Mill Spring, N.C. – The U.S. Para Dressage Team capped off another successful competition, earning a win and important experience at the FEI level. The team comprised a range of experience levels in both the athletes and horses, providing an excellent opportunity for the U.S. Para Dressage program to build on its strengths and bolster the pipeline heading into a world championship year. The team was led by Chef d’Equipe and Technical Advisor Michel Assouline and Team Leader Laureen Johnson.
“This time in Tryon was a somewhat experimental team with new athlete-coach and athlete-horse combinations,” said Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline. “We had a successful outcome with several scores in the 70% zone. Now onwards and upwards with plenty of homework toward the new season!”
The team members were Sydney Collier and Bell Bottoms, Hannah Kingsley and Eragon VF, Cindy Screnci and For Memory 4, and Kate Shoemaker and Supreme. All four combinations completed the FEI Para Grand Prix Tests A and B and the Freestyle for their respective grades, with the FEI Para Grand Prix Tests A and B counting towards the team’s overall score of 421.424.
Shoemaker (Wellington, Fla.) and Supreme (Sezuan x Déjà Vu), her own 2016 Westphalian gelding, led the team’s scores, earning above 72% in all three tests in Grade IV. Shoemaker is a veteran team member, including representing the U.S. on multiple Paralympic and FEI World Championship teams. However, Supreme is a new face for the team, having made his para debut with Shoemaker in early 2025. Tryon marks his first FEI outing, and the pair’s strong and consistent performances are a promising sign for the future.
Kingsley (Fort White, Fla.) and her own Eragon VF (Don Romantic x Ujinja), a 2009 KWPN gelding, also had a banner show at Tryon, earning personal best scores in the Para Grand Prix Test B, with a 70.389%, and the Para Grand Prix Freestyle for Grade III, earning a 71.500%. The pair have been competing together since early 2024 and made their team debut in Wellington in January of this year.
Screnci (Wellington, Fla.) and her 2017 Hanoverian gelding, For Memory 4 (For Dance x Destano) continued their successful 2025 season with three solid tests, including a Freestyle that broke the 70% mark in Grade V competition. Collier (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Bell Bottoms (Benetton Dream x Issandra), a 2014 Oldenburg mare owned by Going for Gold LLC, Devon Kane, and Diamante Farms, continued building on the partnership that started in 2023 and improving on their scores from their previous team outing at the Tryon Fall CPEDI last year while representing the team in Grade I competition.
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