Diana and Cealy from Rio

The Pan Am Journey Has Come To An End And It Shone with Gold, Silver and Bronze

The end of these XV Pan American Games is here and now you know how we fared in all the competitions.

Our Dressage Team USA took home the Gold Medal. The team consisted of Lauren Sammis, South Orange, NJ, riding Sagacious HF; Christopher Hickey aboard Regent and Katherine Poulin-Neff riding Brilliant Too. The alternate rider was Susan Dutta with Pik L. The Silver Medal shone well for the Canadians, while Brazil looked good in Bronze. Hickey won the Individual Gold Medal, Sammis the Silver and Yvonne Losos de Muniz (DOM) riding Bernstein las Maris the Bronze.

The Eventing Team USA also shone bright in Gold ahead of Canada (Silver) and Brazil (Bronze). Team members consisted of Karen O’Connor riding Theodore O’Connor, Gina Miles aboard McKinlaigh, Stephen Bradley on From and Phillip Dutton on Truluck. A second Gold was the charm for the O’Connors individually. Dutton won the Silver and Miles the Bronze. Darren Chiacchia aboard Better I do It finished 4th and Mara Dean withdrew Nicki Henley half way through the zigzaggy cross country course.

The Show Jumping team of Lauren Hough aboard Casadora, Laura Chapot on Little Big Man, Cara Raether on Ublesco and Todd Minikus on Pavarotti claimed the Bronze Medal behind Brazil and Canada. Individually there was just too much tough luck for our show jumpers and in the final round only Cara competed. Little Big Man was sidelined because of an impaction he suffered earlier in the week. Lauren opted not to go when her chances to claim a medal were gone. Todd had been eliminated for a fall in the second round. And so that left only Cara to compete in the last round. In the end she moved up from her 28th position after the first round to 8th. Canada’s Jill Henselwood got the Gold, Rodrigo Pessoa the Silver and Eric Lamaze (also Canada) the Bronze.