The rise of para
IN 1996, Britain’s Anne Dunham arrived at her first Paralympic Games in Atlanta, USA, where she dug her hand into a hat and drew out the name of the horse she would compete. That horse turned out to be Doodlebug, “a riding school pony who really did behave like a doodlebug in the arena!” remembers Anne, who won a bronze medal nonetheless.
A total of 59 disabled athletes from 16 nations, mounted on a motley bunch of horses, did battle for the medals in Atlanta, and in doing so, they cemented the status of dressage as a Paralympic sport.
In the 24 years since, the sport has changed almost beyond recognition; at the last Paralympic Games, in Rio in 2016, there were 76 riders representing 29 countries, all riding sleek, well-trained dressage horses – not a Doodlebug in sight. It was in Rio that Anne concluded her glittering career, adding a gold and two silver medals with spotted stallion LJT Lucas Normark to her hefty medal
