Two schooling shows this month are sure to capture some attention as a great way to tune up for events later in the year including the AECs. First up on August 18th at Poplar Place Farm is their schooling show with a huge variety of classes to enter with CTs from Amoeba to Advanced plus Intro, Training, 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th Level Dressage Tests. Plus as well as any FEI, Freestyle, USEA, CIC or CCI test and Showjumping from 18" to over 3'9". To round it all out there is Cross Country of course for all levels. Entries close August 11th, so you better get moving. Dressage will be judged by Joanne Oliveri-Rasmussen. Download the entry form here.

The Area III Championships have been run and won again at Poplar Place in Hamilton Georgia this past weekend and as usual were a great success. With around 300 horses competing it was as always a busy weekend for riders, officials and ground staff.

We are pleased to announce with a new Members area comes a Classifieds section and new Web Forum. In the Classifieds section we curently have 6 different catorgories but we will look at splitting those up into more target areas as things move along. You have to be at least a donating member to post your own adds but there is no restriction to how many adds you post. So thats a real bargain!

The USEF Executive Committee on February 20, approved several extraordinary rule changes to be effective immediately to Cross Country and also Stadium.

EV141.1.a Cross-country Scoring

1. FAULTS AT OBSTACLES:
A. Disobediences

1) First refusal run-out or circle 20 penalties
2) Second refusal, run-out or circle at the same obstacle 40 penalties
3) Third refusal, run-out or circle at the same obstacle Elimination
4) Fourth penalized disobedience on the entire course Elimination

Why not talk about this Rule Change on the new forum or read more on other changes to Stadium as well...!!!! 

Well "Crikey" a famous Aussie once said. Dual Olympic Team Gold medalist Phillip Dutton has notified the Equestrian Federation of Australia that he plans to change nationality in order to ride for the United States. The news is the biggest in our sport in 2006 and huge shot in the arm for Eventing in the USA. Dutton is one of the world's most experienced international Eventing competitors having competed in four World Championships and three Olympic Games since his debut in 1994.

Dutton was part of Australia’s gold medal winning Eventing teams at the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics. He even had the honor of being flag bearer for the Australian team at this year’s World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. Dutton moved to the USA in 1991 and with his American wife and three daughters lives in Avondale, Pennsylvania.

“I would like to thank the EFA for everything they have done for me and my career as a Three-Day Event rider,” Dutton has said. “It has been an honor to be a member of the Equestrian Federation of Australia and to represent Australia internationally for the past 12 years. Please know that Australia and the EFA will always be in my heart as I move forward in this new chapter of my life,” he wrote in a letter to the EFA.