| Heather Blitz | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Dressage | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | December 25, 1968 | |||||||||||||||||
| Horse(s) | Paragon | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Heather Blitz (born December 25, 1968) [1] is an American dressage rider. Blitz won team gold and individual silver in the 2011 Pan American Games, and was an alternate for the U.S. Olympic team for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Blitz taught Annie Peavy, who competed in the 2016 Paralympic Games.
Blitz began competing in dressage in 1994. She rode in Grand Prix competitions in Florida on the Danish horse Rambo, then moved to Denmark for several years. While living in Denmark, she competed across Europe on another Danish Warmblood, Otto. [1] She won team gold and individual silver in 2011 at the Pan American Games. [1] Blitz has periodically taken lessons from six-time Olympic rider Robert Dover. [2]
Blitz's competition horse at the Pan American Games was a Danish Warmblood gelding named Paragon, who stood18 hands (72 inches, 183 cm) and was estimated to weigh 1,600 pounds. [2] Blitz herself bred Paragon, attended his foaling, and began training him herself when he was three years old. [3] [4] She initially got the idea to breed him after riding his dam on a farm in Louisiana and being impressed with her gaits and temperament. Blitz originally intended to sell Paragon when he reached maturity, but later decided to keep him and compete him herself. [3] Paragon was never been trained or ridden in competition by anyone but Blitz. Paragon has since retired and passed away in 2020. In 2012, Blitz was part of the United States Equestrian Team, and was an alternate for the US team in the London Olympics. [2]
Blitz trained paralympic dressage rider Annie Peavy, who competed in the 2016 Summer Paralympics with her Hanoverian, Reno's Lancelot Warrior. [5] [6]
Blitz lives in Wellington, Florida. [2]
Debbie McDonald is an American dressage rider who has competed in the Olympics and many international competitions. She now lives in Hailey, Idaho, with her husband Bob, a hunter/jumper and trainer. Debbie trains and teaches riders on Peggy and E. Parry Thomas's River Grove Farm in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Brentina was an Olympic-level dressage horse ridden by Debbie McDonald. She was owned by E. Parry Thomas.
Robert Jeffrey Dover is an American equestrian who has had international success in the sport of dressage. Riding from the age of 13, he began specializing in dressage at age 19 and competed in his first Olympics in 1984. He competed in every summer Games between 1984 and 2004, winning four team bronze medals. He also took a team bronze at the 1994 World Equestrian Games. Dover is the most honored dressage rider in the United States, and has been inducted to the United States Dressage Federation Hall of Fame. Outside of competition, Dover founded the Equestrian Aid Foundation in 1996 to assist others in the equestrian world, and hosted a TV show that searched for the next dressage star. From late 2009 to early 2011, Dover served as the Technical/Coach Advisor for the Canadian national dressage team. In April 2013, Dover was named Technical Advisor/Chef d'Equipe for the US national dressage team.
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Laura Tomlinson MBE is a German-British dressage rider competing at Olympic level. As of 30 June 2012 the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) ranked her 3rd in the world riding Mistral Højris and 36th on Andretti H. In that year, Tomlinson, riding Mistral Højris under her maiden name of Laura Bechtolsheimer, won two medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London; gold for Great Britain in the team dressage with Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, the first ever Olympic team gold in the discipline for her country, and bronze in the individual dressage behind gold medalist and compatriot Dujardin.
Steffen Peters is a German-born equestrian who competes for the United States in dressage. He has participated in five Olympic Games, winning a team bronze medal on two occasions and a team silver medal once (2020). Peters has been successful in numerous other international competitions, including winning team bronze at the 2006 World Equestrian Games, two individual bronze medals at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and individual and team gold medals at both 2011 and 2015 Pan Am Games. The horse upon which he won many of his titles, Ravel, was retired in 2012. After 2012, his international successes came on Legolas. At the beginning of 2017, Peters handed over the ride on Legolas to his assistant rider Dawn White-O'Connor. Peters is currently working with a new international competition horse, Rosamunde.
Hilda Carolyn Gurney is an American equestrian. She was born in Los Angeles. She won a bronze medal in team dressage at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, aboard her chestnut gelding Keen, who she purchased, named, and trained herself. She participated at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, again aboard Keen, where the US dressage team placed sixth. After her competitive career, she trained and bred dressage horses and acted as a competition judge.
Para-equestrian is an equestrian sport governed by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), and includes two competitive events: One is para-equestrian dressage, which is conducted under the same basic rules as conventional dressage, but with riders divided into different competition grades based on their functional abilities. The other is para-equestrian driving, which operates under the same basic rules as combined driving but places competitors in various grades based on their functional abilities.
Megan Lane is a Canadian Olympic dressage rider. She participated at two World Equestrian Games. Her best results were achieved during the 2014 edition, when she placed 9th with the Canadian team in the team competition, and 37th in the individual competition aboard Caravella.
Laura Graves is an American dressage rider. She represented the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics where she won a bronze medal in the team dressage competition. After winning double silver medals at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, NC, Laura became the first American dressage rider to be ranked No. 1 in FEI World rankings, aboard her longtime partner Verdades.
Fiona Bigwood is a British dressage rider and winner of a silver medal in the team dressage event at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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Emma Booth is an Australian Paralympic equestrian. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Katie-Maree Umback is an Australian para-equestrian who represented her country at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Lisa Martin is an Australian para-equestrian. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and has been selected to compete at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Angela "Annie" Marie Peavy is an American dressage rider. She will be participating in the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro riding Lancelot Warrior.
Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour is a Danish Olympic dressage horse rider. Representing Denmark, she competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where she finished 13th in the individual and 6th in the team competition. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, she finished 4th in both the individual and team dressage events.
