Ocala, Fla.—March 25  

Cooper Dean’s the real deal. He’s the kid who grew up with ponies in the back yard, mucking stalls and lugging water buckets and dreaming of winning big classes.

And now, as a working student for grand prix rider Aaron Vale, Dean’s getting that done in a big way. With three lovely, flowing rounds, Dean, 17, topped the HITS Equitation Championship aboard Denver S during the final weekend of the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit (Fla.).

Thermal, Calif.—March 20

Thermal Calif.—March 19

Watching Baltimore in the $100,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby brought the beginning of the postal service phrase: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” to mind.

Thermal, Calif.—March 18

As Michael Dennehy watched his student Jaden Olson in the warm up he fretted. Had she started jumping soon enough? Did she make the right decisions in warm up?

Normally he’d be in the schooling ring himself, guiding his student through the best pre-round routine. But according to the rules of the R. W. “Ronnie” Mutch Equitation Championship, riders must turn in their phones at the beginning of the class and their trainers are relegated to anxious spectators.

Thermal, Calif.—Feb. 28  

It was a test that the legendary Flexible passed with flying colors.

After winning Friday’s $25,000 Smartpak Grand Prix, rider Rich Fellers and owners Harry and Mollie Chapman targeted him for the $50,000 Osphos Grand Prix on Sunday. They wanted to see how the 20-year-old veteran handled the bigger challenge.