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...

(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...

Monmouth at the Team is hitting the road. The innovative one-ring show that debuted at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation to an overwhelmingly positive reception in 2016 will be held instead this year at the Centenary University Equestrian Center...

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...

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...

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...

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...

A legend in the world of Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies, Octavia Brown got in on the ground floor of this significant movement, becoming a visionary instrumental in its growth. And at age 78, the Gladstone resident is still just as...

So much that we enjoyed sadly has fallen by the wayside during the Covid era, but those who found a way to adapt have kept precious customs alive. The Thanksgiving meet of the Essex Foxhounds for decades has drawn hundreds to watch horses and...

It obviously was Steve Teichman’s destiny to become the U.S. eventing team's farrier. The career path that made him one of the most respected practitioners of his trade around the world began in an unusual way when he was just 13. Steve’s father...

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...

It was nearly everything a show jumper could hope for--a victory in a 4-star grand prix worth $213,300, over a track laid out by an Olympic course designer, and against an all-star field that included some of the sport’s biggest names, McLain Ward...

A third-place finish in the Adequan®/ USEF Para Dressage National Championships last weekend signified a triumph of will and commitment for Alanna Flax-Clark. Even traveling to the competition in Tryon, N.C., took some resolve during the Covid...

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...

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...

The ad Kevin Babington placed in the local newspaper during the late 1980s read something like this: “Young Irish lad specializing in problem horses…” That rang a bell with Deborah and Richard Roslowski of West Amwell, who just happened to have a...

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...

When you’ve fallen off your horse, then ended up sporting a black eye and bloody nose after another ride, it may seem that you didn’t have a good day on the cross-country course. But if you earn a nice trophy at the end of the process, it’s a great...

As 1978 wound down, Denis Glaccum knew he was in trouble. With little time until his end-of-year deadline, he was not close to making his quota as a salesman for IBM. Inspired by something he read in an article about kids with cancer, he put a sign...

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,...

Summer used to be a time of seemingly endless horse shows, week after week of grands prix and hunter classes in North America; big shows, smaller shows, take your pick. It was always the occasion for partying in the VIP area, seeing old friends,...

Sally Ike stepped down yesterday as managing director of the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Licensed Officials committee, but don’t think for a minute that she is just retiring. A multi-faceted pillar of the equestrian community, she will become a...

The Far Hills Race Meeting, an annual tradition that draws more than 30,000 spectators in October, has joined the Covid cancelled list on its 100th anniversary year. A New Jersey state regulation limiting crowd size to 500, except for a protest or...

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...

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 Pennsylvania National Horse Show and Washington International Horse Show equitation championships and the junior jumper national championships are moving to North Carolina’s Tryon International Equestrian Center--home of the 2018 FEI World...

Heather Mason was the U.S. Dressage Federation’s owner of the year in 2019. In 2020, however, like so many others during the pandemic fallout, “We are taking it one week at a time,” said the trainer, who owns Flying Change Farm in Tewksbury. This...

  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...

A viewing for respected trainer Ricci Desiderio, who died last month, will be held from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. tomorrow, Aug. 5, at his Tranquillity Farm, 300 Old Chester Road, Chester, NJ. It is being arranged to allow for social distancing. Services on...

Boyd Martin decided to take it a little easy at the Horse Park of New Jersey's Horse Trials II yesterday. For the Iron Man, that means he only rode three horses as heat soared into the high 80s and beyond, winning the FEI 3-star on Fernhill Prezley...

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 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...

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...

As fear of the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread early in March, Jaime Potkalesky, the senior events manager for Reeves International, was getting nervous about the prospects for BreyerFest. Breyer is the signature brand of Pequannock-based Reeves,...

Melissa Murphy Rafano and two of her amateur rider friends have come up with an antidote for “stir crazy” after months of Covid lockdown. With the horse show circuit in disarray, answering the question, “What are we going to do this summer?” became...

The Covid lockdown hit the Horse Park of New Jersey hard at the beginning of the season, after the gates were closed March 18. The park’s finances were impacted by cancellation of its signature event, May’s Jersey Fresh International (which was...

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...

Trainer Bob McDonald today denied an allegation involving sexual misconduct with a minor in 1973, following a decision by the U.S. Center for SafeSport that resulted in a lifetime ban from the U.S. Equestrian Federation. The husband of U.S....

Organizers of the MARS Essex Horse Trials at Moorland Farm in Far Hills have made the “agonizing decision” to cancel the 2020 edition, due to the complications of running it under Covid-related restrictions from the state and the U.S. Equestrian...

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...

Remember when you were having fun at horse shows? It was back in the early days of 2020, a time during which you also could go to the beach, eat in a restaurant with friends and family or get your hair done. That was before Covid-19 (or as I call...

We lost the World Cup finals and Kentucky 5-star in April, the Devon Horse Show in May, Aachen in June and of course, the Olympics in July and early August. Will the cancellations due to the pandemic ever end? Sadly, they continue. Today’s victim...

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...

It’s not really a surprise. With so much uncertainty about restarting the economy in the midst of the pandemic, the U.S. Equestrian Federation has extended its previous deadline for resuming competitions, training camps, clinics and other...

