WEG: Christine Traurig — U.S. Dressage

Horse: Etienne – Bay gelding, 18 hands, 14-year-old Westphalian

Home: Carlsbad, California

After returning to dressage competition in 1997 following a four-year absence, Traurig showed she hadn?t lost her touch. That year, she finished eighth in the USET Grand Prix Championship. She also piloted Assini Boin to a fifth-place finish in the Grand Prix Special. In 2000, Traurig earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic Dressage team.

In Sydney, Traurig and Etienne earned their best score ever, enabling the U.S. to clinch its third consecutive bronze medal at the Games. Largely on the strength of that performance, Traurig was named the U.S. Olympic Committee?s Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year in 2000. Now, after a nine-month separation, the rider has been reunited with her old partner, Etienne, whom she has been training in Germany with Johann Hinnemann.

Traurig and the Westphalian gelding, owned by Kelly Trierweiler, finished fifth at the WEG selection trials in Gladstone, New Jersey, earning a place on the short list.

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