Equestrian Australia announced the Australian Dressage Team for the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games in Mill Spring, North Carolina, this September.
The following riders have been named to the team:
Mary Hanna and Boogie Woogie 6, her and Rob Hanna’s 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood
Alexis Hellyer and Bluefields Floreno, JJ Fuchs’ 13-year-old warmblood stallion
Kristy Oatley and Du Soleil, Rosalind and Robert Oatley’s 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding
Brett Parbery and DP Weltmieser, Susan Duddy’s 15-year-old Weltmeyer gelding
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Alexis Hellyer, 29, is the youngest member of the team.
“It’s pretty amazing, I am a bit lost for words. It’s a surreal thing to have a dream and a goal come to this point at 29 years old,” said Hellyer. “Flo is a young horse, and he has an amazing attitude to work, and he is super talented, and we are impressed with what he is showing us so far.
“We will grab the opportunity with both hands and run with it and make the best of it. I am so proud to be an Australian selected representative and so pleased with how far dressage has come since I started in it when I was 13,” she said.
It will be the fifth (1994, 1998, 2002 & 2014) occasion that Hanna will be competing for Australia at the FEI World Equestrian Games.
At the last FEI World Equestrian Games in 2014 in Normandy, France, Hanna was bestowed with the honor of being the Australian team’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Europe based Kristy Oatley, who has competed for her country at four Olympic Games and finished 10th for Australia in the team competition at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, is looking forward to participating after a strong year of form on the highly competitive European circuit with Du Soleil.
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Australian dressage champion Brett Parbery is looking forward to the opportunity to compete at Tryon with his reigning Australian Grand Prix champion DP Weltmieser.
Parbery is no stranger to the WEG landscape and in Kentucky in 2010 he placed 9th in the Grand Prix Special which was the first time an Australian rider ever recorded an individual top 10 finish at a WEG.
The following riders will also be formally nominated for the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games;
Judy Dierks & Vicki Newham’s Diamond Star
Shannan Goodwin & her own Aristede
