Canada fields experienced riders for Para dressage at World Equestrian Games

OTTAWA – Paralympic champion Lauren Barwick of Langley, B.C. headlines an experienced four-member Canadian team in Para dressage for the World Equestrian Games set for September 11-23 (Para dressage is September 18-22) in Tryon, North Carolina.

Barwick, who’ll be riding nine-year-old Engelbrecht in the Grade Two Class, has competed at four Paralympic Games, including the most recent in Rio in 2016. At the 2008 Games in Beijing, she won the gold medal in the individual freestyle and silver in the individual championship. 

The 40-year-old paraplegic was also a silver and bronze medallist at the last WEG in 2014 in Normandy, France.

Winona Hartvikson, also of Langley, may be the least experienced on paper but brings more than 30 years of dressage riding, coaching and judging experience to the table. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she’ll be riding in the Grade One class.

‘’It’s such a great honour to be named to the team with my horse,’’ Hartvikson told AMI radio on Tuesday. ‘’I’m really looking forward to going in and being competitive with my peers and riding at the same level disability.’’

Hartvikson’s horse is 11-year-old Ultimo which she has raised since he was age two. This season she swept all three events at the Ottawa Dressage Festival with scores above 70 percent and was a silver and bronze medallist at the Global Dressage Festival in Florida.

‘’There’s nothing like riding. It’s incredibly exciting. The journey can be up and down with the various things that can happen but the most exciting thing is going in and winning.’’
Roberta Sheffield, based in Lincolnshire, England and Jody Schloss of Toronto (Grade One) are the other riders. 

Sheffield, who posted three top-10s at the 2014 World Equestrian Games, is competing in a new classification this year aboard 16-year-old Bailaor moving from Grade IV to Grade III. 

‘’Bailaor XXXIII is feeling so ready for Tryon2018 WEG! Training with Clive Milkins [Equine Canada’s Para dressage high performance program technical leader] this morning, he went like a dream,’’ Sheffield posted on her Facebook page Tuesday.

The Para dressage events at the WEG are September 18-22. The individual championship is September 18-19, the team test grade September 20-21 and the individual freestyle is September 22. There are five levels of classification in Para dressage.

Host website: https://tryon2018.com/