At the Eastern States Dressage and Combined Training Association (ESDCTA) Memorial Day Weekend Show, held May 25-27 at the Horse Park of New Jersey at Stone Tavern in Allentown, Courtney King has completed her qualifiers with these two mounts and earned the ranking of second in the nation in Grand Prix and first in the nation in Intermediaire I heading into the USEF National Dressage Championships, which will be held June 14-17 at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions presented by Paul Miller Auto Group in Gladstone, New Jersey.

On the recommendation of U.S. Dressage Chef d'Equipe Klaus Balkenhol, King has withdrawn from the I-I Championship/Pan American Games Selection Trials with Richard Malloch's Mythilus, and 5th ranked Rendezvous 5, owned by Francine Walker and will instead travel to Europe to compete with her Grand Prix star, Christine McCarthy's stallion, Idocus in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. King is hoping to bring at least Mythilus along and perhaps more horses from her powerhouse stable. She is also planning on competing Idocus at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage National Grand Prix Dressage Championships June 14-17 before leaving for Germany. Courtney will be joining Steffen Peters and Lombardi, and Arlene Page and Wild One, Catherine Haddad and Cadillac, and other US Riders in Europe to gain more valued international experience.

King competed five horses at the three-day show, including her World Cup mount Idocus and her Pan American Games candidate Mythilus.

In the Memorial Day Weekend High Performance classes aboard Idocus, King won the FEI Grand Prix on Friday with a score of 68.472%. The duo came back on Saturday to perform even better, winning the FEI Grand Prix Special with 71.267%. Idocus is a 17-year-old Dutch stallion by Equador owned by Christine McCarthy. King and Idocus needed one qualifying score in the Grand Prix Special to be invited as one of the top 12 combinations in the U.S. who will compete in the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Grand Prix Championship and they accomplished that mission.

"Idocus felt amazing at this show - much better than at the World Cup," King said. "For the Grand Prix he warmed up awesome and I was really looking forward to showing him off in the ring, but the footing in the show arena was dramatically different from the warm-up footing - much deeper - and Idocus decided it was a little too hard, so to be honest his Grand Prix performance was disappointing. He just sort of deflated." Despite his aversion to the footing, Idocus earned 68.472% and won the class. King explained that she let her beloved "Idy" know that she was not pleased by withholding his usual treat and constant attention. "And I NEVER pass that horse without giving him attention normally," King shared. "The next day for the Special, he warmed up just the same - awesome - and when we went into the show arena, he powered up even more. He is such an amazingly intelligent and emotionally mature horse," King related. "He got my meaning loud and clear. I spoil him rotten, so I guess it was fair enough that he was pushing where I drew the line." The duo won the Special with 71.267%.