Top honour for Horse & Pony Club's inclusive program

Margaret River Horse and Pony Club continues to achieve great results, recently winning a State award for Inclusivity at the Para Equestrian Awards, Equestrian WA.

MRHPC President, Lindsey Cowen, and Secretary, Anthea Burdett, travelled to Perth to accept the award, which recognises the Club’s inclusion of Para and Virtus classes into the annual dressage series.

“This recognition means the world to us because we deeply believe in promoting the inclusivity spirit of our sport and the strong relationships it fosters within our community,” Lindsey said.

Dressage is a French word, meaning ‘training’.

For all riders’ harmony, calmness and a team bond between horse and rider are pivotal, even more so for riders with limited strength and mobility.

Both Para dressage, for riders with varying degrees of physical impairment, and Virtus dressage, for riders with intellectual impairments, are an Olympic sport, with Australia fielding a Para dressage team at the Paris Games.

Virtus competitors competed in the 1996 Olympics only, and have since then, competed at a World Championship level.

During the award presentation, the MRHPC was acknowledged as having a friendly, approachable and welcoming atmosphere. The Club also has suitable facilities, designed to support differently abled riders.

Support of these classes has been championed by past Club Secretary Penny Lee, who was also the coordinator of the Dressage series committee, which hosts 3 major dressage events per year, culminating in Championship awards.

Last year Virtus riders used the MRHPC dressage series as a warm up event before they travelled to England to compete in the Virtus Open Regional Para Dressage Championships.

A regular competitor at Margaret River Dressage series is three-time Olympian Sharon Jarvis. She made history by becoming the first Australian Para equestrian rider to compete in three Para Olympic Games.

Sharon has also competed in various World Equestrian games.

Based in Donnybrook, she is a fabulous role model for all riders with a wealth of experience and knowledge based on competing on the international stage.