calendar was “a daunting task” for the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s eventing bid review group, according to USEF Eventing Sport Committee Chairman Mike Huber. The reorganization left the Jersey Fresh International...

Ian Stark is as intense as the cross-country course he has designed for the first Maryland 5-Star event at Fair Hill. It will be tested tomorrow afternoon by a top international field of competitors who have talked about little else at the venue...

He’s the number one-ranked eventer in the world, so where did you expect he’d be on the first day of the first Maryland 5-star at Fair Hill? That’s right, Great Britain’s Oliver Townend is in the lead, performing a slick and well-modulated dressage...

It was a rematch of an encounter we’ve seen many times in four-in-hand driving competition: Chester Weber vs. Jimmy Fairclough. Chester, who could have gone to events closer to his Ocala, Fla., home rather than the Garden State Combined Driving...

“Developing Future Stars” is the slogan of the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Platinum Performance Show Jumping Talent Search. And judging by the ability on display this weekend at the competition in New Jersey, there soon will be lots of new stars...

The fans were in Michael Bragdell's corner when he won last night's qualifier for this evening's Grand Prix Freestyle during ShowPlus Dressage at Devon. While spectators were politely appreciative for the other six entries in the class as the show...

Even though the Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event won’t have its 4-star Long division starting in 2023, the Horse Park of New Jersey trustees “enthusiastically” have voted to stage the event in 2022--“so long as we can obtain the necessary...

Can the Swedes do it? They are on quite a streak; three clear in the individual qualifier, three in the jump-off and a silver medal; three clear in the team qualifier. Will it hold through the team medal competition? Follow along to see how the...

Teams from 19 countries lined up at Baji Koen Equestrian Park today to claim one of 10 qualifying spots for the show jumping finals that will yield the medals tomorrow, as the Tokyo Olympics draw to a close. This is the USA's only chance for a show...

The heart of eventing is cross-country, and the Tokyo Olympics route devised over five years by Derek DiGrazia (who also designs the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star) has been the source of speculation for years. How would it ride? Would the weather be a...

We started out at a decent hour for Eastern Daylight Time, 7:30 p.m., rather than 4:30 a.m. the way we did this morning, as the third member of each team took their turn in the sandbox for the finale of the dressage phase. As the segment began,...

You’ve been following my live blog, on which we broke the news that the U.S. had won silver in Tokyo today. But the story deserves more details than I could give you in a blog, so here they are: It was down to the wire, with everyone hoping the...

The U.S. gets silver with a bravura performance by Sabine Schut-Kery and Sanceo. It was the first time a civilian U.S. dressage team has taken that honor. (An army team did it in 1948). Read the live blog down to the bottom to find out how it all...

It's 4 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The dressage riders are back competing at the Baji Koen Olympic Park in Tokyo for the second part of the Grand Prix, the qualifier that will decide which eight teams from 14 nations competing go on to Tuesday's...

Hannah Sue Burnett found a home at the top of the Essex Horse Trials’ leaderboard, and brought her associates along for the ride this weekend at Moorland Farm in Far Hills. She took the marquee event, yesterday’s Open Preliminary, with the...

Canada's Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, the venerable final leg of the North American Fall Indoor Circuit, will not be held for the second year in a row due to the "international impact" of the Covid situation. "After considerable research and...

“It’s always so hot for this show,” I heard a rider say as she walked her horse toward the ring during the Summer Days dressage show at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation in Gladstone yesterday. Well yes, because it’s summer in New Jersey. Now if...

At 11 p.m. on a frigid December night, as far north in Germany as you can get without reaching the Danish border, Mary Gadek Bancroft and trainer Holly Payne Caravella found an exciting eventing prospect. The conditions weren’t optimum for trying...

The observation event for U.S Olympic dressage team hopefuls wasn’t officially a selection trial, but last night’s results in Wellington, Fla., yielded a clear indicator of who is on top--with no surprises.(Check out the On the Rail section on this...

Just call him Champ. Boyd Martin completed his sweep of the two U.S. spring eventing championships today at the Jersey Fresh International Horse Trials, where he came from behind in the 4-star Long on Luke 140 to win the division, taking the U.S....

