The top four horses and riders in the show jumping realm have been officially selected for the 2008 Olympic Equestrian Team to ride in Hong Kong next month, pending approval by the US Olympic Committee.
The Olympic qualifiers for the US team wrapped up on Monday in Aachen, Germany, earning Olympic spots for four teams:

Beezie Madden [...]

Posted in 2008 Olympics, Horse Events, Olympic Show Jumping 2 Comments »

I’m always telling people that I’m still going to be riding horses when I’m a little 80-year-old lady. They tend to look at me like I’m a little crazy.
Of course, it’s always the non-horsey people who just don’t get it.
But they probably wouldn’t be so surprised if they knew that the oldest athlete competing at [...]

Posted in 2008 Olympics, Horse Events, Olympic Dressage 6 Comments »

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 7 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 11 Comments »

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 »

I know I’ll be holding my breath come 6:25 pm this Saturday, as will millions of people across the country, and probably the world. In just three days, will I see Big Brown race to the finish to become the first Triple Crown winner in my lifetime, more specifically in the last 30 years?
His chances [...]

Posted in Horse Events, Horse News, Horse Racing 1 Comment »