Upstage (Touching Wood x Golly D’Ore), Richard and Vita Thompson’s Thoroughbred gelding, passed away today at the age of 28.
Upstage and Karen O’Connor’s partnership began in 2000 after she catch-rode him to a third-place finish in the two-star at the Radnor Three-Day Event. The following spring, Upstage completed his first Advanced level horse trials at Red Hills with O’Connor in the irons. In his first year at the Advanced/three-star level, he finished seventh in the three-star at Foxhall and fifth at Fair Hill International.
In the spring of 2002, Upstage ran around the Kentucky Three-Day Event for the first time, finishing in 24thplace. Upstage and O’Connor competed in the Kentucky Three-Day Event another five times, completing the four-star event six consecutive times: sixth place in 2003, 12th place in 2004, seventh place in 2005, 12th place in 2006, and 15th place in 2007.
In 2006, Upstage and O’Connor competed individually for the United States in the FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, finishing in 42ndplace.
Upstage retired from competition in 2008. To date, Upstage is ranked the 21st highest scoring horse of all time with 865 points. Richard and Vita Thompson and Karen O'Connor are all members of the USEA's Eventing Hall of Fame.
The USEA extends our condolences to the Thompson family, Karen O’Connor, and all of Upstage’s connections.
The Millbrook Horse Trials kicked off on July 25 with lower level dressage at Riga Meadow Equestrian Center at Coole Park in Millbrook, New York. There are more than 400 total entries competing at Millbrook, from Beginner Novice to Advanced level. Today the upper level horses cantered down the centerline, while the lower levels headed out on cross-country.
The United States Eventing Association, Inc. (USEA) is thrilled to announce Adams Horse Supply as the new title sponsor of the USEA Adult Team Championships (ATC) at the American Eventing Championships (AEC). The ATC will now be titled “The Adams Horse Supply USEA Adult Team Championships at the AEC.”
The world’s best eventing horses and riders will be first out of the starting blocks when the equestrian action gets underway at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Versailles, France, tomorrow morning with the opening dressage test.
The U.S. Equestrian Federation has announced a change to the U.S. Olympic Eventing Team prior to the start of competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Traveling reserve combination Liz Halliday and Nutcracker will move into the three-member team, replacing Will Coleman and Diabolo.