You might have thought the 4-star Long competition at the Jersey Fresh International Three Day Event could be a rematch between Tamie Smith on En Vogue and Alyssa Phillips with Oskar, who overtook Tamie’s lead from dressage and cross-country in the...

She was meant to be an eventing horse, or perhaps go out in the hunt field. But once Candescent’s potential was glimpsed by Alice Tarjan, it was obvious that  neither of those destinies would be in the mare’s future. The four-year-old Hanoverian...

As an advisory group considers the future for the  Somerset County Park Commission’s Lord Stirling Stable, which stopped offering riding lessons when the pandemic began, a survey has been sent out to aid in developing a strategic plan for reopening...

It all started with Licorice, a black pony with four white socks who tactfully could best be described as “a brat.” But he provided quite a legacy for Alice Tarjan, who figured out how to ride him well enough so he would do what she wanted, rather...

They cancelled the cancellation! The Land Rover Kentucky 5-star Three-Day was called off last week because U.S. Equestrian Federation Covid protocols prohibited spectators and the event needed revenue from tickets to proceed. But then a grassroots...

(updated Feb. 3, 2021)   With today’s cancellation of the April 5-star Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, it was natural for people to question whether the Jersey Fresh International event will be held 11 days later at the Horse Park of New...

Eight months after riding lessons ceased at the Somerset County Park Commission's Lord Stirling Stable, work will begin on planning how to go forward in the wake of its Covid-related shutdown, which resulted in curtailed offerings at the facility...

I have never posted the work of others on my website, but this story from Horsey Hooves about an Appaloosa who lost his eyes is so touching and amazing it just seemed perfect for Christmas. And at this point of a difficult year, we all can use...

Anyone who has spent time with Lynn Matthews knows she is rarely at a loss for words. The one exception was the moment when the N.J. Department of Agriculture’s equine specialist learned she would be getting the prestigious Spirt of the Horse award...

This weekend is one that the Essex Foxhounds usually devote to appreciating the country way of life, highlighted by its Masters Chase of fun races at Natirar, a Somerset County park that once was part of a great estate. The Covid situation meant...

It is truly the end of an era. Lt. Col. John Russell, the last of America's influential cavalry veterans, passed away at his home in Texas Sept. 30 The world's oldest living Olympic medalist was 100 years, 7 months and 28 days. He likely was the...

There are still plenty of horses in the New Vernon section of Morris County’s Harding Township, but in an earlier era, the area really could be called horse country without any exaggeration. It was the original home of the Spring Valley Hounds,...

Heading west from Oldwick to Illinois for the Dressage Festival of Champions last week, Alice Tarjan had her own little wagon train. She was hauling four horses herself, while two were shipped commercially. Asked about the challenge of dealing with...

  You could see it coming. A virtual Town Hall yesterday with U.S Hunter Jumper Association President Mary Babick highlighted the problems involved with the Covid-related cancellation of major competitions, such as the USEF Pony Finals, which...

Things were Covid-quiet at the USET Foundation’s Gladstone headquarters for several months while it was closed to visitors. So this week’s Summer Days Dressage shows, presented by the Eastern States Dressage and Combined Training Association,...

The Covid crisis was far in the future when Christine Reupke came up with the idea for the Horsemanship Society International website in 2018. The concept of combining virtual showing with a lesson was designed for people who do not have access to...

Today the state of  New Jersey has lifted pandemic-imposed restrictions on horseback riding, but that won’t mean the reopening of the lesson program at the Somerset County Park Commission’s Lord Stirling Stable in Basking Ridge. A month ago, the...

The good word for New Jersey stables that have been stalled in pandemic lockdown is that as of Friday, May 22, Gov. Phil Murphy is lifting coronavirus restrictions on horseback riding, along with a number of other recreational activities such as...

Virtual eventing? It's even got its own T-shirt. These days in the horse world, it seems as if it's virtual everything. The USEF’s announcement that recognized competitions won’t run before the end of May is another push for equestrian sport to...

As the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last night added its voice to the chorus of national Olympic committees calling for postponement of this summer's Tokyo Games, the International Olympic Committee bowed to pressure and moved the Games to...

