FORMER Irish Olympic event rider Jonty Evans was among the para dressage winners at last week’s I.C.E. Horseboxes All England Dressage Festival at Hickstead.

His first international victory with Cooley Rorkes Drift, who he rode in eventing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, is the first step of a journey that he hopes will lead him to the Paralympic Games in the future.

With ‘Art’ as he is known at home, Evans suffered a crashing cross-country fall at the Tattersalls International Horse Trials in June 2018 which left him in a coma for seven weeks. He had to learn how to walk and talk again, but after a three-month stay in hospital and a lengthy rehabilitation, he returned to riding a year after his accident.

The switch to para-dressage has allowed him to continue his special relationship with Art. The pair won their first competition in March of this year, and this week marked their CPEDI (international para-dressage) debut. They continued their run of success with wins in the two-star Para Intermediate Grade IV A and B tests, as well as the Grade IV Freestyle.

Cooley Rorkes Drift, who is now 17, has adapted brilliantly to his new career.

“We arrived at the show and he pulled me down the ramp – he was so happy to be at a show again,” commented Evans.

“I don’t think he minds that much about what he’s doing. He loves going in dressage arenas anyway, he always has done – he loves showing off.”

Getting back out competing has been an important milestone for Jonty. “Getting used to doing all this again is part of the healing process, and the returning to normality process,” he added.

Having completed his first two-star show, Jonty hopes to go to Hartpury to do the three-star competition there. Having represented Ireland at the Rio Olympics, he is now looking to the future and perhaps representing his country again at a Paralympic Games. “That would be amazing, and I can’t tell you how emotional it would be for me to come down that centre line again on that horse.”