WHILE hundreds of competitors rode at horse shows across Victoria last week, an inspiring group of riders were showing how much they were prepared to deal with to compete in a sport they love, despite their disabilities.
The Riding for the Disabled National Dressage Championships, held at the National Equestrian Centre, Werribee Park, brought together riders from each Australian state, and a team from New Zealand who rode on borrowed mounts.
The championships provide a pathway for riders to achieve their goal of performing at an international level.
There are five grades for dressage. They range from grade 1A for the most severely impaired riders, to grade 4 for the least impaired.
Each rider performs three tests, including freestyle to music, and is judged on his or her skill on the horse, regardless of disability.
The word inspiring gets thrown about far too much, but it's most apt when watching riders who are prepared to go through any level of pain to be able to compete, yet they are full of good humour and supportive of each other, and many riders competed on horses loaned for the event.
The visually-impaired riders had the deepest effect on spectators who had not previously watched RDA dressage.
To see people decked out in white boiler suits acting as markers, and calling out the letters, and riders trusting their mount and making a darned good fist of riding a complicated test is an experience that shows not only the bravery of people determined to ride, no matter what, but the generosity of some wonderful horses.
The NZ riders competed on borrowed horses they only met on arrival at the venue.
Joanna Jackson, who has a prosthetic arm and a severely injured shoulder, rode the Welsh Cob stallion Barnon Imperial Jack, loaned for the event by Norm Clark.
Joanna watched a video of the stallion at home in NZ and planned his freestyle music performance by long distance.
"I was in a great deal of pain during my second test," Joanna said.
"If he had done one thing wrong I would have come off, but he knew I was in trouble and did his very best for me."
Joanna finished reserve in her section, which went to Hannah Dodd of NSW riding Lucifer's Dream. Hannah also won the 4A section riding Yarralonga Golden Boy.
The West Australian riders scored well, with Sharon Jarvis on Koolena Kindred Spirit winning the grade 3 section A championship, Megan Britza riding Dream Boy winning the grade 3 section B and Fleur Lister on Edlen Silver Sails taking out the grade 2 section A title.
In grade 1 section A, the champion, Jan Pike of NSW, is no stranger to the big events.
Despite suffering from cerebral palsy quadriplegia, her motto is "Alone I stagger, together we glide" and Jan has competed for Australia at Olympics and world titles.
The grade one section B went to Susan Siepel of Queensland, who was born with arthrogryposis multiplex, a rear disorder characterised by fusion of joints and absent muscle formation in her legs.
