VERSAILLES, France--The U.S.had an incredible opening day of Para Dressage with Rebecca Hart and Fiona Howard both winning gold medals and Roxanne Trunnell winning a silver medal in the first three Individual medal events at Versailles on Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Rebecca Hart on Floratina (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)
Hart on Floratina won in Grade III and Howard on Diamond Dunes won in Grade II, while Trunnell, double gold medallist from Tokyo 2020, won the silver medal on Fan Tastico H in Grade I behind Rihards Snikus of Latvia on King Of the Dance.

They surpassed the two golds and a bronze won at Atlanta 1996 and at Tokyo 2020, where Trunnell, on Dolton, won the USA’s first two individual golds for 24 years and also won team bronze with Hart on El Corona Texel and Kate Shoemaker on Solitaer 40.

Hart, 39 of Weliington, Fla., began the gold rush by winning her first individual medal at her fifth Paralympic Games on Floratina, having previously finished fourth in Beijing and fifth at London 2012.

She has Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia., which is is in a group of inherited diseases whose main feature is a progressive gait disorder.

The disease presents with progressive stiffness, called spasticity, and contraction in the lower limbs

“It's been 25 years of trying to get to this point and being close many, many times,” Hart said. “To actually get it, I feel like I'm going to wake up at any moment. It's just surreal. It feels like a dream."

"This is my first gold ever,"she said. "We've worked so hard as a country with my fellow athletes to really develop our program and step up our game. Four years later, here we are"

 

“IT'S A HUGE venue and the entire atmosphere was phenomenal." she said. "I was just trying to stay with her and focused, because it felt so easy. I just needed to stay on my game and get the test done.”

Hart was the second to last to go in the morning while it was pouring rain, and she won with a score of 77.900%.

Fiona Howard on Diamond Dunes (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)
Rixt van der Horst of the Netherlands won the silver medal with 76.433%,  her sixth Paralympic medal overall at her third Games, on new horse, Royal Fonq, and Natasha Baker of Great Britain, in her first Paralympic Games since becoming a mother last year, won the  bronze, her ninth Paralympic medal after six golds and two silvers, on Dawn Chorus with 73.167%.

Howard, 25 of Boston, Mass., won the Grade II gold on Diamond Dunes in her first Paralympic Games with a superb performance to finish on 76.931%, going after the rain had stopped,leaving it cloudy and cool..

“We haven’t been a partnership for that long, only since March when we did our first competition,” she said. “I just trusted him and he gave me everything in there. I am so proud of him. He’s never let me down.”

Howard started riding as a young child in England - participating in an array of equestrian sports, including eventing, jumping, polocrosse, and polo at her local Pony Club.

She originally started her international equestrian career in reining, including appearances at the 2016 FEI European Reining Championships for Juniors and Young Riders.

Howard was diagnosed with a rare muscle disorder called dystonia and moved to Boston for ongoing treatment.

She was told she may never be able to ride again.

After enrolling in Northeastern University in Boston to be close to her medical team, Howard decided to try riding again, even as her conditioned limited physical control below her torso.

Soon after, she began competing in para equestrian dressage, officially marking her first international start in 2022.

Katrine Kristensen of Denmark, who also became a first-time mother last year after winning double gold at the FEI World Championship in 2022, won silver on Goerklintgaards Quater with a score of 73.966%, and Georgia Wilson of Great Britain, on Sakura, added another Paralympic individual bronze after two at Tokyo 2020, scoring 73.414%.

Roxanne Trunell on Fan Tastico H (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)
Trunnell, 49 or Royal Palm Beach,Fla., the double individual gold medalist from Tokyo, had to settle for silver on Fan Tastico H after finishing on 78.000% in the final event on Tuesday.

She credited the three medals to the influence of Michel Assouline, who spent 12 years as head coach of Great Britain’s para equestrian team before joining Team USA in 2017 as head of para equestrian coach development and high performance consultant.

"He is really good,” Trunnell said. “He got us all straightened up, training harder, with better horses. We have evolved our training and been working so hard. It's nice to see it pay off."

Trunnell earned a United States Dressage Federation bronze medal and was close to obtaining her silver medal until contracting a virus in 2009 that caused swelling in her brain that changed her life forever.

The virus put her in a coma and resulted in her requiring a wheelchair.

It was an emotional triumph for Rihards Snikus, 36 of Latviia on King of the Dance who, in his fourth Paralympic Games, went one better than his silver medal in Tokyo to win gold in Grade I with a score of 79.167%.

Following his win, Snikus, who is able to walk with two crutches, went around hugging all the other competitors.

 Sara Morganti of Italy on Mariebelle, won her third Paralympic Games bronze medal, after two in Tokyo also on Royal Delight, with a score of 74.625%.

Groups I competes only at a walk, while Groups II and III compete at a walk and trot.

The horses are led to the ring to ensure that they don"t spook upon first seeing the stands, which would cause a disastrous fall for their riders.

Spectators are requested to not applaud, which could spook the horses, but rather to wave their hands in the air in appreciation.

The horses are all amazing, as are their riders who have all worked so hard to be able to ride much less ride so well.