“I complained because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet”

In the November/December 2008 edition of SA Horseman we had an article on Philippa Johnson who won two gold medals at the 2008 Paralympics in Hong Kong. Her story so inspired me that I wanted to know more about these incredible horsemen and women who perform at the top of their sport against all odds, and the woman who helps train them.

I was lucky enough to meet Katrine Puttick, Philippa's South African trainer and the woman who started it all for her. Based in Cape Town, Katrine is a qualified dressage instructor who had taught Philippa before her accident. In fact, Philippa was Katrine's working pupil and at the time she was polishing her for competing internationally.

Then disaster struck. Philippa was involved in a car accident that left her partially paralysed. After the accident, Katrine changed her whole approach to help Philippa ride again and still attain the heights she dreamed of, despite her disabilities. This opened up a whole new avenue for Katrine and soon she realised that there was a brave new world in para-dressage, where people with all kinds of disabilities compete at the highest level.

Katrine now explored ways of getting Philippa onto the international circuit as a disabled rider and eventually the Paralympics itself. She assisted Philippa in going to Europe and finding the horse on which to make her dreams come true in preparation for the 2004 Athens Paralympics.

In the years that followed, she dedicated herself to finding, training and preparing riders to represent South Africa at the Paralympics. In 2008 she was involved, with a team of people, in getting the first South African para-dressage team to Hong Kong.

This team consisted of: Mark Frenzel, (Grade 1a) and Marianne Milne (Grade 1b) who shared a horse, Waldfee, and Kerry Noble, (Grade 2) on Devito. Then of course there was Philippa Johnson (Grade 4) on her own horse Benedict. Katrine was the official coach and chef d'equipe for the team. Both Waldfee and Devito were kindly leased to the South African team by Phillip Hess from the stable, Hoff Bettenrode, where one of Katrine's able-bodied riders is currently training.

Parallel dressage
Para-dressage (and here it is important to understand that "para" does not stand for paraplegic, but for parallel) has a grading system where riders are classified according to their functional impairment and then compete in different grades based on riding ability:
• For Grade 1a, the rider will ride a walk-only test.
• For Grade 1b, the rider will ride-walk with some trot work, excluding -medium trot.
• For Grade 2, the rider will ride the equivalent of a novice level dressage test excluding canter.
• For Grade 3, the rider will ride a novice level dressage test.
• For Grade 4, the rider will ride an elementary/medium level test.

This grading system makes it possible for riders with quite severe disabilities to compete at a suitable level. Grade 3 and 4 riders can and do successfully compete in able-bodied competitions. All tests are judged according to strict dressage principles – e.g. the walk is judged on its quality, straightness, rhythm, forwardness etc, so that it is in no way just plodding around the arena.

According to Katrine, training riders with disabilities calls for some creativity, as one is often faced with seemingly insurmountable problems – riders with one or no arms, riders with one or no legs, riders who are partially, or even completely blind.

Then, to top all this, some riders, due to pain or otherwise, can often not spend long enough on the horse to do the necessary -training and she and her helpers have to climb in and help train the horses according to the aids which the rider is able to use. This was when I began to understand the -enormity of the task she had chosen for herself. All rules and known -methods have to be thrown out the window and new ways invented.

The riders
Katrine tells of one rider with no arms who saddles her own horse with her teeth, rides with reins held between her teeth and then down through the stirrups. Another rider suffers severe bouts of pain due to hips with cartilage almost completely worn away. Another is completely paralysed from the waist down and others need compensating aides to assist in balancing in the saddle and stabilising the lower limbs onto the horse. Some riders are blind and have to rely on callers around the arena to give them a sense of where they are.

The list is endless. But one thing that comes through again and again is the incredible endurance, determination and strength of these riders. Able-bodied riders have to work hard, train hard and fight nerves before a competition, but these riders have all that, plus other seemingly insurmountable obstacles as well as almost debilitating pain to contend with sometimes.

I briefly spoke to Marianne Milne, a young Grade 1b rider who was shot three times in the spine during an attempted hijacking, leaving her paralysed from the waist down. After five months she was released from hospital and after only three weeks, was back on her horse and incredibly, was competing again only six months later! Marianne was one of Katrine's riders who competed at the Paralympics in 2008.

Not all cases are due to sudden accident or trauma. Ashlee Becker has been competing in dressage at very high levels for many years even though both her ankles had been fused. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago, which is slowly affecting her body so that she has been forced to start looking at competing in para-dressage.

In the higher levels of dressage, riders may no longer ride the trot rising, but need to ride sitting. With a body that is in almost constant and severe spasm, the agony this causes, is becoming a limiting factor. I am told that this is being looked into by the various dressage bodies and hopes are that there may be changes afoot to accommodate such accomplished disabled riders to compete at the highest levels of able-bodied dressage. SANEF does, however, allow classified para-riders to use their compensating aides, ride one-handed, etc. in able-bodied competition.

