Canadian Para-Dressage riders will compete for top team and individual honours at the Del-Mar, California, CPEDI3* from March 10–13, 2011.
The team will be comprised of Lauren Barwick, Ashley Gowanlock, Eleonore Elstone and Stephanie Ross. The riders will also be competing as individuals in the Team, Individual Championship and Freestyle tests. The scores from the Team test will be combined with the scores from the Individual Championship test to determine each country’s overall team placing.
Canada’s individual gold and silver medalist from the 2008 Paralympic Games, Barwick of Aldergrove, BC, will ride her new 12-year-old Oldenburg mare, Ferdonia 2, and Equine Canada’s nine-year-old Oldenburg mare, Off to Paris, in competition for the first time in Grade 2.
Gowanlock, of Surrey, BC, will be riding her 2010 World Equestrian Games (WEG) mount Donnymaskell, Alexander (Sandy) Mitchell’s 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding. The pair, who was one of Canada’s top three para-dressage riders at WEG, will be competing in Grade 1b.
Langley, BC, native Elstone was also one of Canada’s top three riders at WEG. She will ride Why Not G, an eight-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Elstone and Kelleigh Kulscar, and Donatello, Elizabeth Trenchard’s nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding, in Grade 4.
Rounding out the team is Ross of Langley, BC, who will be representing Canada for the first time in international competition in Grade 3. Ross will riding Wiesenblute, her 16-year-old Hanoverian mare.
Jody Schloss of Toronto, ON will be competing at the Del Mar CPDEI 3* as an individual in Grade 1a. Schloss will be also riding her new horse Inspector Rebus, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, in competition for the first time.
“With three experienced competitors from the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky last fall, the Canadian Para-Dressage Team is anticipating strong finishes in Del Mar heading into this pre-Paralympic year,” said chef d’équipe Jane James.
The riders will be competing for qualifying scores for the Para-Equestrian Canada “European Tour” this summer. The Tour will include the Harptury CPEDI3* held July 12–17, 2011 and the Bishop Burton CPEDI2* held July 22–24, 2011, and will host training camps before each event. The objective of the Para-Equestrian Canada 2011 European Tour is to prepare athletes and horses for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
Complete details for the CPEDI3* Del Mar may be found at http://www.dressageevents.com/.
Canada’s Para-equestrian athletes have had tremendous international success over the past number of years, helping to propel the discipline into the spotlight. The Canadian Para-equestrian athletes are well positioned leading up to the 2012 Paralympic Games, where they will be striving for performance excellence.
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