American Games in the summer.

Mike Cherry, president of Bermuda Equestrian Federation (BEF), said the Island was aiming to send five riders and their horses to Winnipeg, Canada, in July.

Provided they reach the qualifying standards, Chris Taylor, Cathy Fox and Annabelle Collins will compete in the dressage competition, while MJ Tumbridge and Tim Collins will take part in the three-day event.

As if the logistics of sending such a team, with horses, were not complicated enough, all the riders are based overseas.

Tumbridge is based in England, as are Tim Collins and his sister Annabelle, though Annabelle's horse is in Germany.

Taylor has been based for the past four years at Temple Farms, near Chicago, while Fox moved from Bermuda two years ago and is now in Kentucky.

The previous largest equestrian team to represent the Island comprised four riders, sent in 1991, when the Games were held in Cuba, but the equestrian events in Georgia, for quarantine reasons.

Tumbridge was part of that team and won a silver medal. Four years earlier in Indianapolis, Peter Gray won a bronze for the Island. But Cherry did not expect the team to bring back medals from Winnipeg this time.

"We expect our riders to compete well. But the standard will be very high and we don't expect to win a medal,'' said Cherry.

The three-day event pair of Tumbridge and Tim Collins, who have excelled in competitions in Europe in recent years, provide the team with plenty of experience.

But all the three dressage riders, including the youngest member of the team, 21-year-old Annabelle Collins, will be making their Pan-Am debuts.

Transporting the horses on freight aircraft will be expensive, but Cherry said the costs were being looked at and that the BEF would be contributing to help the Bermuda Olympic Association with the costs.

He added that there was a chance of sharing costs with a Jamaican rider based in England.

Three-day event riders in the Pan-Am Games need to reach the Prix St George standard, which is lower than the Grand Prix standard required in the World Championships.

But no qualifying standard has yet been set for the dressage competition, which has presented the BEF with an extra headache.

"There is no standard set for the dressage yet, so we have had to do it ourselves,'' said Cherry. "We have had discussions with others such as the Canadians and the Americans to see what sort of level our riders should be at.''