Eventing

CCI4* Event Horse Charmed Victory’s Breeder Joins Maryland Jockey Club Board

Eventing, Racing

On Friday, May 9, the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority (MTROA) named Lisa Hostetter of Olney to the Maryland Jockey Club’s Board of Directors. Hostetter co-owns Northview Stallion Station and Sycamore Hall Farms, both in Chesapeake City. Northview began operations on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1989 and since then, its stallions have won Maryland Stallion of the Year for 28 consecutive years; Not for Love for 10 years and Great Notion every year since 2016. For us, however, Northview’s best known horse is the international eventer Charmed Victory, a 2013 gelding by Flatter out of Sycamore Hall’s American Victory (Victory Gallop (CAN)). Charmed Victory has contested 22 international competitions since 2020 and has finished in the top ten in four of them — two CCI3*s and two CCI4*s. His international career begin in 2020 with Pennsylvania-based Kaelen Speck. The pair completed 13 international completions together over the next ...
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Timothy Keefe, Thoroughbred Trainer & Sport Horse Breeder, Named to the New Maryland Jockey Club

Eventing, Racing

Timothy L. Keefe, Thoroughbred trainer and breeder, past President of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and Board Member of the new Maryland Jockey Club. Photo source: Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association The Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority announced today that Thoroughbred trainer and breeder Tim Keefe of Sandy Spring was named to the new Maryland Jockey Club’s Board of Directors. Keefe has been a fixture — a well-regarded one at that — in the Maryland racing scene for decades. Less well-known, however, is his role in breeding and training Thoroughbreds that then go on to successful second careers as show jumpers and upper level event horses. Here are a few of Keefe’s Thoroughbreds that are competing this season. Act Lively: Bred in Maryland and trained by Keefe, this 2020 gelding is by Astern out of Kiss the Prince (Any Given Saturday). He last raced in May 2024 and started his eventing ...
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The Iron Bridge Hounds Pony Club Wins the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League Championship

Eventing

In its debut appearance, Maryland’s own Iron Bridge Hounds Pony Club (IBHPC) went to the US Eventing Association’s Interscholastic Eventing Championship this past weekend (May 2 – May 4) and posted an impressive and resounding win. According to USEA, IBHPC won by more than 16 points, which was a sufficiently large margin that they knew they had won before their last rider left the cross country start box. The IBHPC is based in Sandy Spring. We are not surprised that a Maryland team won the championship becuase Maryland is the epicenter of US eventing. There are more international level eventing competitions in Maryland than anywhere else in North America. And there are more national competitions licensed by the US Equestrian Federation in Maryland (20 events) than any other state except California (21), which is, of course, much larger than Maryland. We have 50 licensed eventing barns and 31 pony clubs ...
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Is Your Performance Horse Ready for 2025?

Dressage, Eventing, Lameness, Show Jumping, Sport Horse Medicine

Many of us have developed our 2025 competition plans by now, and at least some of us are working towards one or more marquee events. More of us still are looking forward to a fun and low-stress year in the company of our horses. Regardless of our goals, we all try to do the best to keep our sport horses pain-free and well throughout their performance careers. It is therefore timely that The Horse magazine has published an article this month called “Promoting Longevity in Performance Horses: A Comprehensive Look at Supporting Soundness to Help Sport Horses Perform Into the Years Ahead,” by Lucile Vigouroux, MSc. Vigouroux holds a Masters of Science in equine performance, health, and welfare from Nottingham Trent University in England. Her article covers the following topics: She also reports on the recent research about the most common forms of musculoskeletal lameness in the various disciplines, as ...
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Eventing Coaches Program on the Agenda at US Eventing’s 2024 Annual Meeting

Eventing

Did you know that US Eventing has a professional education program for coaches and trainers? It does — the US Eventing Coaches Program (ECP). Did you know that there are 12 ECP certified eventing coaches in Maryland? There are. You can see who they are under the USEA heading here. Did you know that the lack of credentials for many eventing coaches came up at the US Eventing Annual Meeting last week? It did. In stark contrast to our peer nations, the U.S. has no formal certification or licensing requirement for people who make a living with horses — except veterinarians at veterinary technicians. In the U.S., anyone can say they are a “trainer” or an “instructor” or a “coach,” whether they have the knowledge or ability to those jobs, and whether they are any good at those jobs. The result is too many instances of consumer confusion, unsafe riding, ...
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Maryland-Bred OTTB Wins Training Level American Eventing Championship

Eventing

Ameristan
Maryland-bred Thoroughbred mare Ameristan took home the title in the Junior Training division at the American Eventing Championships in Kentucky yesterday!Ameristan is by Cosa Vera (KY) out of Seeking Allie (VA) (Seeking Daylight (KY)), and was foaled in Maryland on April 8, 2017. She was piloted with great enthusiasm by Tessa Geven of Cataula, Georgia. Geven has evented through the Training level with Ameristan as well as her Irish Sport Horse gelding Caheradoo Jack (Jack’s Delight x Caheradoo Echo (Clover Echo). She has also ridden up through Junior Intermediate with her imported Hanoverian dressage gelding Sir Frederico (Sandro HIT x Donnerfree (Don Frederico)). But it was her Maryland-bred mare that put her over the top this weekend. Congratulations ladies! — this post first appeared on the Maryland Horse Council’s website —
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