Horses - USA EQUESTRIAN ANNOUNCES AMERICAN EQUESTRIAN GAMES INITIATIVE - September 2001 - equiworld.net

U.S. RIDERS PLACE SECOND IN SPRUCE MEADOWS NATIONS CUP

USA Equestrian (formerly AHSA) announced today that the U.S. show jumping team placed second from seven nations in the Bank of Montreal Nations' Cup at the Spruce Meadows Masters, CSIO Calgary, Canada on September 8, 2001.

The team of Margie Engle, from West Palm Beach, FL riding the 12-year-old Westphalian gelding, Hidden Creek's Perin (Pageno x Garbe) owned by Mr. Michael Polaski; Lauren Hough, of Ocala, FL aboard the 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding, Windy City (Gaspari x Vorr) owned by Peppercorn Ltd.; Beezie Madden from Casenovia, NY with the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion, Judgement (Consul x Faletta) owned by Iron Spring Farm and Todd Minikus of Loxahatchee, FL riding his own 10-year-old Belgian stallion, Oh Star, fought a tight battle with the eventual winners, Ireland, and just one fence separated them after two rounds.

Sydney Olympic veteran, Hough, showed her tenacity by bouncing back after an unfortunate fall with Windy City in the first round [thus becoming the discard score as only the best three scores are counted] to complete the second round on four faults. Clear rounds were hard to come by and Beezie Madden rode one of only four throughout the competition on Judgement during the first round over Olympic course designer, Leopaldo Palacios' tough course, followed by just one rail down in the second round.

Another Sydney Olympic partnership, Engle and Hidden Creek's Perin, produced the valuable anchor rounds for the team with four and eight faults respectively. Minikus and Oh Star were short of ring practice, having not competed in Calgary prior to this class, and turned in two eight-fault rounds but it was enough to protect the team's second place ahead of Germany who had led after the first round partly due to a clear round by the European champion, Ludger Beerbaum, and just 3 faults from his American sister-in-law, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum.

RESULTS
1. Ireland - 24 faults
2. USA - 28
3. Germany - 31
4. Switzerland - 35
5. The Netherlands - 44
6. Canada - 46
7. France - did not compete in second round.

USA Equestrian Inc., as the National Equestrian Federation of the U.S., is the regulatory body for the Olympic and World Championship sports of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, reining, show jumping, and vaulting, as well as 19 other breeds and disciplines of equestrian competition. As the country's largest multi-breed organization, the Federation has over 77,000 members and recognizes more than 2,800 competitions nationwide each year. It governs all aspects of competition, including educating and licensing all judges, stewards, and technical delegates who officiate at these shows.