US Field Narrows to 32 for 2010 WEG- Finalists Head to the Battle in the Saddle and USEF Official Team Selection Trials

Congratulations to all reining athletes from the US who have successfully qualified for the US Reining Team Official Selection Trial. Competing at FEI events all around the US, the high performance reining competitors listed below have successfully met the qualification criteria to be able to advance to the Official Selection Trial-the place and time where the US Reining Team will be selected for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The Selection Trial will be held in conjunction with the highly-anticipated Battle in the Saddle, July 5-10 at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, Oklahoma City.

Qualified US riders include (in no particular order): Pete Kyle, Steve Siadik, Shawn Flarida, Craig Schmersal, Shawn Church, Jared LeClair, Jarvis Anderson, Jordan Larson, Tim McQuay, Casey Hinton, Casey Deary, Lakshami Mahajan, Rick Weaver, Mike McEntire, Craig Johnson, Dell Hendricks, Josh Armstrong, Steve Schwartzenberger, Brian Bell, Andrea Fappani, Randy Paul, Tom McCutcheon, Mandy McCutcheon, Ken Eppers, Scott McCutcheon, Todd Sommers, Marcy Ver Meer, Matt Mills, Matthew Palmer, Todd Martin, Gabe Davide, and Brent Naylor.

The US team will work together to defend their gold medal at the 2006 World Equestrian Games against increasing pressure from highly sophisticated teams in Europe, South America, Australia, Canada and Mexico, plus top 30 riders in the team competitions at the WEG advance to the Individual Medals- a moment that can define an athletic career.

In addition to Official Selection Trial, Battle in the Saddle, will also offer the concurrent USEF Open Reining Championship and CRI4*. The USEF Open Reining Championship is open to any rider on the USEF Reining Long list and the CRI4* (also concurrent) is available for any FEI high performance competitor from around the globe.

For more information on the Battle in the Saddle, click on: http://www.battleinthesaddle.com/or contact Brad Ettleman with HorsePower at Brad@HPowerInc.com. For more information on USEF reining programs, please contact Vonita Bowers, USEF Reining High Performance Director at vbowers@usef.org.