2015 is a big year for 100 Mile House’s Tristiana Allwood.
The highly-ranked Canadian para-equestrian rider is hoping to qualify for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Along with her seven-year-old Friesian thoroughbred, “Benjamin Bun”, the Grade 12 Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School student is entering international dressage competitions in the coming months, and hoping to score high enough to improve her ranking and get on this country’s short list for Rio.
“I’m going to work and train hard,” says Allwood, who works and trains nearly everyday at a barn near Mahood Lake. “I’m going to keep the horse strong and steady so he has a good foundation to keep going.”
Allwood suffered a stroke at birth and was subsequently diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She has limited movement in her left hand. She started riding at the age of two when her mother, Teresa, introduced her to a therapeutic riding clinic.
“I’ve been working with horses all my life. When I’m riding I don’t feel like I have a disability. I feel normal. I don’t have to think about it. I just go out and ride.”
She’s been competing in dressage – a sport where horse and rider demonstrate a series of predetermined movements in front of a judge – for about six years.
“You always have to think about what you’re going to do, the next movement, the next thing, how your horse feels,” Allwood explains of the sport. “We work as a team to help each other out and strengthen ourselves. It’s really neat to have that relationship with the horse. When you feel it, you feel it.”
She adds: “No matter what struggles you have in your life, it’s what you make of the journey that counts. I hope my success in riding will encourage other riders and people to live their dreams too.”
