Lexington, KY – In a conference call held today in cooperation with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), five members of the U.S. 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) team answered a wide range of general media questions. On the phone from Germany were dressage team members Guenter Seidel from Cardiff, CA, and Debbie McDonald from Hailey, ID; vaulting team members Elizabeth Ioannou from Saratoga, CA, and Blake Dahlgren from Sun Valley, CA; and on the phone from Florida was show jumper Laura Kraut from Wellington, FL.

Ioannou, 10, is the youngest member ever to compete as part of the United States Equestrian Team. She first observed vaulting when her dad took her to watch a competition at the age of seven. She frequently finds herself 12 feet above ground, high above the head of her partner, Blake Dahlgren. Ioannou is the team’s flyer, the vaulter who is lifted above the other team members. When asked what it is like to perform with Dahlgren, she said “It’s good… [and with Blake] I’m not scared.”

Dahlgren, 22, ranked the #2 vaulter in nation by the United States Equestrian Federation® (USEF), is a standing base to support Ioannou as the flyer. Dahlgren described for the media the lesser-known discipline of vaulting. “While I am standing, someone is there to help me in another position on the horse so I am better able to do my job of flying someone high into the air. There is a constant interchanging of people in one routine.” The vaulting team includes six members, but only three are ever on the horse at one time.

The vaulting team is not able to bring its horse to Aachen for the games so they’ve had to find another horse to lease while there. Dahlgren said, “We found our horse, Dino, right outside of Munich, and since then we’ve been practicing on him three days a week. He’s just everything we like about a vaulting horse.” Of the 18.3-hand horse, Dahlgren continued, “He’s big, he’s strong, he’s mellow, he doesn’t freak out in competitions. We can trust him.”

When asked about synergy between he and Ioannou, Dahlgren explained that the team is constantly traveling the six hours back and forth between San Francisco and Los Angeles just to practice together. “We’ve become friends,” he said. “She trusts me a whole bunch, and I trust her to do her job. It creates something beautiful on a horse”

Kraut, 40, of Wellington, FL, took the next question. Kraut had a terrific 2005 and 2006 as a key member of the U.S. Samsung Super League team, decisively winning the overall championship last summer. The U.S. is currently stalking Germany in second place. Kraut was a member of the 2000 Sydney Olympic team and commented on what it is like to have to compete against the powerhouse Germans on their turf. “It is difficult going against the Germans in Aachen,” Kraut said. “At the moment, the Germans are a very powerful team. Last year, we beat them in Aachen for the Nations Cup with the same team members basically. I think if we go into it just focused on what we do and seem confident and not let outside influences get to us, we have a shot to beat them. We’re all pretty confident, and anything can happen on a given day in show jumping.”

Kraut’s dependable mare, Miss Independent, has been in Europe since April where she has competed in three of the Samsung Super League tours—Rome, Lucerne and Rotterdam—under the guidance of Chef d’Equipe George Morris. “Since naming the team, I’ve mainly just kept her fit,” said Kraut. “I took her to one competition in Italy in July. Since then, she’s been working and staying fit. On Monday, we go to Holland for team training for a week before going to Aachen.”

If Kraut or any of her U.S. teammates end up in the top four, they will be required to switch horses with the other three, which is not a common practice in show jumping competition. “Because we don’t do it so often,