Following an exciting day at the final U.S. Olympic Dressage trials, the top riders earning spots on the Olympic Team are:

Steffen Peters and Ravel
Debbie McDonald on Brentina
Courtney King-Dye on Harmony’s Mythilus

The alternate is Leslie Morse and her stallion Kingston. Courtney’s other mount, Idocus, and Steffen’s Lombardi placed fourth and fifth respectively, and will also go [...]

Posted in 2008 Olympics, Horse Events, Olympic Dressage 3 Comments »

While almost all of the Olympic events are being held in Beijing this August, the equestrian dressage, show jumping, and eventing competitions are taking place in Hong Kong. For one, Hong Kong could provide better facilities for the horses, riders, and spectators and their unique needs. Two, Beijing couldn’t offer the necessary quarantine protocols, which [...]

Posted in 2008 Olympics, Horse Events 10 Comments »

Dressage, eventing, and show jumping were first incorporated into the Olympic games in 1900 and have been going strong ever since. For the first few decades, only military officers were allowed to compete in eventing, while civilians could saddle up for dressage and show jumping. Today, the top rider and horse pairs in the country [...]

Posted in 2008 Olympics, Horse Events, Olympic Dressage, Olympic Eventing, Olympic Show Jumping 19 Comments »

There are trainers for every discipline, of every personality, and with all kinds of philosophies and experience. It can be a chore to find the one with whom you connect best, who gets the best out of you, and who supports you in the way that you expect. But in all reality, the best horseback [...]

Posted in Riding and showing, Training 6 Comments »

One thing I like about being home by myself is that I can leave my bedroom door open and let my kitties come sleep with me. Rooney is usually all over that one. But the first night Ben was gone, my college roommate came over for the night and those little traitors both slept with [...]

Posted in Crazy Cats 1 Comment »

Or at least, I would be married to horses if I wasn’t married to my hubby. I’ve been a bachelorette since last Friday, and still have a few days to go, so I’m getting in a lot of extra horse time.
So far, that’s included over five hours on Sunday at Dave and Tracie’s cleaning my [...]

Posted in Women and Horses 1 Comment »

I was already missing my hunter show days and starting to scheme about how I can back into the competition ring, when I caught wind of a new event called the International Hunter Derby. I’ve always enjoyed the working hunter and equitation classes, and would be perfectly happy to stay there. Of course, that was [...]

Posted in Horse Events, Riding and showing 7 Comments »