The United States Equestrian Federation [USEF] is scheduled to host a para-dressage test competition next month which will be attended by riders with disabilities from all over.

The ParaEquestrian Dressage Training Session will take place at the Shea Therapeutic Riding Center in San Juan Capistrano, California on September 13, 2009 (Sunday). The riders will get to learn more about taking part in National or International dressage test competitions and at the same time compete with each other for fun.

Each of the participating riders will have about 45 minutes of training sessions. They will undergo “Ride Your Dressage Test Critiques” as well.

Just like in paralympic competitions, ParaEquestrian gives riders with various disabilities a great chance to show their talent despite having physical obstacles. To emphasize how important this undertaking is, a ParaEquestrian Dressage test competition will be included at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. This prestigious competition will take place in September 2010 at Lexington, Kentucky.

Sharon Schneidman, a USDF Gold Medalist, will spearhead the training sessions. She had been a certified instructor who had produced some of the world’s best equestrian players. She also owns a dressage training facility in Colorado.

Three out of four dressage riders have been revealed to represent the British team at the upcoming Alltech FEI European Dressage and Jumping Championships which takes place at the Windsor Castle. The competition will run from August 25 to 30, 2009.

The selected British dressage team riders are: Laura Bechtolsheimer, Carl Hester and Emma Hindle.

Bechtolsheimer will be riding Dr. Wilfried Bechtolsheimer’s Mistral Hojris, Hester to ride Donald McTaggart’s Liebling II and Hindle to ride her won horse named Lancet 2.

The three dressage riders were ecstatic to be part of a prestigious competition.

Bechtolsheimer said that this year’s competition is more special because it is going to be staged in the country which means that they get a lot of crowd support. Hester, on the other hand, expressed his excitement for the competition saying that he’s been training hard for the past few weeks.

Hindle agreed with her teammates saying that competing in front of the home crowd is going to be “amazing.” The young rider recently competed in Aachen and went home with the bronze medal.

The fourth and last member of the British dressage team will be announced by the end of this month.

A horse rider from New Hampshire in the United States clinched a prestigious dressage event held recently.

Keene resident Jocelyn Wiese and her horse Lamborghini clinched the Brentina Cup title which was held at the US Equestrian Foundation’s Dressage Festival Champions in Gladstone, New Jersey. The competition was open for riders ages 20 to 28. Wiese is currently 21 and her horse is 13 years of age.

The young rider is a junior at the University of Maryland. She stated in an interview that she’s going to the right direction of becoming a major force in the dressage horse racing events.
Dressage is a challenging equestrian sport wherein the rider and the horse execute a series of movements. This sport is said to be the oldest equestrian event.

The 21-year old revealed that she started riding horses at the age of three in their humble family farm. She then focused her attention on dressage contests. She considered her recent triumph as the biggest one yet and she’s looking forward to compete in national and international competitions in the future.

Wiese and Lamborghini have been working and competing together for the past five years.

The 31st Rolex World Cup officially began this week with players from all over the world vying for honors.  In jumping and dressage categories, Anky van Grunsven of Netherlands and Meredith Michaels-Beerbum of Germany are ready to defend their respective titles.

The German will be riding Shutterfly, the same horse that helped her win the final in 2005 and last year in Sweden. Van Grunsven, on the other hand, will be riding a substitute horse, IPS Painted Black. The Dutch player has already won three Olympic gold medals and has nine world cup titles under her belt.

An organizing committee of the games revealed that there were no unfortunate events that took place while the jumping and dressage horses were transported from Belgium last weekend. The flight lasted ten hours and the horses underwent mandatory exams in order to be pronounced fit to compete.

Posing as a major threat for the duo’s title defense is American McLain Ward. His mare Sapphire has been doing well in other international events thus making him a great contender for the title. He’s also a gold medalist Olympian.

The dressage event winner will be known on Saturday.

Defending Australian International Three-Day Event winner Heath Ryan was surprisingly eliminated in the dressage phase of this week’s competition. According to reports, his horse Mystery Whisper appeared to be spooked which could have contributed to the loss.

Ryan’s bid for another title was interrupted after Mystery Whisper went out of the dressage arena in Rymill Park in Adelaide.

The New South Wales-based champion dominated this event in 2006 due to the brilliant performance of his horse Flame. The competition was not held last year due to the outbreak of equine influenza in Australia.

The shocking loss paved way for 2005 champion Megan Jones to win the dressage test with the penalty count of 49.1.

Sharing the second place honors were Christopher Burton and Natalia Davis while Marcia Williamson settled for fourth place.

Meanwhile, in the CCI 2-star dressage competition, Lauren Balcomb finished with a penalty count of 45.50 to take the win followed by George Sheridan. In the CIC 2-star dressage event, Shane Rose clinched the win after getting a penalty score of 46.60. Rose was a one-time Olympic silver medalist in the discipline.

Several events are still scheduled to take place at Rymill Park.

The American Olympic Dressage Team has lost its fourth place Olympic standing over a positive drug test. One of the American riders Courtney King and her mount Mythilus have been stripped of their win. This happened after Mythilus tested positive for a banned drug – Felbinac. Felbinac is commonly used as a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory drug among horses.

The International Equestrian Federation has said that the disqualification was automatic. King’s teammates have pleaded her case, but the verdict remains the same. King has also lost her personal 13th place win due to the positive drug result.

The International Equestrian Federation has released a statement saying, “The behavior of anyone at the top of the sport and particularly at the Olympic Games must be faultless since the eyes of the world focus on performances at such events,”

It should be noted that Felbinac is a veterinary medication and not a doping drug. It has been banned because the International Equestrian Federation has maintained that horses should only compete when in good health. King nor her teammates and managers have yet to explain how the drug got into her horse’s system.

The Federation has also stated that they believe that King “nor anyone on her behalf or related to the USEF had knowingly administered the medication to the horse.”