U.S. Vaulting Team Ready to Compete at WEG 2010

Following this morning's horse inspection, the U.S. Vaulting team, including a number of past World Equestrian Games Medalists, are ready to compete. The Compulsory round begins on Wednesday morning.

October 5, 2010 — The Horse Inspection for the Vaulting World Championships at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games took place this morning. In total, 55 horses were presented as both teams and individual vaulters may compete on the same horse. In the Individual Men’s and Women’s Competition there will be 56 vaulters and 37 horses that will represent 19 countries; 12 countries will compete as teams.

Of the 55 horses presented, five were held and three passed upon re-inspection. Unfortunately, Just a Kiss*HN, presented by the French team was spun, as was Sunny Boy who was to be the horse for Petr Eim of the Czech Republic and Kenny Geisler of the U.S. These vaulters will have the opportunity to find another horse for use in the competition.

The U.S. will be represented in the Individual Women’s Competition by:
Mary McCormick
Megan Benjamin
Alicen Divita

In the Individual Men’s Competition the U.S. will be represented by:
Todd Griffiths
Kenny Geisler
Kristian Roberts

For the Team Competition, the U.S. will be represented by Free Artists Creative Equestrians (F.A.C.E. Team):
Blake Dahlgren
Mary Garrett
Emily Hogye
Mari Inouye
Devon Maitozo
Rosalind Ross
Annalise VanVranken

Included in the U.S. contingent are past World Equestrian Games medalists Benjamin (Individual Gold and Team Silver in 2006), Maitozo (Individual Gold in 1998, Individual Bronze in 2002 and Team Silver in 2006), and Dahlgren, Ross, and Van Vranken who were also part of the Team Silver medal-winning effort in 2006. The team is lead by Chef d’Equipe Craig Coburn.

“I was really thrilled about how the horses went this morning and am excited for the competition to begin. Whenever you go to a different location you have to work slowly with the horses and acclimate them to the new environment. We’ve made a conscious effort to limit how much vaulting verse riding we do” said Coburn.

Competition begins on Wednesday with Compulsory round one for both teams and individuals and will wrap up on Sunday with the fan favorite Team Freestyle Final.

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