She’s headed back in the saddle
Jeff Tully
Years of training and hard work have led Kristina Harrison-Naness to
this moment.
Competing for the U.S. against some of the finest dressage horses
and riders in North American, Harrison-Naness gets a chance to
display her expertise at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic.
More than 100 athletes are expected to participate in the
equestrian events representing 23 nations.
In the dressage competition -- scheduled to take place Aug. 6-10
-- teams are expected from Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, the U.S., Venezuela
and the home country of Dominican Republic, which is participating
with a full team for the first time in Pan Am history. An additional
six nations intend to send individual representation.
The gold-medal winners at the last games in 1999, the Americans
could once again be a strong force, as both Colombia and Mexico will
be hoping to repeat their medal performances. Canada, meanwhile, will
be looking for the team medal it failed to garner on its home turf in
1999 in Winnipeg.
Harrison-Naness earned a spot on the U.S. team by putting together
a championship performance in June in Gladstone, N.J. She was the
overall winner at the Federation Equestre Internationale Prix St.
Georges at the Bayer/United States Equestrian Team Festival of
Champions.
Aboard her 11-year-old black gelding Kantor, the pair earned a
68.950% score to top a field of 13 horse-and-rider combinations.
A resident of the Rancho District, Harrison-Naness -- who is a
private riding instructor -- trains at the Los Angeles Equestrian
Center in Burbank and works for Angele Farms.
She has been in Florida taking care of her paperwork and getting
ready for the Pan American competition.
Also qualifying for the team was 1992 Olympic team bronze medalist
Carol Lavelle of Loxahatchee, Fla. and horse Ado, Jan Ebeling of
Moorpark and horses Liberte and Feleciano, Pierre St. Jacques of
Boscawen, N.H., and horse Lucky Tiger and alternate Susan Dutta of
Wellington, Fla. and horse West Side Lady.