Nicole Sweney and Flute Noir. Credit Anna Wilson.

Para Equestrian is a discipline where riders are classified in relation to their longer term physical ability challenges.  However, for one of our equestrians, the classification has enabled her to return to being the able-bodied sportsperson she once was.

Nicole Sweney became classified as Para Equestrian after a rare neurological condition restricted her ability to train and compete.  She struggled with co-ordination and muscular weakness in her hands and legs after she literally lost her mobility in her sleep, after a fall from a young horse combined with a bout of shingles. 

Eventually she was diagnosed with a functional neurological disorder. At the onset of her condition, Nicole was unable to walk and struggled with simple tasks like getting dressed and showering. She was incredibly lucky to have huge support from friends and fellow equestrians Lynley and Jenny Schollum in her recovery.

A lengthy rehab programme started with her taking an hour to walk down her short driveway and two hours to hang out her washing. Six months later she started riding again, and found she could move better onboard a horse than she could on the ground.  But her legs struggled with movements and coordination. So, after having the condition for two and a half years, and not knowing what the future would hold for her, Nicole decided to apply for Para classification.

“I was pretty nervous coming into the classification, but the classifier was amazing. She was so lovely. It was a huge reality check doing the classification as I tried to pretend that my condition didn’t affect me too much, but seeing how poorly I did on the physical tests was very eye-opening” says Nicole.

Initially, she was classified into grade III, and was moved to grade IV due to her previous level of riding capability. 

“I just couldn’t move my legs quickly enough.  Everything kind of locked up and got slower and slower, the more tired I got. Then, I just couldn’t ask for piaffe and one-time tempi changes because my legs just wouldn’t do it. So, I trained my horse to do it off a whip tap instead,” she says.

Over the winter, Nicole trained hard and engaged in a Contact Care treatment programme, a Martial Arts-based technique that addresses skeletal sensory shock.  As her mobility started to improve, she was able to retrain her Grand Prix horse Flute Noir (Tiggy) to move off her seat and leg aids again.

By September, she was back competing in the able-bodied classes and she and Tiggy won their championship debut in the Superior Rubber Surfaces (Super 5) – Test FEI Grand Prix at the DCD Kiwi Arena Rakes Premier League Show. 

“Totally unexpected, but so exciting!” says Nicole.  “We’ve only ridden the Grand Prix once before and managed to improve our score by 10% from April which is such a thrill.”

Then in November, she competed at the Auckland Manukau Dressage Group Championships and won Champion Level 6 on World Cup PSH, Reserve Champion Grand Prix on Flute Noir and Reserve Champion Level 4 on KC Louison.

“It’s a pretty surreal feeling to have all three horses in the top spots and I couldn’t be happier with how hard they tried for me over the weekend,” says Nicole.

Now, Nicole is no longer competing in Para classes nor with any of the additional aids she previously needed.

“It’s such an incredible feeling to have normal use of my body again and I’m enormously grateful to Dale Speedy (Equine ConTact CARE – The Horses’ Way), Bernadette Raymond (Neurolink) and Anna Wilson for their incredible help towards getting me back to my kind of normal. It’s taken over three years, but it’s such a huge relief to finally have some sense of being me again.”

“A massive thank you to the Para community for showing me the ropes – it was totally invaluable last season and gave me a chance to compete when I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to,” she says.

Nicole still has to be cautious about how she uses her energy when competing in the sport.

“It hammers me going to shows, I need a lot more rest than what I’ve been used to. I mean, I used to just come home from a show and unpack and then I’d be riding the next day.  I didn’t even think about it,” says Nicole.

“Nowadays, I have to be really strategic about what shows I go to, and the spacing between them and how much I take on.”

However, the support she has received has given her great hopes for the future.

“I would love to represent New Zealand at some stage and produce the horses I have to grand prix.  I am lucky to have really talented horses and I am very committed to my sport.  I don’t currently have any plans to travel off-shore but might consider it sometime in the future.”

Nicole is based in Cambridge.  She combines riding and training horses with her musical freestyle business, supported by five co-workers.