DEL MAR — After hosting a full schedule of hunter and jumper divisions, including two grand prix classes, the Showpark Summer Classic wrapped up a well-established equitation event Aug. 16 with three sections of second rounds and work-offs in the California Professional Horsemen’s Association Foundation Equitation Championship Finals. Divided into 22-over, 14-under and 21-under age divisions, riders faced challenging courses with work-offs built in, part of the Foundation format. The honorable Alex Jayne and Frank Willard scored, tested and ultimately awarded the final placings.

Round 1 tests included a counter-canter to fence 3 and walking fence 12 plus some tight turn options. After 27 entries competed in Round 1, the top prize for the round went to Stephanie Goodson aboard Poetic, who earned a first round average of 86.5. Second went to Renee Rodda riding Notable with an average of 85.5, and third to Katie Cramer on SS Brando with an average of 84.75. Only 6.5 points separated the top eight, with fourth through eighth awarded to Kathy Nolan, Tonya Johnston, Belle Calkin, Laura Owens and Virginia Fout, respectively.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — The California Reining Horse Association has a foolproof formula for putting on the summer’s coolest reining shows: Hold them at the beach.

That’s what the CRHA did Aug. 1 for its annual Slide On The Beach at the Huntington Beach Central Park Equestrian Center, and the raves — like the waves — came in.

“This is definitely our ‘coolest’ annual event,’ said CRHA board member Lisa Anderson. “Cool not only because this year’s temperature was 78 degrees with the benefit of Huntington Beach’s offshore breeze but, it also brings out the coolness of all our competitors.

Anderson said the camaraderie and fun was evident throughout the day, as competitors and spectators truly supported and cheered one another.

Arianna Barzman-Grennan was all smiles as she modeled her new team jacket emblazoned with a bright championship logo.

“I’ve always wanted one of these,” she beamed.

Barzman-Grennan, 20, of San Jose, was one of many winners who traveled as many as eight hours from up and down the West Coast to participate in this year’s California Dressage Society Junior and Young Rider Championships. Held in two locations representing the Northern and Southern regions, the competitions were held July 31–Aug. 2 in Elk Grove, and Aug. 14–16 in Temecula.

Riders ranged in age from as young as nine years old aboard trusted mounts of all breeds, shapes and sizes. With classes and divisions offered from Training Level to FEI as well as equitation, freestyles, and quadrilles, there was something for everyone whether a casual Pony Clubber attending a large dressage show for the first time or an accomplished NAJYRC competitor.

Barzman-Grennan has been coming to these Championships since 2010, and now in her final year of eligibility she wasn’t going to miss attending the show one last time before starting her fall semester of college.

POMONA — Cal Poly Pomona administrators decided in August to put future students out to pasture. A crunch for student housing had led school officials to examine 10 sites on which a new phase of student lodging would be built, and despite protests by students and others, 13 of 45 acres of on-campus pasture got the nod.

The property, for decades an iconic emblem with grazing Arabian horses from the school’s venerable program, was not the first choice of ag students and horse enthusiasts who called the designation for housing “short-sighted.” A protest last January caused school officials to pause, but the plan is back on track after a six-month reevaluation.

University spokeswoman Esther Chou Tanaka said new President Soraya M. Coley, who took the reins of the university in January, paused the project in February, mindful of a need for additional student housing.

Karen Stives, who helped lead the U.S. Equestrian Team to a 1984 Olympic gold medal in three-day eventing in Southern California and who just missed an individual gold medal of her own, died Aug. 14 at her home in Dover, Mass., from a rare form of cancer. She was 64.

Stives earned her place in three-day eventing history when she rode her mother’s big grey gelding, Ben Arthur, to win the individual silver at the Los Angeles Olympics. A single rail down in show jumping cost her the individual gold, but the pair’s strong finish helped earn the team gold for the U.S. Karen became the first of two women ever to win an individual Olympic three-day event medal; British rider Virginia Holgate Elliott won the individual bronze at Los Angeles.

Modesto Milling has spent the last year researching and developing organic horse feeds with its consulting equine nutritionist. Now, it’s proudly introducing California’s first 100 percent certified organic “ration balancer” called the Horse Supplement Pellet. Specifically formulated to have a low recommended feeding rate, when fed with forage it will meet the horse’s needs for protein, vitamins and minerals — but add very few additional calories. It can be an excellent addition to a forage-only diet, and it also combines well with organic oats or barley to make a balanced feed for horses that need more calories than a forage-only diet can supply. Modesto Milling’s Horse Supplement Pellet is organic and contains no GMOs. The organic cultural practice prohibits the use of herbicides, pesticides and commercial fertilizers. The company uses only the highest quality ingredients in its horse feeds, and the Horse Supplement Pellet has organic oats and alfalfa, as well as organic coconut meal that is high in digestible fiber and healthy fats that promote healthy coats. We use organic peas for high quality protein to promote muscular strength, plus flax seed and sunflower seed for omega 3 and omega 6 fat, as well as organic stabilized rice bran for its fat and low starch content. Plus, the product has additional ingredients like natural vitamin E and biotin for healthy coats and hooves, as well as diatomaceous earth, zeolite, yeast, sea kelp and other essential nutrients.