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.