Inspiration to the

WorldFor the first time, para-equestrians added

their spirit to the World Equestrian Games

By eMiLy Koenig

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sWan sonG: Te WEG was the last competition

for Rebecca Hart’s horse Norteassa

42 December 2010/January 2011 • USDF ConneCtion

USDF ConneCtion • December 2010/January 2011 43

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you’re at a dressage competition at the 2010 alltech Fei World equestrian games in Lex-ington, Ky. everything looks like a major inter-national championships—flag-waving fans, tal-

ented riders, gorgeous horses—but then you notice that the venue and the enthusiastic crowd are actually rather mod-est. if you can take your eyes off the horses, you realize that this rider has a wheelchair waiting for him in the wings, and that one rides with a special attachment to secure her legs against the saddle flaps.

Tese are para-equestrians—accomplished riders who happen to have physical disabilities. Para-equestrians from 25 nations made history at the 2010 Weg by participating for the first time in a major “able-bodied” equestrian cham-pionships.

“it is outstanding to have para grouped in with everyone else,” said Mary Jordan, of Wells, Me, who competed at the Weg as an individual. “Para overseas is huge, and it is an incredible milestone to have this opened up to riders with disabilities of all levels.”

as in able-bodied dressage, the US is a relative latecomer to the sport. Para-dressage powerhouses like great Britain and the netherlands have fielded international teams for decades, while the US has been seriously involved only for about fifteen years.

Team Competition

Sixteen teams took part in the Weg para-equestrian dres-sage competition. Te Kentucky equine research US Para-equestrian Dressage team comprised grade iV riders rob-in Brueckmann and Susan treabess, grade ia rider Laura goldman, and grade ii rider Jonathan Wentz.

Wentz was a late replacement for rebecca Hart, the reigning US national para-equestrian champion. of her de-cision to withdraw, Hart said: “i felt it was the best decision for our team because i was not feeling quite as strong as usual.”

Te withdrawal of Hart, a veteran of the 2008 Paralym-pic games, left her Paralympic teammate Brueckmann in the anchor role. Brueckmann, of Summerfield, nC, rode raison d’Être, a 17.3-hand grand Prix-level Toroughbred/Holsteiner cross owned by Brueckmann’s trainer, elly Scho-bel. Brueckmann, who is a US equestrian Federation “S” dressage judge, rides without stirrups to compensate for imbalances brought on by reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which she developed in 1994 after a fall.

Te big horse and his six-feet-two-inch rider turned in a respectable score of 65.750 percent.

“i am very pleased,” Brueckmann said afterward. “He’s a very nice horse, and i think i maximized what i could get out of him. He lights up with a crowd. if they had applauded even louder, he would have been even better.”

rookie Wentz, who was born with cerebral palsy, was the first of the US team at bat and was happy with his score of 62.762 percent aboard nteC richter Scale, a sixteen-year-old Shire-cross gelding owned by his coach, Kai Handt.

“it was really solid! Quite an experience! My whole goal was to have a clean and precise test, and i did that,” said Wentz, who at nineteen was the youngest team member. Te richardson, tX, resident is a sophomore at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and rides at north texas equestrian Center (nteC).

tEaM Usa: USEF para-equestrian director Pam Lane, Wendy Fryke,

Jonathan Wentz, Robin Brueckmann, Rebecca Hart, chef Missy Ranse-

housen, Kim Decker, Susan Treabess, Mary Jordan, Jennifer Baker,

Laura Goldman, and Erin Alberda

PotEntial: Te youngest member of the US squad, Jonathan Wentz,

was pleased with his solid performances

44 December 2010/January 2011 • USDF ConneCtion

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“i think the greatest challenge is just trying to find con-

sistent horses to be able to compete on the international

level,” Wentz said. a torn suspensory ligament had forced

his own horse into retirement a year before the Weg, and

he said that Handt had worked tirelessly to locate suitable

replacements.

Laura goldman, of Highland Heights, oH, also com-

peted on a borrowed horse. She’s only been riding trudy

Phillips’ eleven-year-old skewbald irish Sport Horse, Car-

lingford JD, since May. Phillips stables at Blue Hill Farm in

Unionville, Pa, home to roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of

Fame inductee Jessica ransehousen and her daughter, Mis-

sy ransehousen, an international-level event rider who is

the chef d’équipe of the US para-equestrian dressage team.

goldman was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-tooth

disease, a neuropathic disorder, at the age of 32. now aged

65, she has no fine motor function in her hands and lim-

ited overall motor function. Her grade ia test earned a solid

score of 68.706 percent.

