You’ll need Expat Shield.
Thanks for the link! For all us Americans and Canadians nursing our disappointment over our countries’ less-than-stellar equestrian performances, it’s good to remember we still have another chance to bring home medals in the Paralympics!
Yes, the UK is the bar-none powerhouse, but the US and Canada have some very good riders who could put themselves in medal contention with good showings in London.
Equestrian is 8/30-9/4, or roughly around then. Can’t wait!!!
Go Team USA:D
Will the top dressage rider who suffered brain damage in a fall, be on the US team?
I had heard that she had found a horse for the trials. But I did not hear if she was successful there.
Damn! I wish I could remember her name… Grrrr.
If you mean Courtney Dye King, no she decided not to do it this time.
Courtney King Dye has decided not to aim for the 2012 Paralympics but says she’ll continue on with para-dressage competition. Dye reported her decision on her website (www.ckddressage.com). She had qualified during the Dressage Society Spring Classic CPEDI*** in Texas in April for the U.S. Paralympic Team Selection Trials being held in Gladstone, New Jersey next week. But she had planned to compete with her new horse Make Lemonade, an 8-year-old Hanoverian known around the barn as Buddy.
Dye reported that Buddy had been a challenge saying that “his personality isn’t that of a therapy horse.” She said that good therapy horses are hard to find and said Buddy was not too blame. “He’s a good boy, he is just, as most people and animals are, willing to take a way out.”
The horse had been purchased for her by Jane Clark and Dye thanked her and all those who have supported her run for the 2012 Paralympic team. She said the funds raised to support her bid for the team will be used to support her effort to qualify for the 2014 World Equestrian Games and the 2016 Paralympics, hopefully with another para horse.
http://www.ckddressage.com/1/archives/06-2012/1.html
I’ve officially given up on Buddy. We’ve tried everything to make him happy, but his personality isn’t that of a therapy horse. Instead of, like Roxy, wanting to take care of me, he will take advantage of me. I certainly don’t hold anything against him; therapy horses, particularly sensitive ones, are hard to come by. It’s a rare and priceless temperament. He’s a good boy, he is just, as most people and animals are, willing to take a way out.
I don’t care that much about missing the show or even the Paralympics. I knew that it was a thin possibility and a stretch, and, like I said before, it’s been the great joy of striving for it. As I knew would happen, I was very sad last night and got over it very quickly. But what continues to pain me is letting down the amazing support: Jane buying this horse for the Paralympics and the many people who contributed to my Paralympic fund. I don’t know if it makes any of the contributors feel better, but the Paralympic fund is in its own account. There will hopefully be another para horse, Make Lemonade Again, and the money will go toward my efforts to qualify for WEG or 2016.
American horses are flying over today. The team is:
Becca Hart & Lord Ludger
Jonathan Wentz & Richter Scale
Donna Ponessa & Western Rose
Dr. Dale Dedrick & Bonifatius
Reserve: Mary Jordan & Sebastian
Becca Hart is doing a blog and updating regularly, if you want to follow along.
Crossing fingers that these guys could still provide a bright spot in our otherwise disappointing US Equestrian Team results!
:D:D:D
(On a related note: I really feel for CKD. I’m sure this was a horse who, before her accident, she could’ve ridden easily, or retrained to her liking quickly. It must be incredibly frustrating every time the reality of your present clashes with the reality of your past. I’m glad she’s pressing on; with less time pressure, I’m sure she’ll find the right partner for this new adventure and have the time needed to develop that partnership.)
On the right hand side of this page, there is an amazing video of Donna - http://www.discoverhorses.com/
Why is it that some people learn to play whatever cards they’re dealt and lead joyful lives? Those are my heroes 
I hadn’t heard about CKD. That’s a shame 
[QUOTE=Discobold;6506607]
On the right hand side of this page, there is an amazing video of Donna - http://www.discoverhorses.com/
Why is it that some people learn to play whatever cards they’re dealt and lead joyful lives? Those are my heroes :D[/QUOTE]
I wish more folks could realize how difficult others’ lives can be and what CAN be done with limited “resources.” It’s a message I relay, almost daily, to my students.
(I teach language arts to 7/8th graders with mild/moderate learning disabilities.)
It’s kind of interesting what makes someone want to compete in a Paralympics. I have a friend who was permanently paralyzed with what her doctors here call West Nile polio. Basically she woke up one morning with all her limbs except one arm paralyzed and her chest muscles were also affected for breathing. Just like real polio.
This woman was a lifelong horse person, who ran pony club, taught at Girl Scout camp, evented, ran small local events, rode dressage and had just bought a horse who was going to take her to her USDF bronze, foxhunted, etc. Her horses were her life outside of work and family. She was inexhaustible.
For the first year or so after her paralysis (she’s a paraplegic now), she was determined that she was going to continue to ride. Lis Hartel was her idol. Then when she found out that she would never walk again, she just completely chucked horses. I don’t know if it was fear of falling, realization that she would have to relearn her entire balance on horseback, or what; but she hasn’t been on a horse since. We don’t have much where we live in the way of hippotherapy, and she had to drive 100 miles to find a program and the program was not geared for paraplegics anyway.
So now she’s gone into poultry in a big way.
But I, who am riddled with fears, cannot understand how one could just turn one’s back on what was the center of life for thirty years. When you look at what the paralympians have achieved and what is possible, wouldn’t they be inspiration for giving paradressage a shot. If they can do it with no legs at all, surely my friend could do it with non-functional ones.
I almost wish that someone connected with paradressage would get in touch with her and change her mind about riding. She used to be a very good rider and, given the level of her dysfunction, ought to be able to do walk tests in a snap.
Sometimes I think she’s just thumbing her nose at God.
I wanted to steal Richter Scale when I saw him go at WEG.
A name like Richter Scale seems like a bit of an oxymoron when relating to a para-Olympic horse - evoking quite an image - but it is a neat name.
vineyridge, I wish you wouldn’t judge your friend so harshly.
Since I’m not in her shoes, her motivation is incomprehensible to me. It just seems like such a huge waste of so many years of work and achievement.
She is making a new life for herself; all new except for the people in it. She is really quite amazing in what she is able to do. All the energy that she used to put into horses is dedicated to saving her farm.
[QUOTE=vineyridge;6517191]
Since I’m not in her shoes, her motivation is incomprehensible to me. It just seems like such a huge waste of so many years of work and achievement.
She is making a new life for herself; all new except for the people in it. She is really quite amazing in what she is able to do. All the energy that she used to put into horses is dedicated to saving her farm.[/QUOTE]
Given her condition, it would seem there isn’t any energy left to give to horses. Imagine how devastating and painful that must be for someone who had been “a lifelong horseperson.”
Perhaps saving her farm is what she needs to do right now, no?
