Paralympics - who's to come?

Well I can honestly say that I have never been a fan of the olympics and before they were on I didn't really have any interest in watching them at all, but from watching the first day of the eventing, I fell in love with them, more so than I thought I would do, only the horses of course though! So when the paralympics start I think I will find my self glued to the seat watching as much as possible of the riding, and probably nothing else. In so many ways I have more respect for the paralympics than the normal olympics because while competitors in any of the two olympics HAVE to work hard I personally think that the people competing in the para-olympics have to work just that little bit harder to get what they want! But by no means does that make them my favourite as Carl Hester will always be my favourite rider and a rider that I have 100% respect for. So I decided while reading 'Horse and Hound Magazine' that I would let you all know about Team GB's riding team so here you go:-

Lee Pearson - Above is a picture of Lee Pearson riding his horse Gentleman, an 11 year old gelding. He has rode at Sidney in 2000, Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, making this his fourth olympic games. He is a triple Gold medalist, and his disability is that he has Arthrogryposis, this is a condition that restricts Joint movement. He controls his horse using his hips as he can not move his ankles or his knees.

Deb Criddle - Above is a picture of Deb Criddle and her 12 year old gelding, Akilles. She has also competed at Sidney, Athens and Beijing Olympics and her best result was that she was a gold medalist at Athens and the 2003 world championships. Riding Akilles in 2011 she was a Gold Medalist at the European Championships. Her disability is that her side was damaged in a motor cycle accident, she lost the use of her right arm which was later amputated. She defied doctors by being able to walk again after the extent of damage to her leg.

Sophie Christiansen - Above is a picture of Sophie Christiansen and her 15 year old Gelding Janeiro, One again she has competed at the past three olympics, and was a bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Sophie was born two months prematurely with Cerebal Palsy, which limits the use of her muscles.

Sophie Wells - The next rider and the fourth is Sophie Wells (picture above). This is her Debut to the olympics (although she was a reserve for the Beijing games) and will be riding her 15 year old gelding Pinocchio. She is a double gold medalist at WEG 2012 and won Hickstead under-21 able bodied international in 2008. Her disability is the fact that she was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, a condition that has caused her to lose fingers as well as the feeling and movement in her feet, she also suffers with Nerve damage and pain in her lower legs. She is one of the youngest riders at 22.

Natasha Baker - Finally is 22 year old Natasha Barker and her 11 year old gelding Cabral. London will mark her Debut to the Olympics the same as Sophie Wells. Her best results are winning triple gold at the para dressage European Championships in 2011. Natasha's Disability is that she contracted a condition called transverse myelitis 14 months ago, this left her with permanent nerve damage, and a extreme weakness in her legs. To command her horses, they have been trained to respond to seat aids, and voice aids.

Well I am tired tomorrow I am going to spend time writing about out my all time favourite riders.

Unti then

A Girl With A Dream

CON ARTIST - NICKI WILLIAMS - BEWARE

Okay so this post has taken me a while to post for several reasons but the main one being just how angry this woman has made me. For those of you that have been following my blog for a long while you will know that back around October of 2016, I was introduced to a woman called Nicki Williams, she was a friend of a friend that was supposed to be opening a centre for rehoming and rescuing animals, but also for horses working with soldiers that has PTSD. We hit it off straight away and came what I thought to be good friends. However warning bells should have probably rang sooner. By January or February of last year the horses that I had agreed to look after (that she had got on loan) Bella and Arthur, she was being threatened that she would have them taken off her by the control of horses act, because she hadn't been paying the rent for the field. Although Nicki reassured me that she had done, she even showed my 'payments' that had been made to Angie. I ended up getti...

Just as you think things are getting better they prove not to be.

On Sunday in the Early hours of the morning my nan took another fall, while she was trying to go to the toilet, (she has an en suite so it wasn't a long way for her to walk but she went all dizzy and then fell), and as she has a small compact bathroom she hit her head on the side of the bath. Today we had the Doctor out to see her and he was worried with the fact that her blood pressure drops so low when she stands up and when following the doctors finger when looking to the right her eye was jerking side ways but not to the left. So he said he wanted her to go in to a Day case unit and have a whole load of tests including a brain scan, blood tests and chest x-rays. He wrote a cover note/letter and my Uncle took my nan to the doctors. While she was there she had an ECG, blood tests and chest x-rays but no brain scan which was the most important one that she needed. They then told her that her blood pressure was fine but it was her heart that they were worried about. She never had ...

an intense few days.

The past few days have been INTENSE to say the least. Both days have been filled with horsey madness and while I am aching now I feel good for managing to accomplish everything that I have done. There will be some video's soon but I honestly just haven't got around to uploading them and editing them so as soon as I do that I'll let you know and you can all see. Yesterday I went up to do Magic, after all the ponies nearly escaped from the field I eventually managed to convince him to come and do some work. He had a really nice groom and fuss, which he LOVED. Then I put his bridle with his new reins on, and his lunge cavesson (not sure if I have spelt that right), we lunged nicely for both ways doing walk, trot and canter. Then out of no where going to the right he exploded. I couldn't see anything that had happened so assumed he was just having one of his moments and that he would be fine and calm down, but that I might need to free school him first. So I did what I...

The way to heaven is on horseback

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