Meadow Hill Farm LLC

10/17/2026

10/13/2026

09/27/2026

At 157 riders, the 2025 Dover Saddlery/USEF Hunter Seat Medal Final had the smallest field in more than a decade and a noticeable drop from 231 entries just three years earlier. But according to judge Michael Tokaruk, the shrinking numbers at Harrisburg don’t signal a problem, but a transformation.

“The three-three medals are doing exactly what they were created to do,” Tokaruk explained. “They give a stepping stone to riders from the children’s and the Taylor Harris before they’re necessarily ready to do the demanding three-foot-six equitation.”

In other words, the new generation of equitation riders isn’t disappearing, but rather developing differently. The addition of national 3’3” finals like the Hamel Foundation NHS 3’3” Equitation Championship and US Equestrian’s Jumping Seat Medal Finals has given younger, greener, and less experienced riders their own pinnacle events.

Those classes help make the sport more accessible and create a progression. Riders now have the freedom to move up gradually, build confidence, and find horses appropriate to their skill level without jumping straight from local medals to Harrisburg.

“It’s the right progression,” Tokaruk said. “Not every horse or rider is ready for the kind of questions we ask at the 3’6” level. These 3’3” divisions let them gain experience in a national final environment before taking that step.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/09/25/the-rise-of-the-33-equitation-division-and-how-its-changing-finals/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

09/24/2026

Trust can feel like one of the hardest parts of horsemanship to define. We know when it seems to be there. A horse relaxes in our presence. The communication feels easier. New questions become less threatening. Horse and rider begin to feel like partners instead of two individuals negotiating every step.

But how do we actually build it?

According to neuroscientist and horse trainer Janet Jones, the answer may be less mysterious than it seems. “A lot of the techniques for building trust boil down to various methods of creating predictability,” Jones said.

In other words, if you want your horse to trust you, start by becoming someone your horse can understand.

Jones explains that consistency allows horses to predict human behavior. “We give them the same request, they give us the same result,” Jones said. “We do that many times. We do it the same way each time.”

Over time, the horse learns the pattern. The horse does not have to wonder whether the same aid will mean one thing today and another tomorrow. The rider becomes more readable. This is extremely important for young or green horses.

Jones advises against introducing unnecessary sudden surprises while a horse is still learning. The goal is not to make the horse’s entire world perfectly controlled. That would be impossible. The goal is to make the human part of that world more consistent.

“When a horse can predict your actions and reactions, and then you provide exactly what he predicted inside of his silent mind, you are beginning to establish trust with that horse,” she said.

The horse experiences a request and begins to know what will follow. Jones points to the relationship between prediction and a sense of control as part of that trust-building process. For a horse, that can make human interaction less uncertain.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/09/19/want-your-horse-to-trust-you-become-more-predictable/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

09/24/2026

Hallie C**n, Jack Curtis, Allie Knowles and Lauren Nicholson have been named to the U.S. eventing team for next week’s Boekelo Nations Cup in the Netherlands.
Read more and find the competition schedule, results and live stream information at the link in comments.

📸 Liz Crawley, 1st Class Images, Irish Eventing Times and US Equestrian