Saturday, October 16, 2010

Willow Grove goes to WEG

World Equestrian Games September 25th to October 10th, 2010

Kentucky Horse Park Lexington Kentucky USA

The World Equestrian Games are comprised of the world championships for eight equestrian sports- dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, jumping, para dressage, reining and vaulting. The Games are held every four years, two years prior to the Olympic Games, and are governed by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). The FEI is the international governing body of equestrian sport recognized by the International Olympic Committee. It is the organization which establishes rules and regulations for the conduct of international equestrian events. Today the FEI has over 130 member countries.

Previous Host Countries
The very first World Equestrian Games were held in Stockholm in 1990. Six disciplines were involved--Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance and Vaulting. In 1994 the city of The Hague in the Netherlands hosted the Games.

After a late cancellation of the Games that were to be held in Dublin, Ireland, Rome stepped forward to host the 1998 Games on one year's notice. All disciplines except the Endurance were held and beautifully executed considering the very short preparation time. The Endurance was held in Dubai that year.

The next Games were held in Jerez de Frontera, Spain in 2002 and included all six disciplines and Reining for the first time. Following that the Games went to Aachen 2006,again with seven disciplines, and were a fabulous success.

In 2010 the games leave Europe for the first time and came to the United States to the Kentucky Horse Park where, for the first time, Para Dressage, the newest FEI Discipline will be competed together with the other seven.

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