Wakefield rider aiming for rio

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Wakefield dressage rider Frances Dick has made an encouraging start to her campaign to try and qualify for next year’s Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro recording a personal best score at the Horse of the Year in Hastings.
Frances and her horse Weltie scored over 70 per cent in all their tests at the prestigious competition held from March 17-22 to win the grade two para-equestrian championship. They started the Horse of the Year by finishing seventh in the elementary competition before scoring 71 per cent in the team test, and 72 per cent in the championship test and freestyle test.
It was the first time that Frances, 31, has exceeded that score indicating that she and Weltie are making good progress after teaming-up two years ago.

“The Horse of the Year was not a qualifying competition but the national selectors want riders to be scoring 70 per cent in all disciplines so it was great to achieve that,” Frances says. “There’s probably going to be a qualifying event in New Zealand at the end of the year and another one in Australia in January next year so I’ll look at riding in one of those.”
Frances is hoping it will third time lucky after missing out on competing at the Beijing and London Paralympics.

“I qualified or Beijing but New Zealand didn’t send a team that year. I also qualified for London but they selected two other riders to go so I’ve just missed out – it would be a dream come true if I made it to Rio.”

Frances, who has a condition called hemiplegia which is paralysis to one side of the body with impaired muscle function, rides in the para-equestrian grade 2 category. Although she also competes in able-bodied dressage events, she says she has to adjust her riding style to compensate for her disability.

“I don’t have too much feeling in my right side which makes it quite challenging. Weltie has had to adjust to that too but he’s done that very well – he’s always wanting to please you.”

In addition to having a good horse, Frances says she is also fortunate to have a great network of supporters including her parents Yvette and Phil, grandmother Dorothy and coach Rachel Thomas. She says the Sports Nelson Tasman Trust, Nelson Dressage Group and Farmlands are also key supporters.