Lexington, KY – Two members of the Gold-medal winning 2011 Pan American Games Eventing Team, Buck Davidson and Michael Pollard, and the alternate, Kristin Schmolze, were awarded Land Rover Competition and Training Grants to travel to Temecula, CA and compete at the Galway Downs CCI, November 4-6.
Davidson and Pollard were each awarded $8,000 grant to contest the CCI3*, while Schmolze was awarded a $6,000 grant to compete in the CCI2*.
Because of logistical and timing conflicts due to being part of the Pan American Games squad, Davidson, Pollard were unable to compete at Fair Hill International CCI3* in early October – the only CCI3* on the East Coast. The Pan Am horses flew to Guadalajara on the cross country day of Fair Hill. The athletes couldn’t be in two places at once. Schmolze was part of the Pan American equation with Ballylaffin Bracken until the horses departed – she is also riding her CCI3* horse at Galway.
It was an epic adventure in Mexico for the United States Equestrian Federation’s Dressage, Eventing and Jumping Teams. They won a record 10 medals across the three disciplines and cemented a solid foundation for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Bookended by double Gold medalists Steffen Peters, who rode the Hlavacek’s Weltino’s Magic to record scores in the dressage ring at the Guadalajara Country Club, and Christine McCrea, who jumped five immaculate rounds on Windsor Show Stables’ Romantovich Take One at the same venue 10 days later, the U.S. won at every turn.
The dressage team of Peters, Heather Blitz, Marissa Festerling and Cesar Parra got the winning going – they cruised to Team Gold over Canada and Colombia – and then reinforced it with a sweep of the individual medals for Peters, Blitz and Festerling. The standard was extraordinary and with each test, a new challenge was handed over. Personal bests were the order of the day for the freestyles, Blitz and her Paragon made Olympic veteran Peters work for every point, after they wowed the crowd at their first Team Championship. Festerling commandeered a terrific Bronze medal effort out of a very energetic Big Tyme and also stood on the podium for the second time at her first championship.
FEI Veterinary Director Graeme Cooke. Images: Anthony Trollope/FEI.
Lausanne (SUI), 31 October 2011 – The joint World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) and FEI conference focusing on modernising the conditions of movement of horses within South America has called for the removal of outdated or unjustified import and export barriers that are stifling the growth of equestrian sport.
The need for greater understanding of the health certification and quarantine requirements for horses competing at national and international levels was also highlighted at the conference, which was held last week in Guadalajara (MEX) during the Pan American Games and attended by 80 government ministers, international veterinarians and other specialists.
Speakers from the OIE, government representatives from South America and the FEI tackled the justification of some of the current restrictions imposed on healthy competition horses when travelling between South American countries, and the impact this is having on the development of equestrian sport across the region.
Christine McCrea, Individual Gold Medal at the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico will compete at the Alltech National Horse Show beginning on Wednesday
Lexington, KY – October 30, 2011 – Christine McCrea, who on Saturday powered her way to the Pan American Games Gold Medal in Guadalajara, Mexico, makes her next stop at the debut of the Alltech National Horse Show in Lexington, Kentucky, beginning on Wednesday.
McCrea, who was perfect through five rounds of world-class jumping in Mexico, picked up two Gold medals in her first ever appearance at the Pan American Games. Her two clear rounds on Thursday in the Nations Cup were a key factor as the United States Show Jumping squad scored Gold, and in so doing, secured one of the final coveted spots at the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
In addition to McCrea, the big money Open Jumper division at the Alltech National Horse Show features nine Olympic veterans, including McLain Ward, who was also a member of the United States Gold Medal team in Guadalajara.
Christine McCrea and Romantovich Take One. Photo: Shannon Brinkman
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – In a sport of inches it came down to 7/100ths of a second. Beezie Madden (Cazenovia, NY) had led the 2011 Pan American Games since Wednesday, and when she landed over the last fence in the second round of the day it seemed Individual Gold was secure with her fifth clear round of the Games.
Until the clock stopped.
She and Coral Reef Via Volo finished with a time of 66.07, just over the time allowed of 66 seconds. That one time fault left her in the Silver medal position behind her teammate Christine McCrea (Windsor, CT) and Romantovich Take One.
It was an epic finish. There wasn’t a rail separating the top five horses going into the final round – and at the end of all the jumping, McCrea and Windsor Show Stables’ 11-year-old Dutch gelding finished up the way they started. They jumped five clear rounds over three days and ended their first Pan American Games with Team and Individual Gold on a score of .88.
(L to R) Kent Farrington, Christine McCrea, Beezie Madden and McLain Ward. McCrea also clinched the Individual title yesterday ahead of Madden in silver-medal position. Photo: FEI/ StockImagesServices.com
Guadalajara (MEX), 30 October 2011 – American Jumping riders showed their class yesterday when adding Individual gold and silver to the team title they claimed last Thursday at the 2011 Pan-American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. The team victory was utterly convincing, as all four riders kept a clean sheet to leave them with a final tally of just 2.90.
