Overcoming Disability To Ride Para Dressage: My Story, My Dream

My name is Bryanna and I am a 24-year-old Grade 1 Para Dressage Rider from Trinity, FL. I live with spastic diplegic Cerebral Palsy and I am a full-time wheelchair user.  

I have loved horses since I was a child, but I did not get to ride and be around them consistently until I was 17 years old in 2016, when my parents gave me a voucher for 4 therapeutic riding lessons at Quantum Leap Farm for Christmas. 

My passion for horses started when I met a palomino pony on a preschool field trip, and from there I spent my childhood learning as much about horses as I could through books, movies, and video games.

I leapt at any chance I had to go on a pony ride.

I discovered para dressage at age 11 by searching the internet to see if there were any professional riders with a disability, and to my pleasant surprise, there were. 

I watched riders like Rebecca Hart and Roxanne Trunnell shine in the arena with their horses, and I knew I had to be part of the sport too. 

Here is Paralympian Rebecca Hart preparing for her 4th Olympics. You will see why she is such an inspiration.

I already loved watching able-bodied dressage riders, so it was a match made in heaven. Knowing that para dressage existed lit a fire in me like nothing else.

When I first started riding, I wanted to give myself more time to learn and get used to riding and caring for horses, because I did not have many real-life experiences. 

I took my first independent ride on an Appaloosa-Quarter Horse named Sonic, and have been riding independently since. In 2019, I made the transition from therapeutic riding to Para Dressage.

I received my national para dressage classIfication as a Grade 1 Para Dressage rider in January 2020 at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, and have been working hard to grow in the sport since. 

I have met other para dressage riders online, and have had the opportunity to meet Lisa Hellmer, the USEF Para Dressage Development Coach. I hope to ride with her consistently one day, she is so encouraging and believes in my ability.

TRY READING: Good Horse Quotes

I entered my first show in Dec 2020 through the USEF Para Dressage Virtual Judging program and received a score of 55%.

I have been putting in the work to improve my technique to get a better score, and hope to enter again in June of this year. 

The horse I entered with, an American Paint Horse named Shane, was my first para dressage partner. He passed away on February 28th, 2022 and I am so grateful to him.

I am now working with a Quarter Horse cross named Griffin.

My ultimate goal is to compete in the Paralympics and other international events. I have been working towards these goals by setting a series of smaller ones for myself. 

These include improving my 20 and 10 meter circles, learning the separation of aids so that I can ride more effectively, and entering my first in-person show. 

Currently, I am working on qualifying to be on the Emerging Athletes List for Para Dressage. To do this, I have to receive 2 scores of 60 or above at a USEF recognized show or through the virtual judging program.

RECOMMENDED:

• Romantic Horse Movies
• Horse Racing Movies on Netflix

I practice elements of our test every lesson with Griffin, and we are improving steadily. We also had the opportunity to ride in a clinic with Major Jeremy Beale, a two time Olympian on the British Equestrian Team, and he gave us some awesome training advice.

To further my dressage skills and have more time in the saddle, I also ride and train at Emerald M Therapeutic Riding Center. There I ride a Welsh Thoroughbred cross named Cappy. 

Cappy and I entered the Little Bit Virtual Dressage show last March and won our class with a 69%. I also receive physical therapy weekly to keep my body in-shape.

Para-dressage is not just a dream for me, it is my passion. I am doing as much as I can to achieve my goals and I hope that is evident.

By being a para-equestrian, I aim to show others just how much people can achieve if they put their mind to it! (the red here is because the sentence wasn’t completed. So I added sometiming. Hope it’s ok.)

Here are me and Shane doing our Grade 1 Novice Test A in December, 2020.