Source: USEF

Lexington, KY- A star-studded field of 22 horse-and-rider combinations is set to contest the USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship this weekend in Saugerties, NY. Held September 16-18 during the NEDA Fall Festival elite competition will be held in Grades 1a- IV. These championships are held in conjunction with the Saugerties CPEDI3*, which will host riders not only from the U.S. but also Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, and Mexico.
 
Competitors will ride three different test within their grade, the horse-and-rider combination with the highest final score will be crowned 2011 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Champion. The Team Test and Individual Championship Test will both count for 40% of the overall score; the final 20% of the cumulative score will be determined by the Freestyle Test.
 
Seven members of the Kentucky Equine Research U.S. Para-Equestrian Dressage Team that competed at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will contest these championships. Jonathan Wentz, Kim Decker, Laura Goldman, Mary Jordan, Rebecca Hart, Robin Brueckmann, and Wendy Fryke look to utilize the experience they gained last fall in Kentucky.
 
Hart is among the most decorated athletes in para-equestrian competition, having represented the U.S. on both the World Championship and Paralympic stage. She prepared for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games by winning both champion and reserve honors at last year's National Championship. She will try and claim her fifth championship in six years; she was also the winner of the 2006, 2008, and 2009 National Championships, with Jessica Ransehousen's Lord Ludger.
 
Goldman, the highest-placed American at the 2010 WEG, returns to competition after breaking her hip over the winter. Three of her World Championship teammates bring the same horses they rode in Kentucky to Saugerties; Wentz will ride NTEC Richter Scale, Decker again will compete her father Paul's Dashers Destiny and Fryke brings Lateran owned by herself and husband Michael.
 
Six riders will have multiple chances to stake their claim on top honors. Goldman, Wentz, Donna Ponessa, Eleanor Brimmer, and Kim Jones have two rides in these championships. While, Mary Jordan brings three horses from her Wells, ME, base.
 
Competition gets underway Friday with all competitors riding the Team Test in their respective divisions.
 
For more information and results from the NEDA Fall Festival visit; http://neda.org/FallFestival-Home.html.
 
For more information on the USEF Para-Equestrian Program, visit http://usef.org/_IFrames/breedsDisciplines/discipline/allpara.aspx.
 
 
ENDS
 
 

Founded in 1973, the United States Dressage Federation is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to education, recognition of achievement, and promotion of dressage. For more information about USDF membership or programs, visit www.usdf.org, email usdressage@usdf.org, or call (859) 971-2277.