The Editorial

The FEI is preparing to close the loopholes in its neurectomy rule before the November General Assembly vote. For the owner of a warmblood just diagnosed with navicular syndrome, the... Read more...

The Number Nobody Will Write Down

A year after US Equestrian defined equine overuse, the sport still hasn't attached a number to it. The 2026 rule cycle is where that finally gets tested — and the load science on tendons and training has already made the case. Read more...

The Gate Now Checks for Wounds

For the first time in nearly sixty years, screwworm is back on American soil, and US Equestrian now inspects horses for wounds before they reach the stabling aisle. The show... Read more...

What the Racehorse Proved

Racing just ran the first rigorous test of whether a wearable sensor can see an injury coming — and the answer, in Thoroughbreds, is genuinely yes. The same devices are already on jumpers' boots, sold on that borrowed proof. The distance between the two is the whole story. Read more...

The Fresh-Horse Myth

The competition horse works for an hour and stands for the other twenty-three. We treat that as normal because it is universal. The research now available asks whether universal and... Read more...

The Fund Named After the Horse

In 2026, USEF and a bootmaker funded the second round of a research program named for a horse who died after a team veterinarian medicated him without asking anyone who knew him. What that money actually studies, and the harder question it was never built to answer. Read more...

The Stillness That Isn't Calm

New research out of Ohio State found that a horse's face can stay perfectly still while its heart rate climbs in response to a real threat. For a sport that has always treated quiet as the highest compliment a horse can earn, that finding asks a harder question than it first appears to. Read more...

The Challenger That Already Owns the Field

The FEI just approved a $300 million jumping league that leads with the word welfare. Its founder already controls the sport's dominant circuit, and its own welfare adviser runs the racing regulator built by federal law to solve exactly this kind of conflict. Here is what the deal actually says, and what the science says about the format underneath it. Read more...

How Wildfire Air Is Rewriting the Summer Show Calendar

As Canadian wildfire smoke shuts down shows and racing from Michigan to Ontario this week, the veterinary research on what airborne particulate actually does to a horse's lungs — and... Read more...

Aachen Can Wait: Inside Kent Farrington's Withdrawal

Kent Farrington is the top-ranked show jumper on the planet, and he is not going to Aachen. The reason is not injury, or politics, or a scheduling conflict — it's a nine-year-old gelding who isn't ready yet, a mare who has already won her championship for the year, and a rider willing to say so out loud. Read more...

The Federation Buys the Scoreboard

US Equestrian has quietly bought a stake in the company whose numbers help decide which horses get pulled from cross-country and which storylines get told about the sport's safety. What changes when the regulator owns the ruler. Read more...

What the Census Never Asked

The USDA is quietly counting a population the hunter/jumper world has never had hard numbers for: horses in what its new national survey calls "vocational transition." What the federal government... Read more...

The Tube in the Tack Trunk

New 2026 research on drug-resistant eye infections in horses is quietly rewriting the first-hour instinct for a scratched cornea. The tube every barn keeps on the shelf for exactly this... Read more...

The Metabolic Bill After a Clean Round

New 2026 research on Warmblood show jumpers finds a horse's gut microbiome shifts measurably within hours of a single competitive round. It's a small study, but it lands on two... Read more...

The License Nobody Signed

A new survey of the British public tells the same story it has told every year since 2022: trust in horse sport isn't improving. What the data says would actually... Read more...

What the EU's New Transport Rules Still Won't Cover

The EU is closing the old exemption that let "registered" horses skip the welfare rules other animals travel under. The new line it has drawn instead runs around the purpose... Read more...

The Heat Index Is a Suggestion

Thoroughbred racing pulled its cards outright during this month's heat wave. The hunter/jumper circuit, running the same weeks under the same sky, was asked only to monitor. On the physiology of equine heat tolerance, and the difference between guidance and a rule. Read more...

The Clean X-Ray Doesn't Exist

A new study of nearly 4,000 sound German Warmbloods is forcing an uncomfortable admission into the open: the incidental finding that ends a sale may say more about how hard... Read more...

