His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, honorary member of USA Equestrian, was unanimously chosen to receive the first "FEI Award for Dedicated and Distinguished Services to Equestrian Sport," that was established by the Executive Board and the Bureau early this year.

His Royal Highness served as FEI President from 1964 - 1986, represented Great Britain in several European and World Four-in-Hand Driving Championships, was a member of the 1980 World Cup Champion Combined Driving gold medal team and was 6th at the Four-in-Hand Championships held in the Netherlands in 1980. He also instigated the first international rules for competition carriage driving.

In 2000 His Royal Highness was presented with an honorary USA Equestrian Lifetime Achievement Award. The Jimmy A. Williams Trophy is bestowed annually to an outstanding equestrian whose lifetime experience and accomplishments exemplify uncommon devotion to the sport of horse showing and whose equestrian career and horsemanship have continually elevated the sport's excellence.

For more information, please contact Sarah Holt, Public Relations on (859) 225 6974 or via email at sholt@equestrian.org. USA Equestrian press releases are available on our web site - http://www.equestrian.org/ .

USA Equestrian Inc., as the National Equestrian Federation of the U.S., is the regulatory body for the Olympic and World Championship sports of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, reining, show jumping, and vaulting, as well as 19 other breeds and disciplines of equestrian competition. As the country's largest multi-breed organization, the Federation has over 80,000 members and recognizes more than 2,800 competitions nationwide each year. It governs all aspects of competition, including educating and licensing all judges, stewards, and technical delegates who officiate at these shows.