The one job title that doesn't appear on Dr. Jesslyn Bryk-Lucy's resume is "juggler," but there certainly would be justification for adding it. The veterinarian in charge of caring for Centenary University's 100 horses was recognized as the...

In its 35-year history, the Show Jumping Hall of Fame has never had a dinner to induct those being honored. Last night, that changed forever, as 180 people packed a dining room at the Wanderers Club in Wellington, Fla., to salute not only those...

For one person, covering everything that's happening in Wellington on a show week is impossible, even though the distance between the dressage and hunter/jumper showgrounds is relatively short. But with nearly 20 rings going, it can be tough to...

Talk about pressure! Last night, Bliss Heers found herself as the only American in a five-horse jump-off for the $406,000 Lugano Diamonds 5-star grand prix under the lights at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. In 2021, when Covid...

The winners of last night's 5-star dressage Grand Prix Special and Freestyle were the same admired competitors as in the qualifying classes earlier this week, but the atmosphere in the International Arena lifted riders and spectators alike into a...

Dressage returned to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in a big way last night, with a sold-out VIP section that was treated to a brilliant performance by U.S. Olympic team silver medalist Adrienne Lyle and the stunning stallion...

"She is back with us," trainer Emil Spadone said today about show jumper Cassandra Kahle, who was in a coma after suffering a traumatic brain injury in a fall from her horse at a show last month. Cassie, a 29-year-old professional rider, moved a...

A two-year-old video of Olympic eventing double gold medalist Mark Todd striking a horse with a tree branch continues to wreak havoc with his reputation. The latest fallout from the controversy that erupted over airing of the incident is the...

Professional show jumper Cassandra Kahle today was flown to a rehabilitation facility in Atlanta from Gainesville, Fla., where she has been hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury for nearly two weeks. "The move and flight went very smoothly....

After several days without much progress, Cassandra Kahle thrilled everyone at her hospital bedside about 9:30 yesterday morning when she opened her eyes. And today, it got even better. "Her eyes were open for several minutes at a time," reported...

After several days without much progress, Cassandra Kahle thrilled everyone at her hospital bedside about 9:30 this morning when she opened her eyes. And that's not all she did. The 29-year-old professional rider, who suffered a traumatic brain...

Show jumper Cassandra Kahle, who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a fall during a competition last month, has been diagnosed with diffuse axonal injury (DAI) in her brain. Emil Spadone, the owner of Redfield Farm where 29-year-old...

Update note: This weekend, things were status quo for show jumper Cassandra Kahle, who is hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury. We will update you as things change. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page to cover medical and rehab expenses for Cassie has...

After making some progress, Cassandra Kahle developed aspiration pneumonia from her breathing tube today. Although the professional show jumper has been unconscious since a fall last weekend, on Wednesday she was able to respond to commands, such...

Lee Carter, who was chosen as the Kentucky Horse Park's executive director in October--then unchosen when he and the park couldn't come to terms--will get the job after all. The park put out a new Request for Proposal last year to re-start the...

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...

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...

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...

Back to normal, and it feels so good. Seeing the hundreds of people who came out this morning to watch the Essex Foxhounds gather for their annual Thanksgiving meet was quite a contrast to the scene in 2020. Last year, the front field of the...

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...

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...

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,...

With two important competitions separated by 317 miles this weekend, Beacon Hill Show Stable’s crew handled the distance and came up a winner at both the National in Lexington, Ky., and the Washington International in Tryon, N.C. The Colts Neck,...

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 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...

The Jersey Fresh International three-day event will not be held in 2022, even though the Horse Park of New Jersey trustees had voted to stage it one last time. Under the new U.S. Equestrian Federation eventing calendar process, it lost its 4-star...

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...

There is concern about the future of Dressage at Devon, though you might not have thought so after seeing the crowd that packed the grandstands for Grand Prix night last Saturday The U.S. Equestrian Federation Heritage Show is always popular with...

New Jersey dressage competitors made quite an impact at the U.S. Equestrian Federation national championships last summer, and they proved over the weekend during ShowPlus Dressage at Devon that was no fluke. Even though multiple national champion...

The grandstands were packed with enthusiastic spectators cheering each ride in the featured Saturday night classes of ShowPlus Dressage at Devon, and the competitors rose to the occasion for their expectant audience. The group that had ridden in...

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...

“Awesome!” “Excellent!” “Beautiful!” So much fun!” “A blast!” Those comments and similar remarks were expressed by happy riders crossing the finish line at the Tewksbury Trail Association’s Trail Pace on a sparkling, almost-autumn Sunday at...

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...

Catherine Haddad-Staller wanted to salute the outstanding success of New Jersey dressage riders and trainers during the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Festival of Champions, so she borrowed a tradition from Europe for a celebration at her Califon...

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...

It’s been a crazy year in the equestrian world, as in every part of the globe, but Covid and the Olympics combined for an especially challenging situation on the competition front. Those who rose above it had to make a lot of compromises and be...