Para-equestrian sport includes all equestrian

disciplines practiced by people with physical

disabilities. “Para” is shorthand for parallel,

meaning equivalent to the referent able-bodied

sport.

Many disabled athletes are able to hold their

ground in able-bodied competition, but para-

equestrian competition opens the door to riders

and drivers with severe disabilities as well.

Before competing in para-equestrian dressage,

riders must go through a classification process

in which a qualified physiotherapist or specially

trained physician assesses their level of disability

and assigns them a grade (competition level). Each

grade groups riders with similar disabilities.

Grade IV: Impairment in one or two limbs or

some degree of visual impairment. These are the

least-disabled riders. The Grade IV para-dressage

tests include walk, trot, canter, trot half-pass,

simple changes, and walk half-pirouettes.

Grade III: Ability to walk mostly without

support, with moderate unilateral impairment,

moderate impairment in four limbs, or severe

arm impairment. Wheelchairs might be needed

for longer distances or due to lack of stamina. An

otherwise able-bodied rider with total loss of sight

in both eyes would also fall into this classification.

The Grade III tests include walk, trot, and canter,

turns on the haunches, and counter-canter.

Grade II: Mainly wheelchair users or those with

severe physical disability involving the trunk and

with mild to good upper-limb function, or severe

unilateral impairment. The Grade II tests exclude

canter work.

Grade I: Mainly wheelchair users with poor

trunk balance, impairment of function in all four

limbs, or both; or no trunk balance and good

upper-limb function. Grade I riders are subdivided

into Ib (walk and some trot) and Ia (walk only).

Para dressage is conducted under the same FEI

rules as conventional dressage, and there is no

scoring compensation for the disability.

The International Paralympic Committee over-

sees 26 sports for athletes with disabilities, from

alpine skiing and swimming to wheelchair bas-

ketball and wheelchair fencing. The two eques-

trian sports, para-equestrian dressage and para-

equestrian driving, are governed by the Fédération

Equestre Internationale (FEI). For more informa-

tion, visit paralympic.org or fei.org.

What Is Para-Equestrian?

classiFiED: Para-equestrians are grouped according to grade,

or severity of disability. US WEG competitor Susan Treabess, a

Grade IV (least disabled) rider, was born without a left hand and

rides with a prosthetic.

USDF ConneCtion • December 2010/January 2011 45

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“i never thought i’d get to this stage,” goldman said of

her Weg experience. “i had to fight to ride and to get peo-

ple to work with me outside of therapeutic classes. a lot of

people think we’re like a sack of potatoes on a horse, but

we’re not.”

Last up for the US team was grade iV competitor Su-

san treabess, of Winters, Ca, who was born without a left

hand and rides with a prosthetic. Her mount for the games,

another loaner, was the sixteen-year-old Dutch Warmblood

mare Moneypenny, owned by Dan and Katy Peterson.

“it was a good test,” treabess said of their effort, which

earned a score of 63.000 percent. “Tis is my first time in an

international championship—the first time to get my feet

wet. My goal was to have a clean test and a nice test, and i

did that. Tis has been a goal of mine for five years, and i’ve

been riding this horse for three years to get ready. i show

Prix St. georges/intermediate i in able-bodied dressage.

Te horses have to be about the same level to do this. you

really have to have a quality horse to compete here.”

team members’ scores from their team tests were com-

bined with their individual-test scores to decide the team

medals. Te US team placed seventh. as expected, great

Britain (Sophie Christiansen on rivaldo of Berkeley, anne

Dunham on teddy, Lee Pearson on gentleman, and Jo Pitt

on estralita) won the team gold medal with a team total of

440.376. germany (Hannelore Brenner on Women of the

World, Britta näpel on aquilina 3, Juliane Teuring on em-

paque iV, and Dr. angelika trabert on ariva-avanti) won

silver with 420.337. Denmark (annika Lykke Dalskov on

Preussen Wind, Stinna tange Kaastrup on Labbenhus Sno-

evs, Caroline Cecilie nielsen on rostorn’s Hatim-tinn, and

Henrik Weber Sibbesen on rexton royal) won bronze with

418.389.

Individual Results

Six of the ten US para-equestrians competed as individuals:

erin alberda (grade iii), Jennifer Baker (grade iV), Kim

Decker (grade ia), Wendy Fryke (grade iii), rebecca Hart

(grade ii), and Mary Jordan (grade iV).

Jordan’s test aboard her homebred Hanoverian mare,

Paxton abbey, was good enough for a thirteenth-place fin-

ish and a score of 63.419.

