In September 2006 Jane, who is 46, suffered a catastrophic accident resulting in the loss of both her legs, one above and one below the knee, confining her to a wheelchair. She had ridden most of her life, and was desperate to continue. Undaunted by her disabilities, she started riding at the Riding for the Disabled Association’s Unicorn Centre based at Hemlington near Middlesbrough.

 

Her first time back on a horse was easier than she thought: a specialist mounting hoist and a calm, experienced instructor enabled her to sit on Murphy who helped her quickly regain her balance and love of riding. Always competitive, Jane was not prepared to hang about. Although she had never ridden a dressage test before she entered her first of many Unicorn Centre RDA Dressage competitions and won!

 

Since then, Jane has never looked back. For the last three years she’s competed at the RDA National Championships at Hartpury, Gloucestershire winning fistfuls of medals on Unicorn Centre horse Maidendale Grenadier. And last year she bought her own horse, Lily, who has quickly adapted to Jane’s style of riding.

 

Jane says, “At our first show with Lily I competed against able bodied people at the Unicorn Centre and we won both our classes. This gave me the confidence to take the next step and I entered my first Para dressage competition, where again we won”.

 

From then on Para Dressage became Jane’s objective. She continued, “We entered more shows and I qualified for Hickstead Dressage Championships and the Para National Championships at Vale View EC. Taking part in the National Championships was a completely different experience to the RDA shows I was used to. I competed against the Para gold medal champion, Natasha Baker, which was a great experience.”

 

Jane’s burning ambition is to qualify as a Para Dressage rider in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She’s not afraid of work, but she does need sponsorship to help make this happen and she’s appealing for supporters to help pay her professional coaching and competition costs. Could you or someone you know help Jane?

 

For further information contact Jane on 07912 16018, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Claire Pitt, Centre Manager of the Unicorn Centre on 01642 576222.