Lendon Gray

Lendon Fentress Gray (born April 13, 1949),[1] is an American dressage champion,[2] author, and former rider of Seldom Seen.

Lendon Gray
Born
Lendon Fentress Gray

April 12, 1949[1]
Old Town, Maine
NationalityAmerican
Occupationdressage rider, riding instructor, author

Gray was born in Old Town, Maine, and began riding horses and competing at a young age, originally in the Western and hunt seat schools of equitation. She competed to national level at Pony Club rallies.[3] She attended The Foxhollow School for Girls and then Sweet Briar College, where she trained in the forward seat riding system under Paul D. Cronin.[3]

Olympics

In 1975, Gray began riding Seldom Seen, a 14.2 h (147 cm) Thoroughbred/Connemara cross.[4] The pair competed in FEI dressage tests to Grand Prix level between 1977 and 1987. On Seldom Seen and four other horses, Gray won five gold medals at U.S. Olympic Festivals.[4][5] Gray qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but did not compete due to the U.S. Olympic Committee's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia. She was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal instead.[6]

Dressage

Gray represented the United States at the Dressage World Championships in 1978, and at the 1991 Dressage World Cup in Paris.[5] In 1980, Gray rode Beppo, a Holsteiner gelding, for the American team at the Alternate Olympics dressage event at Goodwood House, in West Sussex, England.[7][8] In 1988, she competed in dressage on Later On with the United States Equestrian Team in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.[1][9]

Gray is a United States Dressage Federation instructor and clinician, as well as one of the founders of the non-profit Emerging Dressage Athlete Program for young riders.[10][11][12] She was inducted to the USDF Hall of Fame in 2011.[5][13]

Publications
  • Gray, Lendon Lessons with Lendon: 25 Progressive Dressage Lessons Take You from Basic "Whoa and Go" to Your First Competition (Popular Training Series from Practical Horseman). Knight Equestrian Books, 2003.[14]

References
  1. "Lendon Gray". SR/Olympic Sports. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  2. "Dressage Scores for Lendon F Gray". Centreline Scores. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  3. "About Lendon Gray". Dressage4Kids. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  4. Rotterdam, Silke. "Seldom Seen, a Connemara Crossbred Going All the Way". Eurodressage. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  5. "Lendon Gray Announced as 2011 Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame Inductee". United States Dressage Federation. USDF. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  6. Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
  7. Sanchez, Kelly. "Olympic Dressage History, Part 1". Dressage Today. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  8. Rottermann, Silke. "An Affair to Remember: the 1980 Olympic Games - Three Perspectives". Eurodressage. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  9. "Olympic Games Equestrian Team Members Riding for the USA" (PDF). USET. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  10. "About Dressage4Kids". Dressage4Kids. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  11. "Emerging Dressage Athlete Program". Dressage Daily. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  12. Whitfield, Pam. "Doing nothing well: an interview with Lendon Gray". American National Riding Commission. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  13. Savitt, Roger. "Spotlight on Bedford's Sunnyfield Farm". Bedford Riding Lanes Association. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  14. "Lessons With Lendon". Knight Equestrian Books. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
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