March 19, 2009 — The Potomac Valley Dressage Association (PVDA) has confirmed Debbie McDonald as the Dancing Horse Challenge celebrity guest speaker on the evening of June 27 at their weekend-long PVDA Ride for LifeT Dressage Show in Upper Marlboro, Md. Dover Saddlery and Nutrena, as platinum sponsors this year, are also sponsoring McDonald’s appearance at the event.
McDonald is an Olympic and World Equestrian Games bronze medalist and Pan American gold medalist, as well as the first U.S. rider to hold the title of Dressage World Cup Champion. She has represented the United States in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, 2003 and 2005 World Cup, and 1999 Pan American Games. McDonald has also agreed to donate a riding clinic to be auctioned off to support the Ride for Life cause.
Now in its sixth year, the PVDA Ride for Life is both a licensed dressage show and a benefit fundraiser for The Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center in Baltimore, Md. The 2008 PVDA Ride for Life raised over $80,000 for the center. Dressage Today magazine will sponsor the show in 2009 for the third year in a row.
Saturday evening’s Dancing Horse Challenge has become one of the largest equestrian freestyle performances in the Mid-Atlantic Region and is popular with both the sport horse and non-equestrian communities in the area.
The show is held at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, Md., outside of Washington, D.C. and hosts over 200 competing horses. For more information about the PVDA Ride for Life, visit www.pvdarideforlife.org.
