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United States Equestrian Team Ready for Gold at Pan American Games

Gladstone, NJ—August 4, 2003— The United States Equestrian Team (USET) is ready for what it expects to be Gold Medal performances at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, August 7 – 16 with powerful squads competing in both Dressage and Show Jumping. The Dressage competition will be held on August 7, 8, and 10 and Show Jumping competition will be held on August 13, 14, and 16.

The Dressage squad of four riders plus one alternate that emerged from the Cosequin USET Selection Trials at the Bayer/USET Festival of Champions Presented by State Line Tack at the U.S Olympic Training Center in Gladstone, NJ, includes: Kristina Harrison-Naness of Burbank, CA; 1992 Olympic Team Bronze Medalist Carol Lavell of Loxahatchee, FL; Jan Ebeling of Moorpark, CA; and Pierre St. Jacques of Boscawen, NH. Susan Dutta of Wellington, FL is team alternate.

In Show Jumping, the squad was determined differently this year with the USET and USA Equestrian approving two subjective choices. Margie Goldstein Engle of Wellington, FL; Chris Kappler of Pittstown, NJ; Lauren Hough, also of Wellington; Laura Kraut of Oconomowoc, WI; plus Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, NY, as alternate; make up the team

The United States comes into the Pan Am Games as the defending champs in Dressage and this year’s team includes some new names with impressive credentials.

Kristina Harrison-Naness had the biggest win of her career at the 2003 Bayer/USET Festival of Champions Presented by State Line Tack. With a score of 69.950% Harrison-Naness and Kantor topped the field to win the Championship, which also served as the Cosequin/USET Selection Trials for the Pan American Games. She and her husband, Howard, have a six-year-old daughter, Rison.

After some time out of the spotlight, 1992 Olympic Team Bronze Medalist, Carol Lavell has come back into the limelight with a new horse, Much Ado. Lavell piloted Much Ado to a second place finish in the 2003 USET Intermediaire I Championship. Earlier in her illustrious career, Lavell and her horse Gifted were the most recognized United States dressage pair both at home and abroad. Along with her Olympic medal in 1992, Lavell is also a Pan American Games Silver Medalist. In 1992, she was also named the U.S Olympic Committee Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year.

Jan Ebeling has been a major U.S. force since the USET Intermediaire I Championship in 1998, when he began riding as a United States citizen. Ebeling achieved success again in 2003 at the Festival where he posted third aboard Feleciano, which earned him the right to represent the United States at the 2003 Pan American Games. Today, Ebeling and his wife, Amy, own and operate their own training and sales facility, The Acres, in Moorpark, CA.

Montreal, Canada native, Pierre St Jacques finished fifth aboard Lucky Tiger in the USET Intermediaire I Championship and Pan American Games Selection trial. Originally placing 14th on the qualifying list, St. Jacques was pulled up from the reserve list when one of the top 12 horse-and-rider combinations could not compete. After becoming a citizen of the United States in 1999, St. Jacques seized the opportunity to ride at the Championships and earned the right to ride as a member of the United States Equestrian Team for the first time.

Qualifying for the Pan American Games team is an even more impressive feat since this year marks Lucky Tiger’s first year competing at the Prix St. Georges level. St. Jacques will have the opportunity to ride on a team with his first dressage instructor and long-time friend, Carol Lavell. Lavell has become St. Jacques’ trainer, “second mom” and has played matchmaker, as she introduced him to his wife, USET dressage rider Pam Goodrich. Today, St. Jacques and Goodrich own and operate their farm, Foster Meadow, in Boscawen, NH. In his time away from horses, St. Jacques also enjoys skiing.

Susan Dutta had the distinct privilege of qualifying three horses for the USET Championship, two horses for the Grand Prix tour and West Side Lady DC for the small tour.

The Pan Am Dressage events take place August 7-10. Held at the Intermediaire level, results from the Prix St. Georges will determine the team medalists while the Intermediaire I and Intermediaire Musical Freestyle will decide the individual winners.

