Herning, Denmark - The Adequan® U.S. Para Dressage Team presented their four combinations for the First Horse Inspection today and prepared for their opening of competition tomorrow with formal ring familiarization in the BB Horse Arena late this afternoon. The Orifarm Health Care FEI World Para Dressage Championships will begin tomorrow and conclude on Sunday, August 14. The team will be led by Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline and team leader Laureen Johnson.
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Tomorrow will see competition from Grades IV, II, and I, with three U.S. combinations taking to the arena for the first time in front of the ground jury. Grade IV competition will begin in the morning at 8:30 a.m. GMT+/2:30 a.m. ET, with the team’s first combination of Kate Shoemaker (Wellington, Fla.) and Quiana set to head down the centerline at 10:24 a.m. GMT+2/4:24 a.m. ET. Shoemaker was a member of the bronze medal team last year in Tokyo and will be contesting her first championship with Quiana, her own 2014 Rhinelander mare, who she started competing earlier this season.
In Grade II competition, Beatrice de Lavalette (Loxahatchee, Fla.) and Sixth Sense will also make their championship debut together at 12:24 p.m. GMT+2/6:24 a.m. ET. De Lavalette achieved a major milestone in her career after representing the United States at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo last summer, her first ever championship for the program. In 2022, she brings forward Sixth Sense, also a new mount acquired after the Paralympic Games, who is a 2010 Oldenburg gelding owned by Elizabeth & Nicolas de Lavalette.
Reigning Paralympic champion in Grade I, Roxanne Trunnell (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.), will compete for the team aboard Fortunato H20, a 2016 Oldenburg stallion owned by Lehua Custer. This is the stallion’s first championship appearance as Trunnell will look to mirror her results from Tokyo last summer. Trunnell and Fortunato H20 are scheduled to ride at 6:18 p.m. GMT+2/12:18 p.m. ET.
Rebecca Hart (Wellington, Fla.), the most veteran athlete for the team, making her fourth world championship appearance, will be the only team athlete to compete on Thursday in Grade III aboard El Corona Texel, a 2009 KWPN gelding owned by Rowan O’Riley, and will begin their third championship campaign together at 3:14 p.m. GMT+2/9:14 a.m. ET.
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The USEF International High Performance Programs and the USEF High Performance Pathway Programs are generously supported by the USET Foundation, the philanthropic partner to USEF. High Performance Program support is also provided by the USOPC and USEF sponsors and members.