“it‘s been a twelve-year partnership to be here,” Jordan

said of her mare. “i trained her myself, and she’s taken me

to three national championships. She was an event horse

until a year ago when i was diagnosed with MS [multiple

sclerosis], and i decided to switch to para. i can’t think of a

horse that i’d rather compete with. She’s come so far in such

a short period of time.”

Baker’s mount, the eighteen-year-old Dutch Warmblood

gelding Kranak, attracted quite a bit of attention because

his owner, akiko yamazaki, also happens to own 2010 Weg

PartnErs: Mary Jordan bred, raised, and trained her WEG mount,

Paxton Abbey

tEaM chaMPions: Gold medalists Jo Pitt, Lee Pearson, Sophie

Christiansen, and Anne Dunham of Great Britain

46 December 2010/January 2011 • USDF ConneCtion

dressage individual bronze medalist Steffen Peters’ mount,

Ravel. Yamazaki came to the rescue with her retired Grand

Prix horse when Baker’s horse, Duel, came up with an inju-

ry after the selection trials. Te newly minted pair finished

ninth with a score of 64.839 percent.

“My ride was amazing! it was wonderful,” said Baker,

47, a rider since age seven who became disabled in her late

thirties after two motorcycle accidents. “i got him [Kranak]

about six weeks ago, and it was just a question of learning

his buttons.”

“i just started up again about two years ago,” Baker said

of her riding career. “it’s wonderful to be part of the regular

Games, and it’s wonderful for our sport to have the support

of owners like Akiko.”

Brueckmann and treabess were sixth and ninth, respec-

tively, in the Grade iV individual test, with treabess tied

with teammate Baker. Te Grade iV individual gold medal

went to Sophie Wells of Great Britain.

in the Grade iii individual test, Wendy Fryke, of Parker,

Co, rode her 14.2-hand Westfalen riding pony stallion, Lat-

eran, to an eighth-place finish with a score of 64.067. erin

Alberda, of Woodinville, WA, rode her American-bred

Swedish Warmblood gelding, Delectari, to score of 60.267

percent and twelfth place. Te Grade iii individual gold

medalist was Germany’s Hannelore Brenner.

Rebecca Hart, of erie, PA, scored 63.619 percent to fin-

ish eleventh in the Grade ii individual test aboard norte-

assa. in his second WeG ride, Jonathan Wentz earned a

score of 60.286 to finish eighteenth. Petra van de Sande of

the netherlands earned the Grade ii gold medal.

no US riders contested the Grade ib individual test. one

of para-equestrian dressage’s superstars, Great Britain’s Lee

Pearson, added an individual gold medal to his WeG team

gold, besting the field of seventeen with a suitably interna-

tional-caliber score of 76.435 percent.

Grade ia US individual competitor Laura Goldman

pulled in the top American score at the WeG. She finished

just out of the medals with a score of 69.700 percent, with

three British riders sweeping the top placings. Kim Decker,

of Centreville, VA, rode the sixteen-year-old Hanoverian

gelding Dasher’s Destiny, owned by Paul Decker, to a score

of 60.900 percent and fifteenth place.

Freestyle Competition

Hannelore Brenner of Germany repeated her Grade iii in-

dividual gold-medal-winning performance to capture free-

style gold. US riders Alberda and Fryke were eighth (65.600

percent) and ninth (65.100 percent), respectively.

“His movements are pretty nice to ride,” said Fryke of her

mount. “i like doing flying changes on him because they’re

big for a small horse. i’ve been riding him for ten months,

and in that time we’ve gone from just small shows to here.

He’s shown a lot of fortitude.”

in the Grade ia freestyle, Decker put in an improved per-

formance to place eleventh with a score of 64.300 percent.

Goldman attempted to increase the difficulty of her freestyle

by adding some trot work. Unfortunately, the bold move

backfired when she lost her stirrups and missed a movement.

Her score of 63.550 percent and twelfth-place finish reflected

the bobble. Great Britain racked up yet another gold with

emma Sheardown’s outstanding performance.

Wentz had his best test of the WeG in the Grade ii

freestyle, finishing eleventh with a score of 68.550 percent.

SCHOOLMASTER: Jennifer Baker in the ring aboard Akiko Yamazaki’s

retired Grand Prix horse, Kranak

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USDF ConneCtion • December 2010/January 2011 47

Riding her nineteen-year-old Hanoverian

gelding, norteassa, Hart was fourteenth

with 67.200 percent.

