Welcome!
• Home • FAQs
• Site Map
Weather
• Contacts
Free Service Appreciation
Choose Pondside Web Productions for your hosting and web design needs!

Canadians to Compete at Hartpury CPDI*** Festival of Dressage

June 9, 2006

Ottawa, Ontario --- Para-Equestrian Canada is pleased to announce that three individual riders will be competing at the Hartpury CPDI***, July 5-7, 2006 in Gloustershire, England.

All those who submitted declaration forms had met the FEI standard of capability, which is 60%. As none of the declared riders intending to go is a Grade 1a, 1b or 2, this means that Canada would not be allowed to field a team since according to FEI rules at least one member must be from one of those grades. The riders committed and declared are: Karen Brain of Saanichton BC, Greg Honour of Maple Ridge BC and Philip Wright of Salmon Arm BC.

The High Performance committee decided at a meeting May 31 to send the three who had declared as individuals. They will have team support through the presence of the Team Coach and the Chef d’equipe. This trip will provide much needed international experience for these riders, as this is the test competition for the 2007 World Championships to be held at Hartpury College. The Team Coach, Lorraine Stubbs and the Chef d’equipe, Elizabeth Robinson, will expect the riders to use this trip as a team-building experience in preparation for the Pacific Rim International CPDI*** to be held September 1-3, 2006 at Milner Downs in Langley, BC.

The Pacific Rim International CPDI*** is the North American continental qualifier for the Beijing Paralympics, with organizers expecting at least five nations to compete. At this time there is no further qualifier expected in North America before the Beijing Paralympics.

About the Para-Equestrian Discipline

In Para-Equestrian, each rider is classified according to his or her functional ability. They are assessed by trained physiotherapists and doctors who evaluate either muscle strength, coordination, or a combination thereof throughout the athlete’s body. The rider is then given a functional profile that indicates the grade in which they would compete. There are four Grades of competitions, with Grade I representing the more severely impaired riders, and Grade IV representing the least severely impaired riders. The competition within each Grade is judged on the functional skill of the rider, and not the level of disability.

About Para-Equestrian Canada

Para-Equestrian Canada is the discipline committee of Equine Canada which is responsible for developing and implementing programs on behalf of the Para-Equestrian community, and administrating the high performance program for dressage riders with a disability.

To June 2006 News Articles Index | To Canada Equine ...On-Line Home