What’s
been happening lately?
As many of you know who have
followed my blog over the last year in “Your Horse”, I have been progressing
slowly with para riding. It is actually so much harder than I thought it would
be. If you can remember my blogs last year you will know that I am 45 year old
mum of 2 children who was involved in a horse riding accident in October 2015.
This accident left me with a broken back and spinal injury. After 6 months in
hospital I was eager to go home and begin my new life as a paraplegic, learning
to accept a very different life than I had before. Being paralysed is not the
only complication with a spinal injury. Many people are not aware of the
complexities with a neurogenic bladder and bowel which have caused me a lot of
complication over the last 2.5 years.
Straight after my accident I
always knew I wanted to get back on the saddle but I actually had no idea how
hard this was going to be. I’ve written numerous blogs about how I have coped
over the last 2.5 years. Accessing information about the para horse industry,
assessment and classification has been extremely difficulty. It took me about a
year to get assessed for a classification grade, to be allowed to ride at the
RDA to start with even just on the
simulator and join the British Dressage. I have worked tirelessly to start to
achieve my dream of riding at Para Dressage. Perhaps now things are coming
together a little.
I’ve had amazing support
from my trainer Beth Miller BHSII who also owns Super Flynn the horse I am
riding. Flynn is a 15.3 Connemara with the personality of a saint!! Well
actually he is very cheeky, but under saddle he excels with how in tuned he is
to me, I am so lucky to be able to ride him. We have spent a long time
desensitising Flynn to the para rider hoist of which we have 2. One on the
lorry and one next to the arena. Flynn took all this training in his stride, At
this point we needed about 4 helpers to walk along by the side of us in case I
came off. Things were going well and my confidence was growing with our
partnership. We had got to the staged of riding independently in walk and were
running through some simple walk tests.
Then it happened I had a
fall and lost a lot of my confidence. It’s difficult to say what actually
happened but I think it was going onto a 20 meter circle and I lost my balance
due to the pace we were traveling at. When I over balanced I waved my arms up
and had the whips in my hands which unfortunately spooked Flynn and once I had
lost my balance there was only one outcome and that was off!!!
Following this setback it
has taken me a long time to build my confidence back up again, I am working
hard in the gym and doing exercises to strengthen my core, and learning to sit
up straight slightly behind the vertical. I am back to having side walkers and
have the most fantastic team of volunteers who I feel extremely relaxed with.
After the fall I decided I needed to get my own bespoke saddle as riding in a
GP saddle was a challenge. I approached a charity SSIT (Southern spinal
injuries trust) as I had worked with them before and know that they may accept
an application for funds towards the bespoke piece of equipment that I needed
to help me in my sport, a dressage saddle.
My physio, instructors and
RDA were able to support my application with expert knowledge of how owning my
own saddle would benefit me and my position while riding. With the application
in I started researching para dressage riders, saddles and adaptations. It is
quite complicated as I have been classified as a grade 2. This means in
competitions I will have to do walk and trot.
On your classification record you have to declare adaptations as some
adaptations won’t be allowed as they are seen as an advantage to the rider. All
the adaptions have to go through British Dressage and be authorised and added
to your card, so I can be very complicated.
Then I had the call to say I
had been successful with my application, so I was able to get in touch with my
saddler Paul Allison who has worked with lots of other para dressage riders and
he started to gather some saddles and special adaptations for me. We tried a few and then found a Fairfax one
that was most suitable, Paul then worked at taking bits off, adding extra bits
and each week we reassessed the changes, making sure it wasn’t effecting Flynn
or me in a negative way. We now have got to the point that we have a great
supportive saddle, one that is comfortable for Flynn and me. I work closely
with Paul the saddler as any changes with me or Flynn can compromise my
balance.
We have come so far this
year and even attended a British Para Training venue for our first outing. This
was a huge challenge for me as leaving the comforts of our yard and going
somewhere else changes so much. I was extremely nervous which I know effected
Flynn so his pace was quicker and this surprised me as to how different just
going somewhere else to ride would make me feel. We have also now hired the
arena at the Avon riding for disabled in Bristol (RDA) and this was a very
successful outing and we are going to try and make this a regular session for
us. It is all very expensive and this has to be taken into account as I only
have one financial sponsor which is Dolphin mobility. This year we hope to work
on the basics, and attend an unmounted fit to ride day at Hartpury College.
Where we have goal setting sessions and ride the simulator, all under the
watchful eye of British Dressage. I am looking forward to this day.
We are also working on
trying to start trotting, you may think this is easy but by no means is it. We
are just bringing in trotting on the straight. With the leaders taking the
control and me just trying to find a balance point as the trot is so bouncy. I
watch other para riders who make this look so easy. I have to keep reminding
myself this is my journey and stop comparing myself to others, but we all do
it!! The saddle I have has knee rolls
and thigh rolls which support my legs as we try to reduce the swing as too much
movement will give the wrong signals to Flynn, and we don’t want to be going
any faster at this staged. I am so happy with how far I have come over the last
12 months and hope to make even more progress in 2019.
I write my own blog at
myparajourney.blogspot.com where you can also keep up to date with my
antics and life as a paraplegic.
No comments:
Post a Comment