I’m getting nostalgic for the good old days, like a month ago, when I actually went to a horse show B.P (before pandemic)--as opposed to simply looking at the “virtual” competitions that have blossomed on-line. But a surprise package that came in...

They canceled Britain’s famed Wimbledon, two days after America’s famed Devon Horse Show became a no-go. So while equestrian sport is hardly alone in calling off its competitions in the midst of the pandemic (see Olympics, Final Four, Kentucky...

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 International Olympic Committee is changing its tune and setting a four-week deadline to decide whether the Tokyo Games set for this summer should be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Although the IOC had been insisting the Games...

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;...

The Live Oak International, named after its signature trees draped with Spanish moss, is a boutique horse show extraordinaire.  Started 30 years ago as a combined  driving competition, it is the only fixture in the U.S. that offers both grand prix...

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...

It's the end of an era. The Garden State Horse Show is heading this spring to the Asbury showgrounds run by Nona Garson and her partner, George D'Ambrosio, as the former Junior Essex Troopers who ran it with devotion for decades step aside from its...

Equestrians too often are viewed as people of privilege—even if they’re struggling to maintain a single horse in a humble backyard barn. But what most of those outside the horse world don’t realize is that many charity efforts not necessarily...

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...

So many former racehorses, both thoroughbred and Standardbred, face an uncertain--and possibly unhappy--fate when they leave the track. Although there are groups geared to finding new jobs and/or new homes for them (the Standardbred Retirement...

The Essex Fox Hounds' Thanksgiving meet at the Ellistan estate in Peapack is as much a holiday tradition as turkey and football for those who return annually to watch the horses and riders gather. It's fun and informal. There are no signs or...

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...

Dianna Babington, the wife of injured show jumper Kevin Babington, is reaching out for more help sorely needed by her husband. He has been in rehab for a critical spinal injury he suffered when his horse fell in competition during a show at the end...

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...

“Riding for the Team,” the new book from the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation, made its formal debut at the Washington International Horse Show over the weekend. There was a real buzz as people lined up on the concourse of the Capital One Arena for...

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...

For a half-century, the Somerset County Park Commission’s Lord Stirling Stable has meant a variety of things to many people. From lessons and trail rides to hunter paces, horse care workshops, educational offerings, pony parties, camp and...

The judges for the weekend’s Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals East were serious about the mandate of the competition: a step on the pathway for athletes to represent the country in international competition. So they made...

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...

Great Britain’s Ben Maher may have won the Grand Prix at the Longines Global Champions Tour New York over the weekend, but the real star of the show turned out to be, well, the show itself. It was a jaw-dropper to see how the arena, grandstands,...

Show jumper Kevin Babington has left NYU Langone Health Care to continue his journey of recovery at a rehab center. The move came 26 days after Kevin suffered a life-changing spinal cord injury in a traumatic fall at the Hampton Classic, Earlier...

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...

Desire and dedication are key qualities in Alanna Flax-Clark’s pursuit of para-dressage excellence, but pure determination—along with a super horse--is equally important, as she demonstrated during the Adequan®/USEF Para Dressage CPEDI3* National...

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...

“My life has been special because of what transpired here,” declared Michael Page, as he arrived at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation stables in Gladstone for a celebration with family and friends. A month before his 81st birthday, the Olympic...

(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 success of Monmouth at the Team is a testament to persistence, vision and risk-taking. Oh yes, and we can't forget the organizers who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty--but more on that later. The last four years have marked an upswing in...

Allyson Jeffery has spent 13 years working on improving The Horse Park of New Jersey as a member of its board of trustees, but now she’s moving on from her role as president a few months before her term ends in October. “It’s been a focus, almost...

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...

Boyd Martin spent a lot of time kicking himself for a cross-country refusal at a boat jump in the water during the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games, where the U.S. team failed to qualify for a slot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But he more than made...

The terms “relaxed” and “horse show” would seem contradictory, but they meshed well in this week’s Summer Days dressage competition at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation in Gladstone. Presented by the Eastern States Dressage and Combined Training...

After nearly a quarter-century in Pennsylvania, Kevin Babington has set up shop in New Jersey again. The Irish show jumper is now based at Hayley and Toby Carlson’s Ketcham Farm at Cream Ridge in Monmouth County, where he received a hero’s welcome...

After 30 years as one of New Jersey’s best-known equestrian facilities, Duncraven will be going on the market this month. The 75-acre farmland-protected property in Titusville, Mercer County, is continuing to host horse shows run by Claudine...

The MARS Essex Horse Trials didn’t have the weather on its side in the week leading up to this weekend’s competition, but the sun finally shone big time today, and so did the event at Moorland Farm in Far Hills. The crowd was so large that...

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...

When you mention the name of Major Gen. Jonathan "Jack" Burton anywhere in the equestrian world, it instantly sparks admiration. Now, however, it will bring expressions of sorrow. Word came today that this great horseman died on May 29 in Tucson,...

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...

  After all, Boyd already had done everything he could following a fault-free trip aboard Tsetserleg at the Kentucky Horse Park. He knew he had at least clinched second place on 27.9 penalties total for the three phases of the event. Going...