A very eventful day at Hartpury, not least for the monsoon climactic conditions which have rendered the venue of the FEI World Para

Equestrian Dressage Championships inaccessible to the outside, a veritable island in a class of its own. And while the world outside was brought to a halt because of the rising waters, the competition itself continued fairly undisturbed, albeit with minor modifications which saw all the outdoor competitions staged indoors. And it must have been at this moment that the Organisers thanked their lucky stars for the recent 4.2 million equine arena development which boasts a 70x40 metre competition arena, additional warm up facilities, seating for six hundred spectators and a panoramic restaurant. Indeed, the whole building has been developed to cater for the needs of disabled riders and spectators and this is precisely what the outdoors could not provide today.

Despite minor changes in venue (from outdoor to indoor) the timetables for competition for the different Grades were all held on schedule and true to form, the athletes and horses were the stars of the day. The sheer number of countries and teams present at these Championships has been astounding. There are entire teams, such as the Australian team, competing entirely on borrowed horses (they have been here for three weeks getting ready for the Championships), among the many seeking to earn qualification points to the 2008 Paralympic Games. In every way, the competition on display today has been awe inspiring, first in terms of the athletes’ resilience given the weather conditions and particularly their courage, outstanding determination and sportsmanship. It was a great day for the sport.

Four out of the five Grades were won by British riders, while Ann Cathrin Lubbe from Norway was able to pinch first place in the Grade IV competition. Grade Ia was won by Sophie Christiansen (European Champion), Grade Ib by Lee Pearons (an experienced and much admired Paralympic medallist and recently elected the first FEI Athletes Committee Chairman), Grade II by Nicola Tustain (She won individual bronze, freestlye gold and team gold at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics among many achievements) while Grade III was won by Deborah Criddle (whose achievement at having won individual, freestlye and team gold at the 2001 European Championships, the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Athens Paralympics all with Figaro makes them the only combination to have won gold treble at all these championships consecutively!). The result is, in many ways, indicative of Great Britain’s real commitment to disabled Paralympic sport. Indeed, Great Britain has been a trailblazer in Para-Equestrian sport for many years, winning Paralympic team gold in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.