The tsunami of pandemic-sparked cancellations involving equestrian competitions large and small will be felt by a diverse group that runs from top athletes looking toward the Olympics down to kids hoping to qualify for their championships;...

Dressage trainer Michael Barisone reached out to the U.S. Center for SafeSport last year after complaining of harassment by a woman he subsequently was charged with shooting. The comment about SafeSport was made by defense attorney Ed Bilinkas as...

The highlight of the considerable jumping action in Wellington, Fla., last week was the Palm Beach Masters, a splendid fixture at Deeridge Farm that culminated in a riveting Longines FEI Nations Cup with a hard-fought victory for the home team....

What a weekend! Wellington, Florida, is a perennial winter equestrian hotspot, but for the past three days, it outdid itself as a multi-discipline destination. Think of the whole thing as a mini World Equestrian Games, without the baggage that WEGs...

So close, and yet so far. The bill to end the sales tax on stalls for boarding horses finally passed the state Legislature almost unanimously, but New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy didn't sign it. That's what known as a pocket veto (since it wasn't...

Horse people don't have a lot of time to reflect; we all know the demands made on us by caring for even one equine. So at the turn of the year, I always try to stop for a few minutes, put down my glass of champagne, and think about the past 12...

The MARS Essex Horse Trials is moving to a new date for 2020, hoping that a switch from June to July will offer better weather for the event. "We're really just trying to improve the odds," said Ralph Jones, who co-chairs Essex with cross-country...

Making things better for horses: Doesn't everyone who is involved with these special animals want to see that happen? But the Rutgers Equine Science Center translates the desire into action. The research with which it is involved makes a difference...

Kevin Babington's wife, Dianna, shared an exciting update today about the New Jersey-based Irish show jumper, who suffered a critical spinal cord injury in a fall during a competition at the end of August. He is being treated at the Kessler...

I was soaked this afternoon, which was not surprising and something to which I’ve become accustomed after 31 years covering the Dutta Fair Hill International  three-day event, where rain has never been a stranger. But you come to expect that while...

There really was something for everyone this afternoon during the Essex Fox Hounds Masters’ Chase at Natirar, the scenic Somerset County park in Peapack. There were numerous opportunities to enjoy all aspects of a day dedicated to appreciating the...

It has been 26 days since show jumper Kevin Babington suffered a life-changing spinal cord injury in a traumatic fall at the Hampton Classic, His wife, Dianna, wrote on facebook that surgery Tuesday at NYU "went as well as possible," but plans to...

It has been 20 days since show jumper Kevin Babington suffered a life-changing spinal cord injury in a traumatic fall at the Hampton Classic, His wife, Dianna, wrote on facebook that surgery Tuesday at NYU "went as well as possible. "We are...

It has been 20 days since show jumper Kevin Babington suffered a life-changing spinal cord injury in a traumatic fall at the Hampton Classic, His wife, Dianna, wrote on facebook that surgery Tuesday at NYU "went as well as possible. "We are...

An  outpouring of support for injured rider Kevin Babington has raised more than $500,000 on a Facebook donation page, while charity horse shows and merchandise sales will continue contributions to funding his medical care and rehab, following his...

(See information about the funeral, survivors and memorial donations at the end of the obituary. Shelley Howerton Page, who will be going to the funeral, would like to print out email remembrances and give them to Ann's family. Contact her at...

The announcement Monday of the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s lifetime ban against 81-year-old former U.S. show jumping Coach George Morris triggered immediate outrage from top show jumpers and a host of others in the horse industry. During the days...

What do you do on the first day of your eventing competition, when downpour after downpour has drenched the venue that was groomed to perfection by months of intensive work, and the ground so soggy it’s positively squishy? That was the problem...

There were plenty of exciting moments on the Mark Phillips-designed cross-country course today at the Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event, but for sheer survival skills, no one could beat Fylicia Barr ‘s determination to stay out of the...

The Junior Essex Troop’s Garden State Horse Show got a makeover with its move this spring to the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation headquarters in Gladstone, going to one ring from the eight it utilized in its former location at the Sussex County...