Santo Domingo, DR- August 5, 2003— All four horses of the United States Equestrian Team (USET) Dressage squad passed the veterinary inspection on Tuesday in preparation for the first day of equestrian competition of the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Originally scheduled as a one-day event, the Prix St. Georges team competition was split and will now take place over two days, August 6 and 7, in order to accommodate the increased number of entries.

The first rider to compete for the United States will be Kristina Harrison-Naness of Burbank, CA, going fifth in the starting lineup on her Kantor. The 1992 Olympic Team Bronze Medalist Carol Lavell of Loxahatchee, FL, who will be riding her Much Ado, will ride later on Wednesday afternoon.

The USET’s third entry, Pierre St. Jacques of Boscawen, NH, will ride Thursday morning on Lucky Tiger, owned by him and Lisa Belcastro. Jan Ebeling of Moorpark, CA, riding anchor for the USET, will ride on Thursday afternoon on Feleciano, owned by New Horizons Dressage, LLC.

The results from the Prix St. Georges will determine the team medal that will be awarded at the conclusion of competition on Thursday. The individual scores from the team competition will carry forward and be combined with scores from the Intermediaire I and Intermediaire Freestyle which will take place on August 8 and August 10 respectively.

The USET Dressage squad hopes to repeat its performance of the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, where it won both the Team and Individual Gold Medals. The U.S. will need to best eight other nations for the honor, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela.

For more information and results of the equestrian events at the Pan American Games, please visit www.usocpressbox.org and www.uset.org.