Two Rulebooks, One Horse: Show Jumping's Blood Rule Divide

Six months into a new FEI rule that lets show jumpers keep competing after minor, rider-induced blood, the sport's own research on bit pressure and oral pain says "minor" was... Read more...

The Record That Follows the Horse Home

Starting this summer, a medication violation no longer ends when the trainer's suspension does -- it travels with the horse, through a sale, a lease, a new barn. What USEF's... Read more...

The Franchise Horse

A show-jumping team just sold for $50 million before its first round was ever jumped. The new league's welfare promises are real. So is the arithmetic underneath them - and the research on what a finite string of horses can actually absorb. Read more...

The Word the Rulebook Won't Say: FEI and Hyperflexion

In a year the FEI is rewriting its entire dressage rulebook, one national federation asked it to finally put a name to a training method it has publicly condemned since 2010. The FEI said not yet, and the enforcement data explain why that should trouble more than the dressage ring Read more...

The Backbone Tax: What Research Says About Grooms in Sport

Hunter/jumper sport has gotten good at honoring its grooms — a charter, a hashtag, a $5,000 class in Ohio. Two years of peer-reviewed research on more than 1,300 grooms says the honor still hasn't reached the paycheck. Read more...

What USEF's Hunter Judging Freeze Doesn't Fix

USEF has frozen new hunter judge licenses for a full year to repair a fragmented credentialing system. The sport-science research on judged disciplines suggests the deeper problem was never the pipeline. Read more...

The Two-Finger Rule Is Over: Noseband Tightness & FEI Gauge

For decades, a horse's noseband was judged by a steward's fingers slipped beneath the leather. As of January, that gesture is being retired in favour of a calibrated wedge —... Read more...

Aerial view of a modern Florida equestrian show ground with a large open-sided covered arena, several sand competition rings with white fencing, and water retention ponds set in flat green landscape under a blue sky.

Wellington Just Got Bigger: Inside the New Wellington International South

Wellington is building a whole new show ground. Here's everything riders need to know about Wellington International South — the 98-acre expansion opening fall 2026, what it'll host, and why... Read more...

A dark bay horse in a fitted brown leather bridle stands calmly in a rustic stone stable aisle, ears forward and eye soft, turned gently toward natural light.

The Quiet Contract

Equestrian sport runs on an agreement most riders never signed and rarely name: the public's permission to continue. That permission is no longer assumed — and the terms are being... Read more...

A rider in charcoal athletic wear kneels in a low lunge stretch on a wool mat, one hand resting on a cork block, with a foam roller and resistance band nearby and a navy saddle pad on a bench, in a light-filled room overlooking a stable yard.

The Unmounted Hour: A Rider's Case for Off-Horse Fitness

The horse can only be as balanced as the rider on its back. A look at what the research really says about off-horse fitness—and the three quiet tools that make... Read more...

Fifty Years in the Saddle: The Rise and Fall of Dover Saddlery

For half a century, Dover Saddlery was the address every American rider knew by heart. Its slow collapse this spring is not really a retail story — it's a story... Read more...

The Thoroughbred in the Jump Ring: What the Research Says About the Breed Redefining Modern Sport

The warmblood may dominate the headlines, but the Thoroughbred never left the ring. New research, a thriving second-career movement, and the science of blood percentage are making the case that... Read more...

Bay warmblood standing quietly in an immaculate competition barn aisle, woman in dark charcoal breeches and white show shirt resting hand on horse's neck, warm golden barn light — Notting Hill Equine

Beyond Steroids: What the Latest Research Means for Your Competition Horse's Joints

The conversation about joint injections is changing — fast. Here is what the veterinarians at the forefront of equine sports medicine are saying, what the most current research shows, and... Read more...

Model wearing gold paperclip chain necklace with double snaffle bit pendant, black blazer, light gray studio background

The Bit, Worn: Why Equestrian Jewelry Has Always Been Fashion's Most Enduring Reference

Gucci's horse bit loafer to the fine chain at the collarbone — the snaffle has been fashion's most enduring equestrian reference for over seventy years. Riders have been wearing it... Read more...

Liver chestnut warmblood horse jumping a large Swedish oxer with navy and white rails at a spring training session rider in champagne breeches and navy sweater

Riding Tights vs. Breeches: Which One Is Right for You?

