Trilogy Dressage Saddles To Sponsor “East Meets West” Wine & Cheese Party at USEF Dressage Festival of Champions

Gladstone, NJ – Trilogy Dressage Saddles will formally introduce their sponsored West Coast riders at Gladstone, during Trilogy’s “East Meets West" Wine & Cheese party at the 2009 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions. The party will take place at the Trilogy Dressage booth on Thursday, June 18 from 4 to 5:30 pm and all are welcome to attend. Trilogy’s West Coast riders include Olympic Medalist and World Cup Champion Debbie McDonald, American Young Adult “Brentina Cup” Dressage Champion Adrienne Lyle and National Dressage Champion Shannon Peters. “We are really pleased to introduce our top riders from the West Coast to the East,” said Deborah Witty, President of Trilogy Dressage Saddles and Performance Saddlery. “We want everyone at Gladstone to have a chance to meet them and learn more about what West Coast riders are doing.”

McDonald, who retired her Olympic and World Cup partner Brentina at the Las Vegas World Cup, will also be signing autographs at the Trilogy booth during the Festival of Champions. Fans should check at the booth for the day and time of the autograph sessions. “Trilogy has had a wonderful relationship with Debbie for the past seven years. We designed a saddle line for her called the Debbie McDonald Signature Series, which features the Debbie McDonald Dressage Saddle and The Debbie Special, designed for the petite rider,” Witty said.

Witty is also looking forward to introducing Lyle to friends and fans. Lyle started her career as a working student for Debbie McDonald at River Grove Farm in Sun Valley, Idaho. In 2008, Lyle won the Brentina Cup finals at the American Dressage Championships in San Juan Capistrano, California, aboard Wizard, a horse owned by Peggy Thomas, owner of River Grove Farm.

Witty loves Lyle’s story about how the 23-year-old rider hoped to take a few lessons from McDonald, but ended up as her working student before taking on a full-time job at River Grove Farm. “She is an exciting rider to watch and I can’t wait for other riders to meet her,” Witty said.

Trilogy Saddles is also pleased to sponsor and introduce Shannon Peters, who is married to Olympic and World Cup Champion Steffan Peters. “Shannon has been a professional dressage trainer for 20 years and rode Luxor to the Reserve National Championship in the Intermediare I at the U.S. Dressage National Championships in 2005,” Witty said. “She and Luxor were also USDF Intermediare I Horse of the Year in 2006.”

Witty said working with top riders such as McDonald, Lyle and Peters is a benefit when it comes to making saddles for riders of all levels. “It is extremely rewarding to have the opportunity to build and provide horses and their riders with a saddle that generates more comfort, makes the rider more effective and enhances the team’s performance,” Witty said.

Trilogy Dressage Saddles are built in England by some of the most experienced craftsmen in the world. They feature a British tree made of laminated Beechwood, and a specially tanned hide from England that offers the rider an elastic broken-in feel. For more information on Trilogy Saddles, visit their website at www.trilogysaddles.com.