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Tuesday 1 November 2011

Riding Heroes! - *Guest post*

It is with pleasure that I introduce you to today's guest post, I hope that you enjoy it!

Last weekend we were in an unusual riding competition for 2 different things: The competition took place in an extraordinary place, El Club de Campo, in Madrid (the place needs another post just for itself!) and the 2nd thing is because at the same time that there was a National Dressage competition there was also a  Paradressage competition.


Wheelchair with bandages
It was the first time I had ever seen people with different kind of  physical or psychological disabilities on a horse.

This type of competition for obvious reasons has different rules that I didn't know and I was talking with the judges to go deeper into this "world".
Rider with no  movement in his legs.
Just to let you know some of them, there are different categories depending on the disability of the rider, they can use extra help like 2 whips, special saddles and bridles and even one spur on one leg and none on the other.
 
They are allowed to go in the arena with the instructor
But this is not what impressed me most. It was the fact that these brave people that have a disadvantage still try to fight againts the elements.


After watching this, you realize how lucky you are and why we should copy them and why we should smile more often and we should overcome those little daily silly things.

My dear friends, life is a matter of a few happy seconds, some of them have already passed and a lot of them are about to arrive.

Smile and enjoy your life because always somebody is looking after you!
Briefing between horsey and his fellow rider.
Thanks for reading! I hope that I'll be allowed to come back and post again soon.

3 comments:

  1. Hello Andrea
    Thank you for your comments on my post. Working with disabled riders has really made me stop moaning about a bit of arthritis in my joints! I am amazed at the courage some of these riders have. To get out of a wheelchair and up onto a horse, then score high marks in a dressage test is
    quite remarkable. Abby

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  2. Who’s the guest? It’s a great post, horses really do a lot of good for people. Seeing these riders makes me wonder how they do it, I find riding hard and I am not disabled in anyway that I know of, they really are inspiring people, good for them.
    Regards
    Edward

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  3. Hi Abby, when I read your post I had to agree, especially after having seen my own Paradressage test at the weekend. They are truly inspiring - and yes, I've stopped complaining so much about my riding too!
    Edward, the 'mystery' guest post is actually by my hubby! It's his first ever post and was too shy to put his name to it but he was so overwhelmed by what he saw at the competition that he asked if he could do his own post. We'll have to see if he's motivated enough to do another mystery guest post in the future!
    Andrea

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