Ottawa, Ontario—The Canadian Reining Committee and the High Performance sub-committee of Equine Canada are pleased to announce the team that will be representing Canada at the 2009 Reining Kentucky Cup CRI 4*.

The Canadian team members are as follows:

Rider Hometown Horse Owner

Lisa Coulter Princeton, BC  Hollywood Aces Robert Thompson

Francois Gauthier Lucana, NC Smartys Lil Image Jim O’Neil

Jason Grimshaw Elm Grove, LA Chic’s Sonata Aaron J. Labourdette

Dave Young Vorstenbosch, HOL Angels Mark Robert Thompson

The team’s Chef d’équipe is Wendy Dwyer of Keswick, ON.

“We are gaining a great experience by having the opportunity to show in the Nations’ Cup. We will get a great feel for the new venue and structure of this event. This is a new arena and it’s a huge advantage to get a feel for the warm up pens and arena,” said Coulter, who has also represented Canada in 2005 at the World Reining Masters in Italy and in 2006 at the Masters in Denver, CO. “I always come away a better competitor by showing at this level. These events don’t come along often and they are hard to duplicate in their structure and excitement. I am honoured and excited to once again represent Canada.”

The 2009 Kentucky Cup CRI4* will be held from July 21-23 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, US, and will act as a test competition for the 2010 World Equestrian Games which will be held at the same event site.

A four-star FEI event, the Kentucky Cup Reining offers a similar format to the Games with both a Nations’ Cup competition and an individual championship. Nations fielding teams include Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The team competition will begin at 10 a.m. July 21, and the individual final competition will be held July 23 at 7p.m.

For additional information on the Canadian Reining Committee and its programs, please visit the reining section of the Equine Canada website or e-mail [email protected].