april 18 2012 151 the world cup finals for the elite sport of dancing horses known as dressage opened today in the netherlands without the presence of two of its most prominent wealthy devotees mitt and ann romney the romneys horse rafalca will compete however performing to music personally selected by the republican presidential candidate in the midst of her husbands race for president ann romney has quietly climbed to the upper ranks of the equestrian sport of dressage not as a rider but as an owner and financial sponsor of a horseandrider team from california as mrs romney has assumed a higher profile on the campaign trail in recent weeks her devotion to dressage has garnered little attention and that appears to be by design romney campaign officials told abc news that mrs romney will not fly to the dutch town of shertogenbosch this week to watch rafalca and the rider she sponsors jan ebeling represent the united states in the freestyle dressage world cup finals until recently her presence at such an elite event would have been automatic followers of the sport describe her as a fixture in the stands on the global dressage circuit and in past years she brought her husband mitt romney along with her while the rigors of the campaign trail are likely a major impediment this year political analysts told abc news another more important factor may be behind the decision to downplay discussion of her pricey hobby how it looks the rarefied sport of dressage is a sort of classical equestrian dance competition that comes with enormous expenses and rarely involves prize money it is a sport of the rich and famous populated with relatives of bill gates michael bloomberg bruce springsteen and yahoo cofounder jerry yang sponsors of world class teams shoulder an array of burdens that go well beyond buying the horses the romneys have owned by some estimates eight dressage horses which can carry a sixfigure price tag the sponsors typically pay vet bills insurance help support the staffs that care for the animals and help pay enormous transportation costs that come when horses and riders are shuttled to major competitions in europe and around the us it runs thousands of dollars a month to maintain said kenneth j braddick a dressage enthusiast who publishes a website with news about the sport they have pretty much everything a farrier a chiropractor a vet a masseuse for the horses just like any professional athlete at that level that kind of infrastructure is massively expensive romney horses are magic ann romney first took an interest in the sport of dressage in the late 1990s when she began struggling with the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and found that riding horses helped her combat their effects within a few years she began taking instruction in dressage from ebeling who operates a ranch called the acres in moorpark a rural community set among orange groves about an hour north of