Alberta Equine ...On-Line News: The Canadian Paralympic Equestrian Team Announced

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The Canadian Paralympic Equestrian Team Announced

August 5, 2004

Ottawa, Ontario --- The Canadian Paralympic Equestrian Team was renamed following the recent decision of the Athlete Dispute Resolution arbitrator.

Dax Adam, Scarborough, Ontario, replaces Jenni Rowe, Guelph, Ontario, on the four member team to the Athens Paralympics in September. Dax will compete on his Thoroughbred mare, Copper Rose in the IPEC Grade II events. He joins team mates Lauren Barwick (Dior), Aldergrove, BC; Judi Island (Whirlwind), Cheltenham, ON; and Karen Brain, London, Ontario (Otis) in Canada’s second only trip to the Paralympics. Canada did not qualify riders for Sydney in 2000.

The change in team members also resulted in a change in the support staff and Gary Vander Ploeg, King City, Ontario, will replace Lynne Larsen, Merritt, British Columbia. Each rider has the option to choose their own horse attendant and most riders have chosen their personal coach to accompany them. The rest of the support staff include Team Leader, Jane James, Duncan, BC; Team Coach, Mary Longden, AUS; and horse attendants, Sandra Verda, Ingrid Schoene and Helen Ford as well as personal attendant, Flo Island. Jennifer MacKenzie of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, also met the qualification standard and all riders deserve much credit for their dedication and the hard work both they and their coaches put in over the last two years.

It has been a difficult time for all six riders who fulfilled the CPC criteria for selection to the team. This was the first time Canada has had a choice in choosing a team and interpretation on “ranking” the riders was called into question during several appeals since the team was first named on May 28th.

Selection of a Paralympic Team was not as simple as looking at the “numbers”. In the Olympics, a horse/rider combination compete together at Grand Prix level and qualify at a number of large international events. In the Paralympics, we are comparing riders of four different grades, some riders were reclassified to a different grade during the selection period. These riders competed on “own”, “borrowed”, or “draw” horses or a combination thereof. “Own” horses are those horses that are owned or leased, and ridden by the competitor, usually over a length of time before competing. “Borrowed” horses are those that are loaned to the competitor, usually for a very short time before the event and competed against other horses in a class comprised of both own and borrowed horses. “Draw” horses are a separate event in which every competitor must draw a horse from a pool of horses selected by the organizing committee. There were many variables to consider in order to reasonably identify our best team. The changing scene made it very difficult for riders to know or to feel that they had been ranked fairly. This is a situation which must be remedied in the future.

Every sport struggles with these issues as it evolves. Olympic Dressage has gone through their share of growing pains also. However, Olympic Dressage has been around for almost 100 years and the first Paralympic Games to hold a dressage event was in Atlanta in 1996 (with “draw” horses). The first Paralympic Games to hold an “own” horse competition will be in Athens. So, the sport is still very young and the growing pains are a little more “painful” than anybody could have envisioned. It will be the intention of the Paralympic Equestrian Committee in the next year to address the whole issue of selection criteria and the opportunity will be available to all the stakeholders to provide their input to ensure a fair and equitable process is in place for the next quadrennial.

In the meantime, the Canadian 2004 Paralympic Team is preparing to head to Athens. For the first time ever, Canadian horses will compete in International competition outside of North America. Results from the 2003 World Championships in Belgium point toward a strong finish for our Paralympic Team and team members will be focused on producing outstanding performances on their own horses in Athens.

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