EDMONTON – A riding accident in 2001 that paralyzed Karen Brain from the waist down sidelined her goal of event riding on the Canadian Olympic team, but not forever.
One year after she was tossed off a horse, Brain rode in her first Paralympics in Portugal. In 2004 she won two bronze medals in the Athens Paralympics. In 2008 a horse allergy stymied her medal chances in Hong Kong, the equine site of the Beijing Olympics.
Brain wants to be the first disabled person to ride dressage in the able bodied Olympics in London in 2012 or Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
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“2012 may be overly ambitious,” she said during Farmfair International’s 4-H Family Day in Edmonton.
“I want to prove to myself I can do it,” said Brain, who has wanted to win an Olympic gold medal since she began to ride near Vancouver.
She also wants to prove to able-bodied riders that disabled riders can achieve success. Depending on their disability, riders use a variety of adaptive aids to help them stay on their horse.
“I want to show able bodied people that Para riding is not therapy riding and we’re a very capable group of riders and able to do high levels of dressage.”
Brain rides her horse every day and focuses on the finer points of dressage, often called ballet on horse back, where horses and riders are marked on tiny details not noticed by most people.
Brain is focusing on teaching her horse to do flying lead changes. It’s not a big deal for most riders, but every step counts in dressage.
Small goals made her a world-class event rider, Brain told children and parents during her motivational talks, and that approach will help anyone see their dreams come true.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the nice house and car and a paycheque every two weeks,” she said.
“My dream since I was 10 years old was to go to the Olympics and it’s still with me.
“You need to be true to yourself and do what you want to do.”
Luckily for Brain, her new equine sport, dressage, takes years to perfect and can be done until a rider is 80 because of it’s controlled movement.
While touring Farmfair before her talk, Brain briefly watched a reining competition and decided that was her next goal, after her Olympic goal is met.
“After I get dressage figured out, I want to do reining. It’s dressage with excitement.”
