USET

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United States of America
The USA has won 1 team silver and 1 individual bronze
and 4 team bronze Olympic Dressage Medals

USET Olympic Selection Trials Moved
from Gladstone to Florida

Gladstone, NJ--March 23, 2000--The United States Equestrian Team (USET) has changed the location of its Dressage Olympic Selection Trials, scheduled for the weekends of May 13-14 and May 20-21.

The trials had been scheduled to take place at the USET Olympic Training Center in Gladstone, NJ.
However, they will now be held at Walter and Mary Anne McPhail's White Fences Showgrounds in Loxahatchee, FL.

Recent evidence that West Nile Virus (WNV) has survived the winter in the Northeast and will likely persist this year has raised concerns about possible restrictions on travel to Europe for horses that have been in New Jersey. New Jersey is generally regarded as a state with strong mosquito
control and there is no actual evidence that horses in New Jersey are at risk. Still, USET officials feel that the possibility that Europe may not accept horses coming out of the state of New Jersey, as was the case last fall, would place undue hardship on the Team's dressage horses which are
scheduled to go to Europe immediately after the Selection Trials.

The top five finishers in the selection trials will go to Europe to compete in two selection trials between June 21 and July 23. Competitors' scores in those three trials will be used to determine which four horse-and-rider combinations will be named to the USET's Olympic dressage squad and which one will be the alternate.
By holding the trials in Florida, where there would be no travel restrictions on the horses following the selection trials, the USET is able to adhere to its season-long plan for bringing horses to the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia in the best form for winning medals.

"It is incumbent upon the USET to consider our horses in every decision we make," said USET Executive Director Robert C. Standish. "Last year, the European Union effectively shut down JFK airport for horses coming from New Jersey, New York and Connecticut and without any knowledge as to what the E.U. may do this year, we feel it best to err on the side of caution and move our selection trials rather than risk our Olympic dressage horses' chances of competing in Europe."

Not affected by the move of the selection trials is the Paralympic Dressage trials to select the United States Disabled Equestrian Team for the Paralympic Games in Sydney. Since disabled riders compete on borrowed horses
both at the Trials and at the Paralympic Games, transportation of horses is not a factor. Therefore, the USET and the United States Cerebral Palsy Athletic Association (USCPAA) will host those trials at the USET Olympic
Training Center in Gladstone, NJ on the weekend of May 20-21 as originally scheduled.

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