McDonald, Brentina to represent U.S. at Olympics

By Susan Dudasik, Ag Weekly correspondent
Friday, August 1, 2008 4:20 PM CDT

HAILEY, Idaho - Debbie McDonald and Brentina, Idaho’s own internationally renowned dressage duo, have been selected to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games and are currently in Hong Kong where all the equestrian events will be held. This will be their second Olympics. In 2004, McDonald and the chestnut mare led the U.S. Olympic Dressage Team to bronze team medals in Athens. Brentina is a 17 year-old, Hanoverian mare owned by Peggy and Perry Thomas who own River Grove Farm in Hailey. McDonald and her husband, Bob, a well-known Hunter/Jumper trainer, run the farm.

Dressage, the French word for training, is a form of riding often referred to as ballet on horseback. At the Olympics, the pair are scheduled to compete in the team, individual and freestyle events. In the team and individual events, all the competitors ride the same pattern. In the freestyle event, competitors select their own music and create their own routine, which includes such high-level movements as the piaffe (a trot in place), passage (a collected, cadenced trot), and graceful cantering pirouettes.

McDonald began showing Brentina internationally in 1999, and their list of accomplishments is impressive. Some of their credits include leading the United States to a team silver medal at the 2002 World Equestrian Games and a historic ride at the 2003 World Cup Dressage Championship where they were the first U.S. horse and rider to win the prestigious event.

With her popularity growing, Brentina was selected by the Breyer Model Horse Company to be its 2003 United States Equestrian Team special-run model.

That same year, Brentina was affected by a paralyzed windpipe, which reduced her breathing to about 30 percent of normal capacity.

Returning to competition in 2004, the year of the Olympics in Athens, the pair won the U.S. Free-Style Dressage Championship but were again faced with a setback when Brentina received a leg-tendon injury that prevented her from competing in the Olympic qualifying events. In another historic move, Brentina became the first American horse to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team without performing in any qualifying events. At the Athens Olympics, the pair helped their team secure bronze team medals. Then in 2005, they won a bronze metal at the World Cup in Las Vegas and at the 2006 World Cup Finals, the pair contributed to a team bronze medal.

Over the past 14 years, McDonald and Brentina have become well-loved and respected icons in the world of international dressage.

Therefore, it seems only fitting that this extraordinary duo make, perhaps, their final competitive performances at such a prestigious event as the Olympics; Brentina will be retiring from the competitive arena after the Games.

A special retirement celebration will be held during the 2009 Dressage World Cup in Las Vegas next April at the Thomas and Mack arena.

According to the NBC Olympics Web site’s post-retirement plans information, “McDonald is hoping to have Brentina’s embryo transferred, that is Brentina’s egg would be artificially inseminated, and then implanted into a surrogate mare.”

As for McDonald, her horse may be retiring, but she plans to continue competing as well as teaching and coaching other aspiring dressage riders and their horses.

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