The La Prairie Racecourse hosted the Horse Inspection of the Para-Dressage Championship at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games on Sunday morning, as all U.S. horses passed. The United States, led by Chef d’Equipe Kai Handt, will be represented by four horse-and-athlete combinations in the Team Championship, while a single combination is slated to compete as an Individual in the Championship running August 25-29.
Sydney Collier, Rebecca Hart, Susan Treabess, and Roxanne Trunnell will represent the U.S. in Team competition, with Angela Peavy competing as an Individual.
Collier (Ann Arbor, Mich.) makes her Championship debut at 16-years-old this week in Normandy. At the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, the Grade 1b competitor will ride Victoria Dugan’s Willi Wesley.
After earning a seventh-place finish at the USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship, Collier is looking forward to the week ahead in France.
“This is my first large competition and I can’t say it could be a better first experience,” Collier said.
Hart (Unionville, Pa.) makes her second consecutive start in Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games competition after having competed in the 2010 Games in Lexington, Ky. The Grade II rider brings a wealth of experience to France this weekend, and will look to utilize the lessons learned at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games, as well as at the 2010 World Championship. In Normandy, she will ride her own Schroeter’s Romani, with whom Hart earned her sixth National Title in June.
Grade IV rider Treabess (Winters, Calif.) will ride Kathryn Hill’s Kamiakin this week at her second World Championships. In 2010 she competed alongside Hart in Lexington, and will look to utilize her experience from those World Championships in Normandy. Treabess and Kamiakin head into the 2014 Games looking to showcase the talent that earned them a fifth-place finish at the USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship in June.
Making her World Championship debut in Normandy is Trunnell (Rowlett, Texas) with Sidney Trunnell's Nice Touch. The pair heads into this week’s competition on strong form after earning a third place in the 2014 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship. The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will be the final competitive outing for the long-time pair, who competed in able-bodied competition before Trunnell began competing in para-equestrian dressage after an illness, as the mare will retire following these championships.
“It so exciting,’ said the Grade 1a rider of competing in France. “I have been with the same horse for a longtime and this is her grand finale.”
Peavy (Avon, Conn.), competing as an Individual, will also contest her first World Championship in Normandy. She will head down centerline in Grade III competition with Rebecca Reno’s Ozzy Cooper looking to display the form that earned the pair an eighth-place finish at the 2014 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship.
The first portion of the Team Championship and Individual qualifier will be held Monday and Tuesday as all combination complete Team Tests, in their respective Grades. Peavy will start things off for the Americans on Monday at 9:09am local time, with Collier closing out the day at 5:20pm. Tuesday will host three U.S. combinations: Treabess at 9:24am local time, Hart at 2:26pm local time, and Trunnell and 5:25pm local time.