United States Eventing Association

One Month Until the Pan American Games!

In just one month, the top horses and riders in North America, Central America, and South America will present their horses in the first horse inspection at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

Held from Oct. 26-29, the 19^th edition of the Pan Ams will serve as an Olympic qualifier for those countries not yet qualified for Paris 2024.

In past years, the Pan Ams have been critical for the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team, but this year the team heads to Chile having already qualified for Paris with a team silver medal at the 2022 FEI World Eventing Championship in Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy. There are two tickets to Paris on offer for the top two teams not already qualified. Our neighbors to the north in Canada will be one of the U.S. team’s biggest competitors as they’re looking for a win in Chile to qualify for Paris, and Brazil also has a strong chance for a qualifying slot.

The mandatory outing for the U.S. team will take place at the Maryland Horse Trials and Area II Championships, held from Oct. 7-8 in Adamstown, Maryland. The four horse-and-rider pairs named to the team will be required to attend, as will the five alternates and one traveling reserve.

The 2023 Pan American Games will run at the CCI3* level for cross-country and at the CCI4* level for dressage and show jumping. The ground jury for eventing will be Robert Stevenson (USA), who is President, Sandy Phillips (GBR), and Marina Scioccchetti (ITA). Alec Lochore (GBR) will serve as Technical Delegate. Pierre Le Goupil (FRA) is the cross-country course designer.

The equestrian disciplines of dressage, eventing, and show jumping will be held at the Chilean Army Riding school in San Isidro de Quillota, a little more than two hours from Santiago. The venue has previously hosted events up to the three-star level.

The schedule is as follows:

• October 26: First Horse Inspection
• October 27: Dressage
• October 28: Cross-Country
• October 29: 2nd Horse Inspection & Show Jumping (Team/Individual)

The Pan Am Sports Channel will provide hundreds of hours of video coverage, though a schedule for the equestrian disciplines has not been announced yet.

The U.S. team is:

• Sydney Elliott (Benton, Louisiana) and QC Diamantaire, a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Carol Stephens
• Liz Halliday (Ocala, Florida) and Miks Master C, an 11-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding owned by Debby Palmer and the Ocala Horse Properties, LLC
• Direct Reserve: Cooley Nutcracker, a 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by The Nutcracker Syndicate
• Caroline Pamukcu (Miami Beach, Florida) and HSH Blake, an 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Mollie Hoff, Sherrie Martin and Caroline Pamukcu
• Sharon White (Summit Point, West Virginia) and Claus 63, her own 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding

The following combination has been named as the traveling reserve:

• Tamie Smith (Murrieta, California) and Kynan, a 8-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Kynan Syndicate LLC

The following combinations have been named as team alternates and are listed in alphabetical order:

• Jacob Fletcher (North Little Rock, Arkansas) and Fabian, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Fletcher Farms
• Hannah Sue Hollberg (Kennett Square, Pennsylvania) and Capitol H I M, a 16-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Christa B. Schmidt
• Dan Kreitl (Muncie, Indiana) and Carmango, a 10-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Kay Dixon
• Alyssa Phillips (Fort Worth, Texas) and Oskar, a 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Julie Phillips
• Tamie Smith (Murrieta, California) and Elliot V, a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Elliot V Partnership

The U.S. team features four five-star riders and two five-star horses—QC Diamantaire and Miks Master C, who most recently won the $60,000 Adequan USEA Advanced Final at the USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds. Claus 63 has been on winning form this year at the four-star and Advanced level, while HSH Blake earned a 10^th place finish last year at the FEI World Eventing Breeding Championships at Le Lion D’angers in France, and competed on the Nations Cup team at Strzegom in Poland this summer. Both HSH Blake and Miks Master C are USEA Young Event Horse graduates.

Stay tuned to useventing.com for a full report from the mandatory outing at the Maryland Horse Trials in October.

More information about the Pan Ams can be found on the FEI website or on the official Santiago 2023 website.