The United States Equestrian Federation will field three full teams in the disciplines of Dressage, Eventing, and Jumping. These teams are comprised of a mix of veterans and rookies, seven men and six women from across the country with 17 Olympic Games between them.
Here is a brief introduction to the five members of the London 2012 US Eventing Team
Will Coleman on Twizzel
Will Coleman, the only American to ever win the Bramham CCI3* for Under 25-year-olds, will be looking to continue success in Great Britain nine years later. He rides a horse owned by Jim Wildasin who also owns Mystery Whisper, a rare occasion that one family owns two US horses at the Games. Coleman and Twizzel were fifth at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Bridgestone (finishing on their dressage score) 4/10ths of a point behind Martin and O'Connor (who finished on the same score - the tie was broken because Martin was closer to the optimum time on the cross country). Coleman won the 2001 FEI North American Young Rider Eventing Championships in 2001.
Twizzel is by Argentinus, the same sire as Rafalca who will be ridden for the US Dressage Team by Jan Ebling at London. Twizzel is out of an Australian Thoroughbred mare, hence is nicknamed 'Ossi'.
Tiana Coudray on Ringwood Magister
Tiana Coudray won Team Gold at the 2008 FEI North American Young Rider Eventing Championships on her 2012 Olympic mount Ringwood Magister. This pair was second out of more than 100 horses at last year’s Fidelity Investments Blenheim International CCI3*. They also won the Jersey Fresh CCI3* in 2010.
Ringwood Magister is one of only two grey horses out of the US team of thirteen horses comprising of eight geldings, three mares, two stallions; the other is the almost white US Show Jumping Team horse, Antares F, ridden by McLain Ward
Phillip Dutton on Mystery Whisper
Along with Karen O'Connor, Phillip Dutton will be contesting his fifth Olympic Games. Now based in West Grove, Pennsylvania he first represented his native Australia, winning back-to-back Olympic Team Gold medals in 1996 and 2000. He rode again for the land Down Under in 2004 before changing nationalities and representing the country in which he has lived since 1991 at the 2008 Games. He hasn't missed a World or Olympic Games since 1994. Dutton rides another Aussie import: Mystery Whisper, purchased by Jim Wildasin for his daughter to ride after the London OLympics. Mystery Whisper was produced to the CCI4* level in Australia by Heath Ryan. Dutton won Olympic Team Gold in 1996 with Heath's brother Matt.
Boyd Martin on Otis Barbotiere
Boyd Martin, another Aussie ex-pat arrived from Australia in 2006, is the child of two winter Olympians. Boyd relocated to the United States in 2007 to pursue his dreams of competing internationally in eventing. He and his wife Silva, a Grand Prix dressage rider who is originally from Germany and now rides for the USA, operate Windurra USA out of Phillip Dutton's True Prospect Farm. Now riding for the United States, Boyd, who has dual citizenship, was the top-finishing American individual and a member of the 4th-placed US Eventing Team at the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky. He rebounded from a horrific year in 2011 in which he lost his barn and 7 horses in a barn fire. His Olympic mount, Otis Barbotiere, owned by the Otis Barbotiere Syndicate, was one of the horses that survived that devastating event along with the well-loved Australian horse Neville Bardos
Karen O'Connor on Mr. Medicott
The most senior of the US Eventing Team is Karen O'Connor from Ocala, Florida who rode in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and will be representing her country for the fifth time in the Olympic Games at the age of 54. She will ride the very experienced Irish-bred, German import, Mr. Medicott (owned by the Mr. Medicott Syndicate) who was a stalwart of the German team before he arrived in the U.S. at the end of last year. O'Connor shared Team Silver and Team Bronze with her husband David in 1996 and 2000 respectively. However she is not the only over-50 rider in the US Equestrian Team as Jan Ebeling (Dressage), Rich Fellers (Showjumping) and Tina Konyot (Dressage) have all also crossed the half-century mark.
Both Flexible, ridden by Rich Fellers on the US Olympic Show Jumping team, and Mr. Medicott are by the same sire - Cruising.
All photos by Libby Law
