Following the USEF Show Jumping Selection Trials that took place over five events in Wellington, Florida last week, the long list for the 2010 World Equestrian Games.
Here are the riders who have a shot at making the team of 5 to represent the US in show jumping at WEG.
Name/Horse (Hometown)
1. McLain Ward/Sapphire (Brewster, N.Y.)
2. Laura Kraut/Cedric (Wellington, Fla.)
3. Lauren Hough/Quick Study (Wellington, Fla.)
4. Nicole Shahinian-Simpson/Tristan (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
5. Richard Spooner/Cristallo (Agua Dulce, Calif.)
6T. Mario Deslauriers/Urico (New York, N.Y.)
6T. Beezie Madden/Danny Boy (Cazenovia, N.Y.)
8. McLain Ward/Rothchild (Brewster, N.Y.)
9. Hillary Dobbs/Quincy B …

It’s been two years since I wrote my first post outlining the upcoming World Equestrian Games. Then it felt like this nebulous future event that wasn’t really real, and now it’s little more than half a year away! To this fan, it finally feels like this is finally happening now that trials to select the show jumping shortlist for the US team are underway.
The top American show jumpers and their horses are down in Wellington, Florida, half-way through battling it out to make one of the 15 spots available on …

One sure-fire way for a horse to ditch most riders is to buck … and buck … and buck. Most times, if they keep at it, they’ll get you off. And any horse is perfectly capable of throwing a bucking fit if he has the right stimulus … if he wants to get out of work, he doesn’t like what you are asking him to do, he gets spooked, or he’s experiencing discomfort.
As a rider, you need to know how to ride through a horse bucking in order to get …

It’s no secret in the equestrian world that riders of different disciplines tend to not get along. We all think our own way of riding is the best, which automatically makes all others the worst. Western pleasure riders think us hunter jumpers and dressage queens are royally stuck up, and we think that western pleasure is too easy and boring. I could go on – and I’m sure you could add to – about all the different perceptions we have of each other.
What we tend to overlook is that we …

My horse and I have had a very successful week in our training, largely due to some wonderful tips I’ve gleaned from dressage trainer Jane Savoie’s blog. Specifically, I’ve been working on getting Ace to go on the bit and to round through his back and neck.
Like many riders, I didn’t have a good concept of true roundness and collection for a large part of my riding career. I would use my hands to crank my horse’s nose in. I got a nice round frame, but didn’t have a horse …

Of all the things I have to be thankful for in my life, one that sits at the top of my list is having a mom who loves horses too. To be more accurate, it’s having a mom who loved horses first – and shared that love with me.
My mom started riding horses when she was 8-years-old, the only equestrian in a family who was happy to humor their youngest member. She grew up riding huntseat and jumping, got her first pony when she was 12 and then her thoroughbred …

Without a doubt, the biggest challenge I’ve had in training my horse is getting him to go forward. This was such a major issue in the beginning that he would stop dead and go backwards and sideways but refuse to put a foot forward. And even when we were moving, he was non-responsive to my urges for more energy and speed.
And then I learned a fantastic method for sensitizing Ace to my leg aids in reading articles by several respected dressage trainers. In one session of using this technique, I …