Horses and Riders Head to Chile for 2011 Pan American Endurance Championship

By USEF - ALL DISCIPLINE - Posted October 11, 2011

Lexington, KY - The United States Equestrian Federation has named the following horse/rider combinations for the 2011 Pan American Endurance Championship being held in Santo Domingo, Chile, October 22, 2011.

The following horse/rider combinations will represent the U.S. at the Pan American Championship (listed in ranked order):

Name/Age/Hometown/Horse/Breed/Age/Sex/Owner

John Crandell III/49/West River, MD/Heraldic/Arabian/13/Gelding/John Crandell JR
Meg Sleeper/43/Frenchtown, NJ/Syrocco Cadence/Arabian/8/Mare/Meg Sleeper
Deborah Reich/51/Croton on Hudson, NY/Pandor/Arabian/12/Gelding/Deborah Reich
Melody Blittersdorf/51/Jeffersonville, VT/Synthetic/Arabian/11/Gelding/Melody Blittersdorf
Valerie Kanavy/65 /Fort Valley, VA/Spectacular Gold/Arabian/9/Gelding/Valerie Kanavy
Cheryl Van Deusen/52/New Smyrna, FL/Moro Amado/Arabian/8/Gelding/Miguel Pavlovsky

Running over a 120km course, riders will race for both Team and Individual medals.

Two members of the Silver medal winning U.S. team from the 2009 Pan American Endurance Championship in Uruguay will once again represent the U.S., Kanavy and Van Deusen. Kanavy, who finished sixth individually in 2009 will ride her own Spectacular Gold, a 9-year-old Arabian gelding who has raced to top ten finishes both in the U.S. and abroad. Van Deusen will ride Moro Amado, owned by Argentinian endurance competitor Miguel Pavlovsky.

The U.S. will also be represented by two members of the U.S. team from the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG), Reich and Sleeper. Reich, the only U.S. rider to complete the WEG course, will ride her new partner Pandor. The 12-year-old Arabian gelding has finished in the top 10 in all CEI outings in the last three years. Sleeper will ride her homebred mare, Syrocco Cadence, an eight-year-old Arabian. The pair most recently finished second at the Asheville CEI3* 160km.

Crandell and Heraldic, a 13-year-old Arabian gelding, are veteran partners having been the first pair in history to win the endurance "Triple Crown" crossing the finish line first at the Old Dominion 100, Tevis and the AERC Championship 100 in 2006. In 2010, the pair took two legs of the "Triple Crown" winning at the Old Dominion 100 and at Tevis. This will be Crandell's second time representing the U.S., having ridden on the U.S. team at the 2008 FEI World Endurance Championship in Malaysia.

Rounding out the U.S. team is Blittersdorf and Synthetic. Partners since 2003, Blittersdorf and Synthetic began competing in CEI events in 2008 and have consistently finished in the top 10.