To the question whether riding experience before the disability is essential, Katrine gave a rather interesting answer. It is not strictly necessary and often riders get introduced to para-riding as a result of riding therapy. However, previous riding experience helps.

The muscles of the body have a "memory". Therefore, if someone has ridden all their life and is suddenly involved in some accident, losing the use of their legs for instance, the body will "remember" what to do. And even though the specific muscles are no longer able to do the job, those related muscles that were used will take over the function, making it easier for riders to use their bodies in other ways to get the desired result.

The horses
The horses are also special. Marianne Milne tells how when she first went to see her horse on her release from hospital, he immediately turned his attention to her legs, nuzzling and pushing them with his mouth. He knew there was a problem and wanted to help! She said that he instantly adapted to her new way of riding, never putting a foot wrong!

For para-riding one needs a horse with a sweet and willing temperament, with paces good enough for competition. Often these horses are able-body trained and they need to be retrained to respond to the specific aids of the rider, in the same way as a disabled rider has to re-learn basic movements, but nothing is impossible.

Karen Beytell went with the team to Hong Kong as a “travelling groom” and helped Katrine to reschool the able-body trained German horses to adapt to their new riders. She said that this was done mainly on the lunge, teaching them voice or sound commands and then adding the rider; putting the physical aid to the sound and eventually removing the sound altogether. Did this take months? No, she says, they only had three weeks with the horses!

In talking to someone like Katrine, one realises that the most important things in life are definitely not those that money can buy. What is important is the human spirit and the fire that burns within to allow people to rise above anything that life can throw at them and to simply carry on and up.

Riding as therapy
Although Philippa Johnson was familiar with the concept of therapeutic riding, this option initially didn't cross her mind though, as she and Katrine tried to figure out a way of doing things. Then she met riding-therapist (hippotherapist), Lisa Hare, from Sleepy Hollow in Cape Town. After watching her work, which according to Philippa was mind blowing, they knew that she was the one to help them. Lisa would provide the chance to prove the doctors wrong and help Philippa realise her dream of representing South Africa at the Olympics.

Though her injuries were severe, her body completely lopsided, having to become left-handed, and wracked with pain, Philippa placed herself unreservedly in Lisa's hands. The movement of the horse, combined with -intense -therapy, stimulated nerves to reconnect, muscles to strengthen and regain their "memory" and uninjured muscles to start -compensating for -injured muscles. It helped recreate balance and coordination, enabling Philippa to maintain her posture, her body starting to "remember" old patterns and finding ways to simulate things as they were.

According to Lisa, Philippa was incredible to work with – single-mindedly determined. She was able to push Philippa beyond anything she had ever done with any other patients. She insisted that Philippa mount her horse from the ground, with no assistance and no mounting block. This seemed near impossible with one useless arm and one almost useless leg.

She started off on a small pony that was more accessible from the ground and then gradually onto bigger horses, until finally Philippa could mount her 17,2 hh horse. However, her hard work finally paid off and Philippa's body reached the point where therapy once more became riding. As a riding aid, Lisa and Philippa invented the special reins that Philippa rides with, which are currently widely used worldwide by disabled, one-handed riders.

Into the ring
Lisa realised that the last hurdle to cross would be to get Philippa into competition, but where to go? Able-bodied dressage would not allow her riding with one hand. It so happened that a friend of Lisa’s was having a training show at her premises and they had a musical, Kur, which was to be ridden in fancy dress!

They entered Philippa without telling anyone that she was disabled, dressed her up as Napoleon Bonaparte and went. Philippa won the class hands-down, nobody was any the wiser and the first step towards the Olympics was taken.

Philippa managed to regain between 60 and 70% of the use of her right leg, although not of her arm. Riding therapy, combined with her own determination, were what made the difference between someone who “would never ride again” and someone who won two silver and two gold medals at two different Paralympics. In fact, to demonstrate her drive and determination, it is necessary to understand that Philippa is graded as a Grade 3 rider, and yet she has been competing all along in Grade 4!

Sad news: Philippa and her Paralympic horse, Benedict, were close to qualifying for the Aachen CHIO light tour in 2009, a prestigious able-bodied competition, but recently Benedict bruised a suspensory ligament. This means that Aachen is out for this year. All of us at SA Horseman wish Benedict a speedy recovery.

• For further information on clinics or selection in your area, sponsorships or anything else about para-dressage, contact Katrine Puttick on kputtick@iafrica.com / Sharon Boyce at SANEF on sharuf@mweb.co.za or visit -para-equestrian on www.horsesport.org.za. Also keep an eye on your provincial body communications, as most provinces are currently establishing para-equestrian committees.
• For further information on riding therapy, contact Lisa Hare on sleepy@intekom.co.za. For therapeutic riding centres in your area, go to SA Horseman’s Equi-pages, or to www.horsejunction.co.za.