Sue-Ellen Lovett –a two-time paralympian, from the local region – will ride alongside blind-folded sighted riders to demonstrate the level of achievement of athletes with a disability, in the Dressage in the Dark Challenge at the Australian Dressage Championships later this month.
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At the 2016 Paralympics, four athletes ran faster than the Gold Medal winner of the same event at the Rio Olympics, showing the benchmark that some of the athletes with disabilities have to achieve to secure a place on the dais at any international competition.
As the Paralympics finished, Cathie Drury-Klein, one of the organisers for the Australian Dressage Championships, wanted a challenge to highlight the achievements and difficulties of such athletes.
She contacted Sue-Ellen Lovett, who has competed at two Paralympics games, a world championships, raised over $3 million for charity, been on the Sydney Paralympics organising committee and won numerous national community and sport awards.
They decided on the challenge: Sue-Ellen will do a demonstration at the Australian Dressage Championships riding a mini small tour test to music, to set the scene.
A year ago she was riding with people at each marker with spotlights which they would shine towards her to give her direction, but as her eyesight has increasingly deteriorated, she now has what she calls “living markers” - as SueEllen rides the test, the living markers call out their position as she rides towards them.
The demonstration explains how it works, then two of Australia’s top dressage riders - Heath Ryan (Olympian) and Brett Parbery (World Championship representative) – wear glasses that will only allow them to see a dark fog and ride movements on command, relying on calls from the living markers.
Sue-Ellen doesn’t seem to use the word ‘disability’, she uses ‘adversity’, an issue is that her eyesight keeps getting worse.
“Each time my sight worsens, I’m losing a part of me so it hurts, it’s like a kick in the guts,” she said.
“I just have to go through the grieving process each time and start fighting again.
“Not every day is easy and I’d be lying if I said it was”.
But her goal is to compete at Grand Prix which she more than likely will.
The first rider to put the blindfold, Heath Ryan, said, “ I salute the achievement’s Sue-Ellen has made during her Dressage career she is truly inspirational to all of us, we’ll see how I go”
Second off the block Brett Parbery, wonders how he’ll perform as well and said, “I have no idea how she executes the arena so well”.
The Dressage in the Dark Challenge will be held before the Grand Prix Freestyle to music on Saturday, October 22, from 6pm, the Australian Dressage Championships run from October 20-23 at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre.
