Beth Rasin

Even after his last student safely crossed the cross-country finish line on April 30 at Rolex Kentucky, David O’Connor still had some work to do. That night, he and three other top eventers—his wife Karen O’Connor, Gina Miles and Hamish Cargill—hit the Alltech Arena in western saddles for the $25,000 Tarter Farm & Ranch Equipment Freestyle World Championship competition. It was held at the Kentucky Horse Park in conjunction with the $50,000 Ariat Kentucky Reining Cup and Rolex Kentucky CCI.

Colleen Rutledge has a slightly different relationship with her four-star mount than most riders—he’s not just an important part of her life, he’s her sanity and stability.

Because Rutledge, 34, isn’t just a rider, teacher and trainer. She’s also a mother of three children, including a severely handicapped 6-year-old son who’s confined to a wheelchair and a 3-year-old daughter who’s had cancer since birth.

Lexington, Ky.—April 29

There might be some of the most experienced names in the sport at Rolex Kentucky this year, but 22-year-old Tiana Coudray bested them all as she rode into the lead after two days of dressage.

Coudray’s making her second start at Rolex, and her fancy gray Ringwood Magister topped the scoreboard on a 40.8 as the fourth rider in the ring this morning.

Lexington, Ky., Jan. 24

In 2010, Courtney King-Dye’s traumatic brain injury made equestrians take note—and helmet rules passed in dressage and eventing at this year’s U.S. Equestrian Federation Annual Meeting with little muss or fuss.

Although I grew up in the suburbs, each Christmas I held out hope that my parents would surprise me with a horse of my own. It was a pretty wild wish, since neither of them knew a thing about horses and weren’t inclined to think that riding was a good thing to encourage. But I still imagined scenarios in which they could have a horse squirreled away somewhere nearby and the clever and surprising ways they might reveal this to me.

Elizabeth Power’s event horse Kilpatrick River will not be competing at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games next week due to an injury, according to Horse Sport Ireland.

The horse arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington on Sunday but was lame following exercise on Monday. He was treated overnight, but there was insufficient improvement in the injury and the decision has now been taken to withdraw the horse.           

A victory in the Meydan FEI Nations Cup Promotional League Final in Barcelona, Spain, sent Denmark into the elite group of countries competing in the 2011 Meydan FEI Nations Cup Series.

Denmark (12 faults) scored a clear victory over second-placed Spain (16 faults) and third-placed Canada (16 faults) on Sept. 19.

“We are a small country, but this is a young team with some good new horses, and we made qualification for the top-level series our goal from the very start of the year,” said Danish anchor rider Tina Lund, 29.

Sebastian Steiner, 22, suffered a fatal accident while competing at Montelibretti International Horse Trials in Italy on Sept. 18. Steiner, who was representing Austria, was riding Cartago, a 15-year-old gelding, when they fell at fence 11. The horse was not injured in the incident.

Christina Klingspor of Sweden, President of the Ground Jury, said: “On behalf of the whole sport, I would like to extend our deepest sympathy to Sebastian’s family.”

The circumstances of the accident are now the subject of an investigation. No further information is available at this time.

U.S. Equestrian Federation officials have appointed Jeremy Steinberg of Kirkland, Wash., the inaugural USEF National Youth Dressage Coach.

Steinberg, the 1996 North American Young Riders Championships individual gold medalist, has also competed at the Grand Prix level, including international competitions and U.S. League Finals for the FEI World Cup.

The USEF hopes that the Youth Dressage Programs, currently under construction, will become a critical link in the pipeline for development of future riders.

Ron Danta and Danny Robertshaw, of Camden, S.C., have been rescuing dogs for many years, stepping up their efforts in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. At the end of March, they reached a milestone by adopting dog No. 2,000 to Bruce Duchossois, of Aiken, S.C.