IRISH international dressage rider Carolyn Mellor has announced her retirement from riding following surgery. “It all started last October,” said the Comber-based former national champion. “I had pain in my calf, and I thought I had just pulled a muscle. To cut a long story short, after getting some medical opinions it transpired that the pain was coming from a blocked femoral artery in my leg. The pain would come within a few minutes of starting to ride, like a really bad muscle cramp, and it was becoming very limiting as to what I could do.