Australia names contingent for WEG test event for eventing

National eventing selectors have confirmed Andrew Hoy (Cheeky Calimbo), Kevin McNab (Casperelli) and Chris Burton (Graf Liberty) will fill the positions which have been offered.

Several other Australian event riders including Shane Rose, Stuart Tinney and Lucinda Fredericks will also attend the event as observers. They’ll be joined by National Performance Director for Eventing, Prue Barrett, Australia’s Chef de Mission for WEG, Chris Webb and the Australian Equestrian Team’s Chief Veterinarian Graham Potts.

The test event will be a CCI2* competition that will take place over two venues starting at the Le Pin National Stud where the dressage and cross country is scheduled to be contested. Teams will then make the short trip to the equestrian stadium in Caen for the show jumping phase.

As well as giving riders a chance to test the competition venues, the event also gives team management an opportunity to be involved in planning meetings with event organisers.

National Performance Director for Eventing Prue Barrett said the WEG test event was a vital part of the team’s preparation.

“This event gives us a chance to inspect the venue and its facilities and get a feel for the competition arenas and surfaces.

“The observations from our riders and support team will be invaluable as we move our preparations for next year’s Championships into full gear,” she said.

Test events for endurance and carriage driving will also take place in August with a combined jumping and dressage test event to take place in June 2014.

More than 40 nations are expected to take part in the August test events.

The eventing competition at next year’s World Equestrian Games will be held from Thursday 28 – Sunday 31 August with the world’s largest equestrian sporting event to begin on Saturday 23 August 2014.