After the completion of the mandatory outing held in conjunction with the Land Rover USEA American Eventing Championships, U.S. Equestrian Federation officials named the 2010 Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Ky., today, Sept. 14.

The team consists of:

• Buck Davidson, of Riegelsville, Pa., and Ballynoe Castle RM, a 10-year-old Irish Thoroughbred gelding owned by Carl and Cassandra Segal

• Phillip Dutton, of West Grove, Pa., and Woodburn, a 14-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred gelding owned by Ann Jones, Mardie Faucette and Acorn Hill Farm

• Boyd Martin, of West Grove, Pa., and Neville Bardos, an 11-year-old Australian Thoroughbred gelding owned by Windurra USA LLC

• Kim Severson, of Scottsville, Va., and Tipperary Liadhnan, a 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by the Friends of Kim Severson Syndicate

Individuals:

• Becky Holder, of Palmetto, Ga., and Courageous Comet, a 14-year-old U.S.-bred Thoroughbred gelding owned by the rider and Tom Holder

• Karen O’Connor, of The Plains, Va., and Mandiba, an 11-year-old Irish-bred Thoroughbred gelding owned by Joan Goswell

In addition to these six pairs, the selectors chose four alternates:

• Allison Springer, of Marshall, Va., and Arthur, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by the rider

• Amy Tryon of Duvall, Wash., and Leyland, a 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding owned by Elisabeth Nicholson

• Phillip Dutton, of West Grove, Pa., and Truluck, a 13-year-old Thoroughbred gelding owned by Ann Jones and Rebecca Broussard

• Boyd Martin, of West Grove, Pa., and Remington XXV, a 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned by Henley House Stables

Short-listed pairs Stephen Bradley and Brandenburg’s Joshua, Holly Hudspeth and Last Monarch and Will Faudree and Pawlow were not named. Phillip Dutton did not present Kheops du Quesnay at the mandatory outing, and his two other horses, Connaught and The Foreman, were not selected.

Team Plans

The team, individual and reserve pairs will remain at Carl Bouckaert’s Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, Ga., for the next two weeks to train with Chef d’Equipe Capt. Mark Phillips. They’ll gallop on the next two Saturdays, and Oded Shimoni will be on hand this week for dressage training. Katie Prudent will fly in next week for show jumping assistance. The horses and riders will travel to Kentucky on Saturday, Sept. 25.

“It’s a wonderful relief,” said Martin, who’s made his first team since changing his nationality from Australian almost two years ago. “I’ve been chipping away, trying to get on a national team for the last 15 years, and it feels like I finally might have cracked it.”

Martin said he plans to re-route Remington XXV to the Pau CCI**** (France) a month after the WEG.

“I think I feel like I’ve got two super horses now that are both in fantastic form, and I really couldn’t work out which horse they were going to pick, just because they were neck and neck right up to the date of the last selection,” he said. “I feel Remington’s a bit stronger in the dressage, Neville’s a little bit stronger on the cross-country speed, and they’re both on par in the show jumping, so it was a little bit of a mystery which one I was going to get the nod for.

“But [Neville’s] a wonderful horse that I got for $800 as a 3-year-old [in Australia], so to think now that we’re on the other side of the world about to take on arguably the toughest competition of all time is quite surreal,” Martin added.

Davidson, who had three horses on the WEG short list, said he had a feeling that “Reggie” would be picked over My Boy Bobby and Titanium.

“They asked me who I wanted to ride, and I said I didn’t care,” Davidson said. “All three horses are really nice. Obviously ‘Ty’ [who’s younger and less experienced than the other two] wasn’t really in the question, but I’d definitely ride him too.”

“Both [Reggie and ‘Bobby’] horses are really nice horses, and I just got the feeling that Reggie was going to be the one. He’s younger, and he’s done a little bit more. I think he’s on the upswing, and I really, really feel like he’s due for a big one. So I hope we can do it in two weeks time.

“It’s just exciting to have friends as owners for such a nice horse,” he added. “So much in this sport doesn’t really work out—there’s ups and downs, obviously. So for Reggie to be purchased for this goal is exciting.”

For more information on the U.S. Eventing Team selection process, read Taking The Secrets Out Of Eventing Team Selection from the Aug. 6 Eventing Issue of The Chronicle of the Horse.