In a letter to U.S. Equestrian Federation members and competition organizers, USEF Chief Executive Officer Bill Moroney announced March 25 that the original 30-day extension, effective March 16 has been extended to until May 3. His letter can be read below: We are all anxious for equestrian sport to start up again and for
Continue Reading...FEI Creates Task Forces To Deal With COVID-19 Impact
Fédération Equestre Internationale officials announced that it plans to create a series of discipline-specific task forces to evaluate the impact on the FEI calendar of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in multiple event cancellations and the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games until 2021. The FEI Board approved the creation of
Continue Reading...Groom Spotlight: From Top Horses To Macy’s Shoppers, Orna Excels At Customer Service
At 59, Nicole Orna says she’s the happiest she’s ever been, thanks in large part to a road trip in 2014 that led to her current position: grooming some of the top carriage horses in the country for Mary and Harvey Waller. Before hiring on at the Wallers’ Orleton Farm in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Orna had
Continue Reading...A Day In The Life With: LaGoy-Weltz Dressage Working Student Caroline Cochran
Caroline was born in Germany and grew up as an Army brat in a family of perfectly normal people who had the good common sense to avoid pursuits as expensive and ridiculous as horses. After university, Caroline decided to put her honors degree to good use and fulfill childhood dreams by shoveling poo in elite
Continue Reading...Back From The Brink: Kilkenny Cairo Heals At Her Home On The Range
In June Gayl Russell thought she’d finally turned a corner with her mare Kilkenny Cairo in the spring of 2019. After nearly two years of unconventional cross training, the skittish and reactive Dutch Warmblood was beginning to behave like a solid citizen. “Cairo” had a reputation as a fearful horse with a buck before Russell
Continue Reading...From Untacked: From Stable To Shelf
Most riders can remember the major firsts in their equestrian life: first time cantering and jumping, first competition, first blue ribbon. But before those milestones occur, there’s often another important event in the life of a horse-crazy child: The day a young person gets a first Breyer horse model. While any horse figurine is a
Continue Reading...An Inexperienced Team USA Dominates The $150,000 Nations Cup In Wellington
Two weeks ago to the day, Beezie Madden, Margie Engle, Laura Kraut and Jessica Springsteen made a pact following their Longines Nations Cup of the United States of America win at the Palm Beach Masters in Wellington. The four riders, and Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland, agreed to maintain a united front in the celebratory battle
Continue Reading...Chatwin’s Back In Action And Winning At Twin Rivers
It was almost 20 years ago that the Baxter family purchased 500 acres in the sleepy Central California Coast town of Paso Robles. Where others saw fallow farmland, they saw the potential for international equestrian competition. The team has grown, and the venue has transformed in those nearly 20 years, but the mission remains the
Continue Reading...Behind The Photo: Cool Shades Bro
If you walked past Loreli at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, California, and did a double-take, you wouldn’t be alone. After all, it’s not often you see a horse wearing what appears to be a pair of horse ski goggles. But the 13-year-old gelding won’t be hitting the slopes anytime soon, and the
Continue Reading...Bellinger, 1992-2020
I had just turned 18. I’d shown a bad Prix St. Georges on a borrowed horse the summer before I started college, and I’d gone to school horseless, because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to really dedicate myself to horses or just ride for fun. Two weeks into my first semester of college I
Continue Reading...Madden To Change Sport Career Direction After Tokyo
Beezie Madden will semi-retire from high-performance sport following the 2020 Olympic Games, which will be held Jul. 24 – Aug. 9 in Tokyo. Going forward, Madden, 56, of Cazenovia, New York, will focus instead on developing horses and riders to the championship level. “With the horses we have now, we’re 100 percent committed to trying
Continue Reading...Late-Game Decision Pays Off For Springsteen At WEF 6
Before she even landed off the first fence of the jump-off in the $137,000 CSI3* Grand Prix, Jessica Springsteen was pretty sure she’d already lost. She and Volage Du Val Henry had a little bit of a miscommunication on take-off to that first jump and elicited some gasps from the crowd. The scrappy mare kept
Continue Reading...