Courtney King and Idocus off to Dressage World Cup and Still Making A Run for Olympics

Courtney King confirmed that she and Idocus are heading to Europe this month to compete in the 2008 Dressage World Cup, scheduled for March 27-30 in the Netherlands. She’ll be joining Jane Hannigan and Maksymilian as the U.S. representatives to the FEI World Cup Final.

King said she’ll then return from Europe to the U.S. to make a run for the U.S. Olympic Dressage Team. “I’m planning to take ‘Idy’ to the finals in California and just see what happens,” King said. That will be a lot of traveling for the 18-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion by Equador but King is certain that he can handle it.

“Idy is an extremely good traveler, loves adventure and doesn’t stress at all,” she said. Plus he’ll have two months between. King said that she feels the flights are easier on many horses than the long trailer rides horses must usually make going from show to show. What does make international travel stressful, she said, is the time spent “standing around in quarantine.”

By doing both the World Cup and the Olympic Selection Trials, King will be doing the back-and-forth travel between the U.S. and Europe that was such a concern for Catherine Haddad that it led her to question the Olympic selection procedures. Haddad is based in Europe and to aim for the Olympics would have to travel from Europe to California and then back to Europe, either as a member of the U.S. team or simply to get back home.

The U.S. Equestrian Federation is requiring that riders compete in the selection trials in California in June and those who make the team must then travel to Europe to compete in July.

The team will then head to the Hong Kong Olympics from Europe.