WELLS, ME, September 26, 2009
/24-7PressRelease/ -- FEI Para Dressage Equestrian Mary Jordan successfully competed at the 2009 FEI European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championship held in Kristiansand, Norway Aug. 19-23 competing with 78 riders from 22 countries. Her scores there qualify her to ride in the United States selection trials for the 2010 FEI Alltech World Equestrian Games to be held in Kentucky next year.
Para-Equestrian dressage is an international and Olympic equestrian discipline for riders with disabilities. Jordan became the third person in her family diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2002 and is classified at the Grade IV level -the highest level for Para riders. Jordan competed on "Bohmer's As," a Hanoverian stallion (Brentano II- Weltmeyer) loaned to her by Martina Bohmer of Bohmerhof in Lingen, Germany. The pair was coached overseas by Paulien Alberts, an FEI dressage trainer, competitor and musical freestyle specialist from Emmen, Holland. In the United States Jordan trains with FEI Competitor Susan Jaccoma.
"This truly was a dream come true to compete internationally, and I had help getting there from every corner of the world! With a German horse, a Dutch and US coach, being an American rider, and having supporters from Kansas City to Great Britain we dubbed ourselves "Team International." I could not have achieved this without everyone's help, it truly was a team effort!" Jordan said. "Being diagnosed with MS seven years ago I never imagined at the time I would one day be riding in competition internationally. We truly live in a new age of hope with MS, and I am riding for a reason to show what a person with MS can do."
In Para-Equestrian Dressage, riders compete by doing three non-jumping riding tests from memory: a team test, an individual championship test, and a musical freestyle. At Grade IV, the highest level for Para riders, the technical requirements are the equivalent to the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) third level, although the musical freestyle may have more technical requirements incorporated. According to Hope Hand, Executive Director of the U.S. Para Equestrian Association (USPEA), Jordan earned the highest scores of any American to compete at the Grade IV 4**** level internationally.
"Changing disciplines from eventing to competing at the international level in dressage in a few short months is not an easy task. I found out when Mary makes up her mind that she is going to do something there is no stopping her. Off to Holland she went to learn all she could to ready herself for the challenge of a lifetime. The competition was tough against some of the best Para dressage riders in the world. I am very proud of Mary's accomplishments and know with her determination that she would make a great addition to our Team," Hand said.
Jordan, who has ridden in dressage and eventing (a three-phase horse triathlon) at the regional and national levels competitively since childhood, was introduced to Para Dressage this year. She won her first two tests at the Mystic Valley Hunt Club dressage show in Connecticut, which qualified her to compete at the National U.S. Para-Equestrian Dressage Championship and CPEDI 3 * (international level) competition in Chicago aboard her horse Paxton Abbey. From there she was encouraged to compete in Norway, and Alberts helped her locate a European horse to compete upon to help defray the expenses of an international trip. To prepare for the European Championship, Jordan spent the summer training in Holland and Germany.
For more information on the Norway show please visit: http://www.paraem2009.no/publisher/publisher.asp?id=1
About Para-Equestrian Dressage: Dressage competitions for riders with disabilities started in Scandinavia and in Great Britain in the 1970s. In 1987 the first dressage World Championship was held in Sweden, and became part in the Paralympic Games in 1996. In 1991, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) appointed IPEC (the International Paralympic Equestrian Committee) to run competitions and develop equestrian sport all over the world. This has been done very successfully, and by 2005 38 nations from five continents are competing and the number is growing. IPEC has now joined the FEI (Federation Equestrian International) as Para Equestrian, their 8th discipline, moving governance from a general sports organization (IPC) to one specializing in equestrian sport (FEI).
For more information please visit: http://www.para-equestrian.info/, or http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsDisciplines/discipline/allpara.aspx.
For more information on the United States Para Equestrian Association please contact Hope Hand at (610) 368-1416 or at wheeler966@aol.com.
About Mary Jordan: Mary is a lifelong equestrian, competing in dressage, eventing (a three-phase horse triathlon involving dressage, cross-country jumping and stadium jumping), breed shows and now Para-Equestrian dressage. Mary and her own horse Paxton Abbey secured three USEA national year-end titles in 2007: Training Master Rider of the Year, Master Amateur Rider of the Year and Training Horse of the Year, and have been back-to-back reserve champions at the American Eventing Championships out of fields as large as 72 competitors. In 2009 she placed 4th at the American Eventing Championships on her young horse P. Sparrow Socks, making her one of the first riders to successfully compete in two disciplines in both national and international competitions. Jordan has won numerous dressage and eventing championships and reserve championships regionally and nationally on horses she has raised herself and has earned her scores for a USDF bronze medal. A passionate advocate for MS awareness, Mary shares her story of managing her MS to compete in the sport she loves and has gained media interest throughout the United States and abroad. Today, Mary and her husband live with their son in Wells, ME. She is a public relations specialist, as well as a freelance journalist and editor and motivational speaker.
For Media Inquiries:
Drake's Island Media
207-985-3999
207-337-0050 mobile
mj@maine.rr.com
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