They look similar on the rack and feel similar in the saddle — but riding tights and breeches are built for different riders, different disciplines, and different days. Here is... Read more...

Hunter jumper rider in white full seat breeches and black KASK helmet standing beside a dark bay warmblood at a summer horse show with Notting Hill Stables saddle pad

Full Seat or Knee Patch? How to Choose the Right Breeches for Your Discipline

Not all breeches are created equal — and in the English disciplines, the wrong pair can cost you comfort, confidence, and maybe even a ribbon. Here's everything you need to... Read more...

Commercial barn laundry room with industrial washers, organized saddle pad shelving, and a tabby cat resting on the counter

What a Clean Barn Actually Takes

Inside the laundry routines, pad rotations, and obsessive organizational systems that keep a full-service A-circuit barn running at its best — from the people who do it every day. Read more...

Professional horse barn feed room with wall-mounted green feed buckets, stainless steel grain bins, laminated AM ration feed chart, and supplement shelf

Feeding the Sport Horse During Show Season

What European veterinarians recommend — and what the research actually says — about fueling your horse through competition without burning them out from the inside. Read more...

How to Care for Leather Tack the Right Way

What European barns have always known — and American riders are just catching up to — about keeping leather supple, safe, and built to last. Read more...

The Governing Gap: What the FEI's Standards Reveal About American Equestrian Sport

When complaints about a U.S.-based Olympic dressage rider landed at USEF headquarters in early 2024, the federation made a quiet admission that stopped the equestrian world cold: it didn't have... Read more...

The Spring Float — Why Equine Dentistry Matters More Than Most Riders Realize

The horse that has not been floated in eighteen months is not just uncomfortable. It is compensating — in its mouth, in its poll, in its back, in its way... Read more...

The Spring Vet Visit — What Every Horse Actually Needs and When

The entry form asks for a current Coggins. The show grounds require proof of EHV vaccination. Your barn manager needs to know which horses are due for what. Spring is... Read more...

Shedding Season — What's Normal, What's Not, and How to Speed It Up

The hair is everywhere. On your breeches, in your coffee, somehow on the dog. Spring shedding is one of the most reliable events in the barn calendar — but it... Read more...

The April Hoof — Why Hooves Fall Apart in Spring and What to Do About It

Every April, farriers have the same conversations. The hoof that was tight in January is now soft, flared, and chipping at the wall. The white line has opened. The horse... Read more...

Gem Twist — America's Great Grey

AI-generated artistic interpretation. Not a photograph of the actual Gem Twist. DOSSIER MONDAY · Issue No. 01 Gem Twist — America's Great Grey He was a Thoroughbred who shouldn't have... Read more...

Mud Season — Thrush, Scratches, and Protecting Your Horse's Legs When the Ground Is a Mess

April arrives and the damage has already started. Thrush, scratches, mud fever — these are not exotic conditions. They are the predictable consequences of wet ground and wet skin, and... Read more...

Junior rider on a grey warmblood horse mid-jump at the ASPCA Maclay National Championship, indoor arena, light tan breeches and black Samshield helmet, MACLAY signage visible on the arena floor — Notting Hill Equine

What Is a Maclay, a Medal, and an Eq Finals? The Junior Equitation Roadmap

Every junior rider hears the names — the Maclay, the Medal, the USHJA Talent Search. But what do they actually mean, how do they work, and what does it take... Read more...

The Cribber in the Corner Stall: Understanding Horse Cribbing and What You Can Do About It

It's one of the most recognizable sounds in a barn — that low, rhythmic grunt against the top rail. If you have a cribber, you already know. Here's what's actually... Read more...

What Your Horse Is Actually Eating — A Complete Guide to Pasture Grasses, Grazing Dangers, and What Belongs in Your Field

Not all grass is the same, and not all of it is safe. From the fescue in your back pasture to the clippings your neighbor left at the fence line,... Read more...

The Return — A Complete Guide to Spring Conditioning for the Hunter/Jumper Horse

The ground is thawing and the ride schedule is filling back in. But the horse that spent December through February in light work or on turnout is not the horse... Read more...