In Show Jumping, Margie Engle was chosen to compete on Hidden Creek’s Perin, owned by Hidden Creek Farm. Engle rode Hidden Creek's Perin to a 10th place tie in the Individual Show Jumping competition and a 6th place team finish at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. She was the highest placed woman and the highest placed U.S. rider in the individual competition.

Engle has numerous titles to her credit and is probably one of the most well known competitors in the show jumping industry. Some records include: Most career wins (114), Seven-time American Grand Prix Association (AGA) Rider of the Year and 1991 AHSA Equestrian of the Year.

Engle won the Pan American Games selection trials in Lexington, KY, to earn her berth on the show jumping team representing the United States in the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo.

Lauren Hough was also chosen for the Show Jumping squad on Windy City, owned by Peppercorn Ltd. Hough is the daughter of prominent hunter judges Linda and Champ Hough. Champ was on the 1952 Three Day Event Olympic team. Lauren kept the Olympic tradition in the family, riding Clasiko to a 6th place team finish and a tie for 15th place in the individual show jumping competition at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

In 2003, Hough was one of two riders who were subjectively chosen for the show jumping

team representing the United States at the Pan American Games. This marked the first time since 1990 that any places on a U.S. show jumping team competing at a continental or World Championship or Olympic Games went to riders chosen subjectively.

Chris Kappler was the other rider chosen subjectively for the show jumping team and he will compete aboard Royal Kaliber, owned by Kappler and Kathy Kamine.

Kappler's grand prix career began in 1984 when he placed fifth in his first major show jumping event at the age of seventeen and he has been setting the show jumping world on fire ever since. Kappler credits include the title of Midwest Rider of the Year on four occasions (1987, 1988, 1989, 1991). In 1988, Kappler was the recipient of the USET’s Lionel Guerrand-Hermes Trophy, awarded to the young rider exemplifying outstanding sportsmanship and horsemanship. In 2003, Kappler made history when, on consecutive weekends, he won the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational and the AGA Show Jumping Championships. He was the first ever to sweep these two events back to back.

Laura Kraut, the fourth member of the Show Jumping squad was chosen to compete at the Pan American Games on Anthem, owned by The Summit Syndicate. Kraut has experience at two Summer Olympic Games. Kraut was a member of the show jumping team in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and Kraut was the first alternate for the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain.

In 2003, Kraut was the top placed American at the 2003 Show Jumping World Cup Final in Las

Vegas, Nevada. Out of a total of 41 starting horse-and-rider combinations from seventeen countries, Kraut tied for the fifth position overall. She then earned a place on the U.S. team for the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo.

Beezie Patton Madden was chosen as the alternate on Conquest II, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Patton. In 2003, Madden won several show jumping events and was a member of the U.S. team that won the Samsung Nations' Cup in Wellington, Florida. Madden also competed on the USET's sixth place team at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

There is a good deal of pressure on the U.S. Show Jumping team at the Pan Ams. For the second time in two decades, they will be using these games as a qualifier for the Summer Olympic Games, as they still need to qualify for next year’s Games in Athens, Greece. The gold and silver team medalists at the Pan Ams will earn a spot in Athens, while the country with the best score counting all four team member performances will also qualify. The competition will be fierce as six nations will be fighting for a trip to Greece.

Show jumping events will take place from August 12-17 with Mexico’s Javier Fernandez serving as course designer.

For more information and results of the equestrian events at the Pan American Games, please visit www.usocpressbox.org and www.uset.org.

The United States Equestrian Team is a non-profit organization that selects, trains, equips and finances equestrians of the highest possible standard to represent our country in major international competition, including the Olympic Games and the World Championships. To accomplish this, the USET seeks out and nurtures the development of talented athletes - riders, drivers and horses - and provides the support and guidance they need to help them attain their fullest potential. For more information on the USET, please call (908) 234-1251, or visit USET ONLINE at www.uset.org

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