The Olympic closing ceremonies didn't wrap up the global athletic competition in Tokyo. Now the U.S. Equestrian Federation is focusing its attention on the Paralympics, which begin there Aug. 24 and run through Sept. 5. But first, after scores of...

Time for a deep breath, as the equestrian portion of the Olympics comes to an end. For some riders, that deep breath will be a sigh, as they're wishing things had gone better. For others, it will be a chance to remove the masks that were...

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...

If the pressure felt enormous in today’s team show jumping qualifier, just wait until tomorrow. Ten teams will be going for three medals as the equestrian portion of the quirky Tokyo Olympics concludes. The candidates were culled from 19 countries...

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 Olympic show jumping medalists are pictured at the top of the page, as the discipline's individual competition wrapped up in Tokyo. Read the blog to get the timeline of how it all happened. It's 6 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time and the individual...

Another contingent of U.S. riders is taking to the arena at Baji Koen Equestrian Park today to compete in the first qualifier for the individual show jumping medals, the opposite of the usual order, when the team goes first, as it did in dressage...

It's 7:15 a.m. EDT and the top 25 riders are still walking designer Santiago Varela's course where they will contest the individual medals. It's shorter than the course for the team final that finished earlier today. (See the story on this website)...

It's 4 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time and the eventing stadium jumping is under way  at Baji Koen Equestrian Park. We're starting out with the lowest-placed riders after cross-country, as the competitors proceed in reverse order of merit. Designer...

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,...

(This blog is being updated with the second session of eventing dressage. It starts with the first session and continues into the second session, so keep going down to get the latest information.) It's 7:30 p.m Eastern Daylight Time as three-day...

There were a few surprises in the dressage competition at the Olympics; the U.S. got its first team silver in the discipline since 1948, and there was a new face on the highest level of the podium after the individual competition. No one was...

  I put the medalists in the headline, but to find out how they got to the podium and what happened to the other riders, follow my live blog. It's 4:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time as the final dressage competition of the Tokyo Olympics gets...

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...

Yes, it's 4 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on July 24, and it's finally happening! After a year's postponement due to Covid, horses actually are competing in the lovely arena at Baji Koen Equestrian Park, which also hosted Tokyo's 1964 Olympic Games....

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...

A new partnership has been formed between Global Equestrian Group, headed by Andreas Helgstrand and Wellington Equestrian Partners, whose CEO is Mark Bellissimo, with plans for an 11-acre expansion of WEP’s Palm Beach International Equestrian...

Although he started as the traveling reserve for the Olympic eventing team, I always had a feeling Doug Payne would make the squad. And today he did, with his longtime partner, Vandiver, owned by Doug; his wife, Jessica, and Debi and Kevin Crowley....

We all know about horse farms that regrettably have been sold for development in the face of ever- increasing suburbanization. The 350-acre Wildwood Farm, 20 miles from Memphis in Germantown, Tenn., would have seemed a likely candidate for that...

“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...

After seven years in Tewksbury, trainer Sara Schmitt next month is moving her operation to a larger venue at Riverfield Farm in Annandale, which was a top hunter-jumper operation when owner Karen Peterson Da Prato ran it as a show stable.. The...

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...

The Essex Horse Trials didn’t run in 2020 due to Covid, but the event will be making up for that this summer, adding to the competition at Moorland Farm in Far Hills with tailgating, shopping, a car show and a concert. The fixture runs July 17-18,...

A quick description of Ray Francis would be perfectly accurate using just three words: dignified, respected and meticulous. But when one talks about him as a horseman’s horseman, there has to be more detail to explain his essence. A convivial top...

The horse show world has lost another icon during a very sad week. John Franzreb III, the ringmaster of ringmasters, died yesterday at age 79. He was diagnosed with cancer only recently, after coming back from last month’s Pin Oak show in Texas,...

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...

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...

There’s quite a lineup for the Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event, which gets under way with dressage competition on Thursday, May 6 at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown. (Diehards can attend the horse inspection on Wednesday for...

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...

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)...

The Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event will be back next month after missing its 2020 edition, when competitions across the country were shut down due to the pandemic. This time around, plenty of top riders are expected to take part, but...

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...

At tonight’s U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Town Hall meeting, the question of when the public will be allowed to return to U.S. Equestrian Federation horse shows was asked several times--most notably by Hampton Classic Executive Director Shanette...

As thoughts turn to this summer’s Olympics, the names most familiar to the general public for U.S. team candidates are Adrienne Lyle with Salvino, who earned 80.170 percent in the Grand Prix Special a year ago (we’re waiting to see her ride the...

Think about hunter and jumper shows in Florida. What location comes to mind first? It’s probably Wellington, home of the Winter Equestrian Festival in Palm Beach County on the state’s east coast. That’s the circuit with the greatest name...

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...

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...