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Leslie Howard
Named Athlete of the Month for December
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Gladstone, New Jersey
–December 31, 2001– United States Equestrian Team (USET) Olympic
veteran Leslie Burr Howard of Westport, CT was named USET Athlete of the
Month for December after she won the Grand Prix and World Cup class at
CSI-W Amsterdam, December 13-16, and the Grand Prix at CSI-A Maastricht
on December 2.
Howard riding Higher
Ground Farm’s Priobert de Kalvarie had double clear rounds in both
classes at Amsterdam to beat an impressive field of international riders
that included 2000 Olympic individual Gold Medalist Jereon Dubbeldam of
The Netherlands and Germany’s two-time team Gold Medalist, Ludger
Beerbaum. In the World Cup class, she finished the jump-off in 38.35 seconds,
almost five seconds faster than the second place finisher, Dutch Olympian
Jan Tops who finished in 43.18 seconds. The following day in the Grand
Prix, Howard finished in 35.89 seconds beating Dubbeldam who finished
in 37.35 seconds.
Two weeks earlier,
Howard started her impressive December when she rode Priobert de Kalvarie
to the Grand Prix win at Maastricht, Holland.
A member of the USET
squads that won the team Gold Medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles
and the team Silver Medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, "Leapin'
Leslie" Howard entered her first show at age 6. As a junior rider,
she won the 1972 ASPCA Maclay Finals, the United States' top competition
for riders up to age 18.
Howard was honored
by the USET in January of 1997 with the Whitney Stone Cup for long and
meritorious service. She was one of 12 riders to contribute to the USET’s
win in the 1997 inaugural Samsung Nations’ Cup Series, which culminated
at Spruce Meadows in Canada, where she won the world’s richest Grand
Prix event – the $523,465 Du Maurier Ltd. International Grand Prix.
In 1999, Howard was
a member of the USET Silver Medal show jumping squad for the Pan American
Games in Winnipeg, Canada. She was the Show Jumping World Cup champion
in 1986.
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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