Tag: Para Dressage

I discovered the sport of para dressage at age 11, when I searched the internet to see if there were riders with a disability out there, and to my pleasant surprise, there were. I watched riders like Rebecca Hart and Roxanne Trunnell give their all in the ring with their horses. I had waited 17 years for a chance to chase my dream after persistently asking my parents for lessons, and I was so excited.

The training advice Chrissa Hoffmann gives to a para-rider is good for all riders looking to better their relationships with their horses. By Stephanie Ruff  This story is sponsored by Dressage Today.

At the conclusion of the June 19 Perrigo CPEDI3*, athletes, coaches, grooms, and friends gathered to remember Hope Hand, a key leader and supporter of the Para Dressage movement, who sadly passed away in early June 2022. Watch the memorial here.

I had gone on an inn-to-inn weeklong trail riding trek. On the second day, the horse I was riding tripped violently, falling on top of me, at the beach on the water's edge. I fell in the water, and I could feel it up to my ears while lying immobile with my head held still by another rider, waiting for the helicopter to airlift me to Galway University Hospital. Another French doctor rider, a cardiologist, also tended to me, and they saved my life.

Adrienne was generous with her time and attention to each horse and rider pair. At the end of the day, everyone was all smiles. As for clinic winner Genevieve, this was a wonderful prep for her first CPEDI (International Para-Equestrian Dressage).

First generation American, daughter of a refugee, wheelchair user, advocate, assault survivor, unashamed. Mia Rodier-Dawallo is a Grade II, international Para Dressage competitor, a Persian-American, a survivor, and a rising star.

Let us celebrate the para horse. His kindness, his intuition, his spirit, his purpose; he is at schooling shows and the Paralympic theatre, he packs around the novice and dances with the greats.

For the first time in my life, aboard Star, I could run and walk and not fear that I was going to trip and fall. At the barn, I had a place where I could be normal- a place where I belonged. By Skyler Wroblewski

From ages 13 to 18, I endured six brain surgeries, followed by two spinal surgeries, each necessary to save my life. With extensive physical therapy at a rehabilitation center, I started the road to recovery and continued to improve myself through emotional therapy with my personal horses, and physical therapy riding with RideOn, a Therapeutic Riding Center in Chatsworth, CA. The motivation to get back on my personal horses, honestly, is what saved my life and kept me going.

Spend enough time in the dressage world and you’ll hear “she’s a Grade II Para Equestrian”, or “he’s riding the Grade V Introductory Test A”. But what do these grades mean? Let’s look at how the FEI and USEF (who has adopted the FEI Para Equestrian Classification Rules and Para Equestrian Manual for Classifiers as the National Policies and Procedures for Classification at the National level) breaks down the Para Equestrian grading system.