And yesterday Christine McCrea rose from runner-up spot to snatch the Individual title from team-mate Beezie Madden who paid a very heavy price for a single time fault in the second round of the decider.
Despite their obvious strengths, there was plenty of pressure on the US side from the outset, as the defending Olympic champions had not yet qualified for London 2012. So Thursday’s result was more than pleasing for US Chef d’Equipe, George Morris, who, typically, was as impressed by his side’s skill in the ring as he was by what they achieved. “It’s the way they rode. I’m an ideological horseman. I’m not interested in it unless it’s beautifully ridden,” he said after Madden (Coral Reef Via Volo), McCrea (Romantovich Take One), Kent Farrington (Uceko) and McLain Ward (Antares) delivered the goods.
Team Gold (L-R) Kent Farrington, Christine McCrea, Beezie Madden, McLain Ward (Photo: Shannon Brinkman)
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Everything was at stake for the American show jumping team at the 2011 Pan American Games, including qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games. They faced the pressure and delivered the United States its third Equestrian Team Gold medal of the 2011 Games – jumping eight clear rounds in the Nations Cup today. Their score of 2.90 from the first class on Wednesday didn’t change and they led Brazil (11.58) and Mexico (13.24) in the medal ceremony.
“It’s the way they rode; it’s not the result,” said Chef d’Equipe George Morris. “I’m an ideological horseman. I’m not interested in it unless it’s beautifully ridden.”
By the time individual leader Beezie Madden (Cazenovia, NY) went in the ring as the last to jump for the team, she was jumping for herself, because the U.S. team already won based on the clear rounds of her teammates.
Canada's Jessica Phoenix and Pavarotti on their way to taking the Individual title in Eventing at the Pan-American Games. Photo: FEI/Anthony Trollope.
Lausanne (SUI), 25 October 2011 – American riders scooped Eventing Team gold in convincing fashion at the Pan-American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico on Sunday when all five team-members sensationally completed on their Dressage scores. But the USA had to settle for silver and bronze in the battle for the Individual title, as Canada’s Jessica Phoenix stood firm to capitalise on the advantage she had established in the Dressage arena last Friday.
It was a historic result for 28-year-old Phoenix, who hails from Uxbridge, Ontario as she is only the second Canadian rider ever to earn individual Eventing gold in the history of the Pan-American Games. Riding the nine-year-old Westphalian gelding, Pavarotti, she set the target with a Dressage mark of 43.90 and never looked back. A flawless Cross Country performance on Saturday was followed by another copybook round over the coloured poles on Sunday to clinch individual gold. “It’s a dream come true,” she said afterwards.
PIVOTAL The Dressage placings proved pivotal, as the top four all remained within that grouping, although America’s Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot improved from third to fill silver medal spot in the final analysis. Team-mate, Bruce Davidson Jr., moved up from fourth to take the bronze at the expense of fellow-American Michael Pollard who narrowly missed a medal-placing with two fences down on the final afternoon.
Christine McCrea and Romanovich Take One (Photo: www.stockimageservices .com)
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – The U.S. Show Jumping Team will be looking to make it a Team Gold medal sweep at the 2011 Pan American Games after both the Dressage and Eventing topped the medal podium. They got off to a great start, presenting five fit and sound horses at the Jog. Under the guidance of Chef d’equipe George Morris and under the care of Veterinarian Dr. Tim Ober, farrier Todd Meister and physiotherapist Janus Marquis, all five horses were beautifully prepared by their grooms – and shone in the Mexican sunshine.
The U.S. Team arrived in Mexico with a mission: to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games.
They need to finish in the top three in the team competition of the teams that are NOT already qualified. Of the teams competing at the Pan American Games, both Brazil and Canada qualified at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Immaculate jumping won Individual eventing medals at the 2011 Pan American Games – and the top three horses were beautifully ridden over three days. Canadian Jessica Phoenix held onto her dressage lead, adding nothing to her winning score of 43.9 with Don Good’s Pavarotti. She had the Team Gold medal-winning Americans chasing her all weekend, and after the last fence was jumped, she shared the medal podium with two of them. Hannah Burnett and Harbour Pilot won Silver and Buck Davidson on Absolute Liberty won Bronze.
Burnett (The Plains, VA) rode with determination far beyond her 25 years on Jacqueline Mars’ 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Harbour Pilot. They were third after the dressage on a score of 45.2, jumped a foot-perfect round on Saturday in the cross country and then cemented her medal with two clear rounds in the show jumping. Burnett’s teammate Michael Pollard (Dalton, GA) jumped a terrific clear on Schoensgreen Hanni in the first round, only to have two rails in the Individual round and drop to fourth place.
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Lexington, KY – Two members of the Gold-medal winning 2011 Pan American Games Eventing Team, Buck Davidson and Michael Pollard, and the alternate, Kristin Schmolze, were awarded Land Rover Competition and Training Grants to travel to Temecula, CA and compete at the Galway Downs CCI, November 4-6.
