Debbie McDonald (born August 27, 1954) is an American dressagerider who has competed in the Olympics and many international competitions. She now lives in
Hailey, Idaho
Hailey is a city in and the county seat of Blaine County, in the Wood River Valley of the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 7,960 at the 2010 census, up from 6,200 in 2000.hunter/ jumper and trainer. Debbie trains and teaches riders on Peggy and E. Parry Thomas's River Grove Farm in Sun Valley, Idaho.
McDonald's first mount was an $800
pony
A pony is a type of small horse ('' Equus ferus caballus''). Depending on the context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. Compared ...
. She agreed that she would pay for board if her parents bought it for her. Shortly thereafter Debbie managed to find a gaited
horse trainer
A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...
near her hometown who allowed her to groom horses and clean stalls in exchange for board. At age 14, when Debbie went to turn her pony out, she discovered a strange man in his stall, beating him. She went running for help and ran into a young trainer and her future husband, Bob McDonald, who ran a hunter/jumper farm and hired her as a stable hand. It was at this facility that she began her career.
McDonald began her career in show jumping. However, she switched to dressage after a serious fall in which her horse somersaulted over her breaking ribs, rupturing her spleen, and fracturing a
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...
in her neck, She first met Parry and Peggy Thomas when she got a catch ride at a dressage show in Las Vegas on one of their horses whose rider was not available.
The Thomases also became the owners of Brentina, a chestnutHanoverian mare that became McDonald's primary mount. McDonald and her husband obtained the
mare
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...
at an auction in Germany in 1994. Brentina, foaled in 1991, had a suitable temperament to respect McDonald, who is only five feet tall, and the team established a partnership that took them to the Olympics. McDonald and Brentina began by winning the Individual and Team Gold medals at the 1999 Pan American Games. In recognition of this accomplishment, McDonald was named the 1999 Equestrian of the Year by the United States Equestrian Federation and the
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
(USOC) Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year. In 2003, McDonald become the first American rider to win the Dressage World Cup, and the pair placed third at the 2005 World Cup. As members of the
United States Equestrian Team
The United States Equestrian Team (USET) refers to the American national teams in Olympic and non-Olympic disciplines of horse sport. US Equestrian, the governing body of horse sport in the United States, selects, trains and funds the teams. The O ...
they won a team silver and team bronze at the 2002 and 2006 World Equestrian Games. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the pair won the team bronze and were individually fourth overall, and McDonald was dubbed "First Lady of American Dressage."By the U.S. Equestrian Federation. "McDonald Fourth and Dover Sixth in Dressage Individual Final" ''The Horse'' online edition, undated, 2004, accessed January 25, 2010 /ref>
Brentina was named the 2005 Farnam/Platform USEF Horse of the Year. After the 2008 Olympics, where the mare had an uncharacteristically poor performance, she was retired to the Thomas' farm. While McDonald went on to compete with other horses, Brentina developed an impaction in early 2009 and underwent colic surgery to remove a fecalith from her small colon. She has since recovered and attended a retirement ceremony at the 2009 FEI World Cup Dressage Finals in Las Vegas.Bryant Jennifer O. "Brentina's Colic Surgery: 'Routine' but Necessary, Surgeon Says" ''The Horse'' online edition, February 18, 2009. Accessed January 25, 2010. /ref>
On January 22, 2010 McDonald was named the U.S. Equestrian Federation's Developing Dressage Coach, a role designed to identify and cultivate future US Dressage stars. Morris, Joanie. "Debbie McDonald to Lead USEF Developing Dressage Program" United States Equestrian Federation, press release, January 22, 2010. Accessed January 25, 2010 /ref>