“it was fun riding that test,” Hart said

afterward. “it was just awesome. it was the

last time with this horse because he’s retir-

ing. We’ve been together for eight years.”

Te Grade ii freestyle gold medalist was

Dr. Angelika trabert of Germany.

once again, Pearson dominated the ib

freestyle, this time scoring 82.500 percent

to take home the gold.

Te last day of the WeG saw the final

para-equestrian competition, the Grade

iV freestyle. Mary Jordan and Paxton Ab-

bey had a steady test for 66.000 percent

and fifteenth place. owner Yamazaki was

on hand to watch Jennifer Baker ride the

eighteen-hand Kranak in the final test of

his career, earning a score of 64.400 per-

cent for seventeenth place.

With expressive lateral work and add-

ing a degree of difficulty by riding flying

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SPUNKY: A big trot from the pony Lateran, ridden by Wendy Fryke

Mary Jordan, a member of

the 2010 Kentucky Equine

Research US para-equestrian

dressage team at the WEG, works for

Pennfield Corp., a Pennsylvania-based

manufacturer of horse and livestock

feeds. Her industry connections led to

the team’s sponsorship by KER, an in-

ternational equine nutrition, research,

and consultation company.

As part of the sponsorship, the

144-acre KER farm near Versailles,

KY, hosted the team members and

their horses from September 17 to October 2,

when they moved to the Kentucky Horse Park in

Lexington for the start of the WEG para-equestrian

dressage competition.

Many of the team members met for the first

time at KER. The two weeks together at the bucolic

facility enabled the riders to practice without hav-

ing to deal with the intense atmosphere and pace

at the Horse Park. Among their preparations was

a mock show judged by FEI “I” judge Janet Foy, of

Colorado Springs, CO.

“KER is like a horse heaven; it is unbelievable,”

said Hope Hand, of Newtown Square, PA, a former

Paralympian who’s now the president of the US

Para-Equestrian Association. “We are in a brand-

new barn with beautiful big stalls that even in-

clude automatic sensors to tell us the amount that

each horse drinks. There is a beautiful indoor and

outdoor arena, turnout pastures, and the typical

Kentucky rolling hills. The setting for them to train

is very calming and a wonderful place to be before

entering the Horse Park.”

KER Training Camp

EXPERT ADVICE: US FEI “I” judge Janet Foy gives Laura Goldman pointers during

the American riders’ pre-WEG mock show

48 December 2010/January 2011 • USDF ConneCtion

changes on a circle, Susan treabess finished tenth on 69.650 percent. Robin Brueckmann’s freestyle, which showcased Raison d’Être’s exceptional gaits, put her in fourteenth place with 68.500 percent.

“He’s a light and fluffy horse, and i wanted light and fluffy music,” Brueckmann said of her freestyle, to Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” and Paul Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion.” “Te trot work was quite good, and he has an exceptional walk, so that was good too.”

Grabbing one more gold medal for Great Britain, Sophie Wells won the Grade iV freestyle.

“We would all love to win a medal, but in all reality, we still need to climb up the ranks with all the judges,” said chef Missy Ransehousen, who has coached the US para-eques-trians since 2000. “We need more exposure. Te team has quite a few green riders that no one knows. Tey haven’t done any big competitions in europe. We just need time. But overall i am pleased with how all of my riders have rid-den. obviously we would love to have higher scores, but they have performed to their best.”

on Ransehousen’s wish list: more-competitive horses, improved access to talented riders, and continued support from the able-bodied dressage community.

“We have seen a lot of support in the last year from

the able-bodied,” she said. “Tey have been great. Para be-ing at WeG has given us more exposure. it is a shame that the dressage competition did not overlap the para so those spectators could have seen us, too.

“ideally, when the therapeutic-riding centers have rid-ers who have the ability to do this, it would be good if they could contact us [USeF],” Ransehousen continued. “We could send a scout to go see them. it is still very hard to merge the two. Tat is where we would like to be—have people throughout the US that could scout for talented rid-ers. We only had fifteen riders that had certificates of capa-bility to compete here. Tat isn’t that many for the whole United States. We need a really good pool of riders to pull from, although fifteen was the most we have ever had. in the past, we didn’t need a selection trial; we took the riders we had. [now we have] twice as many riders, so that does show progress.”

Buoyed by the exposure and the warm reception at the WeG, US para-equestrian dressage may well receive that needed boost. With the continued support of horse owners and sponsors, the future of para-equestrian sport in Amer-ica surely has a bright future. s

Emily Koenig is USDF’s senior publications coordinator.

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