Left to Right – Rebecca Hart, Chef d’Equipe Kai Handt, Sydney Collier, Margaret McIntosh, Annie Peavy, and Roxanne Trunnell. Photo courtesy Tina Wentz.

Weirsdale, FL – August 31, 2016 – In preparation for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, the United States Paralympic Equestrian squad has headed to the Grand Oaks Resort and Museum located in Weirsdale, FL for a mock competition. The Team includes Chef d’Equipe Kai Handt; Sydney Collier (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Grade Ib, and Wesley Dunham’s Western Rose, a 2003 Oldenburg mare; Rebecca Hart (Wellington, Fla.), Grade II, and her own Schroeters Romani, a 2002 Danish Warmblood mare; Margaret McIntosh (Reading, Pa.), Grade Ia, and her own Rio Rio, a 2006 Rheinland Pfalz-Saar mare; Angela Peavy (Avon, Conn. and Wellington, Fla.), Grade III, and Heather Blitz and Rebecca Reno’s Lancelot Warrior, a 2002 Hanoverian gelding; and competing as an individual, Grade Ia rider Roxanne Trunnell (Rowlett, Texas) and Julia Handt’s 2005 Westphalian gelding Royal Dancer. These five outstanding athletes will showcase their talented horses on September 1, with their Test of Choice, beginning at 10 AM in front of 5* Judge Natalie Lamping.

Following the mock competition, riders and their team of veterinarians, grooms, parents, volunteers, and supporters will prepare to fly to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Paralympics. Equestrian will make their way to the Deodoro Olympic Equestrian Center where they will compete September 11-16.

For more information about the U.S. Paralympic Equestrian Team, please visit United States Equestrian Federation at www.USEF.org, the United States Equestrian Team Foundation at www.USET.org, or Team USA at www.teamusa.org/US-Paralympics/Sports/Equestrian.

For more information about the 2016 Paralympic Equestrian competition, please visit www.rio2016.com/en/paralympics/equestrian.

By: Lindsay Y. McCall

For more information about the USPEA, please visit www.USPEA.org or contact USPEA President Hope Hand by e-mail: hope@uspea.org or by phone: (610)356-6481.