Alexandra Beckstett

August 14 Lexington, Ky.

Fifteen-year-old Sydney Shulman made her last year in the pony jumper ring count, picking up her second consecutive USEF Pony Finals individual jumper championship gold medal. The seasoned pair let not a single rail drop throughout the three rounds of competition, and “Sailor” never skipped a beat.

In a true team effort, Zones 1, 5 and 9 combined to win the pony jumper team championship at the USEF Pony Finals Friday night, with a narrow victory over Zone 7/10. Zone 2 picked up the bronze.

She has made a study of dressage sport horse breeding, but her involvement in the equestrian community reaches far beyond reproduction.

Barbara Funk falls into an enviable group of individuals lucky enough to do what they love for a living. Her résumé reads more like a book, with job titles ranging from dressage sport horse breeding judge to tax practitioner, but somehow the Battle Ground, Wash., resident has managed to tie everything she does back to horses.

The win with Gold Raven comes in one of the toughest contests of her career.  

Danielle McGunigal admitted that after 30 years of endurance competition the Kentucky Cup endurance test event for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games was the most difficult ride she had ever completed.

Texas riders top the novice division in Kentucky.

They make careful jumping work for them over a challenging derby course.

Just when the Bluegrass state thought Derby mania was over, Croquet and Caroline Weeden put in a sensational performance to win the $15,000 ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Kentucky Spring Horse Show in Lexington, on May 9.

Plank verticals and natural fences with no groundlines plagued horses and riders all evening. The sun was setting and the rails were falling.

Henselwood and Special Ed win their second consecutive USGPL Invitational Grand Prix.

If traveling around the world took its toll on some Olympic horses, Special Ed was not one of them. He blazed around the $100,000 USGPL Invitational Grand Prix at HITS Culpeper, posting two clear rounds for a repeat win with Jill Henselwood.

A year ago, Ali Roesener didn’t expect to be competing in the dressage ring, not to mention winning at the California Dressage Society Southern Junior/Young Rider Championships. The 19-year-old show jumping veteran’s total score of 66.77 percent with Gathan Alfarvad Z placed her at the top of her third level class in Burbank, Calif., Aug. 22-24.

Modest and equipped with a dry sense of humor, Malcolm Hook has set the standard (albeit a high one) for announcing and controlling events. His name adorns countless eventing committee lists, and those who know him sing his praises, but the technical delegate from Aurora, Ore., is just a man who loves what he does.

With the exciting and often controversial changes occurring in the eventing world these days, Hook is more driven and enthusiastic about the sport than ever.