Anthea Dixon and El Capitan aka Ricky at Canterbury Dressage October 2024. Credit Kristal Merry Photography.
Christchurch rider Anthea Dixon needed a new horse. But as a para-equestrian, that wasn’t as easy as you would think. Para riders need a mount that is calm and predictable, as they often have limited ability to react when the horse gives a flight response to their environment. Anthea has always had crossbreeds for the job, but this was about to change.
“I started looking for a replacement because my existing horse was coming to the end of his working career. I wasn’t looking for a Thoroughbred in particular, but one caught my eye. It was one of those things—when you see a photo and you keep going back to it. I thought … there’s a reason why I keep going back to that ad,” says Anthea.
The horse was only four years old and had been off the track for six months. He had been trialed but not raced, and he didn’t even have a racing name. He wasn’t much of a jumper either. But there was just something about him that grabbed her attention.
“I spoke to the seller, Katherine Van Tuyl, saying look, this is me and my situation, but tell me if I’m wasting your time. I remember her saying that he was a bit special, and he would be worth a try.”
So, Anthea and her sister went for a look.
Anthea Dixon and Ricky at a North Canterbury Dressage event.
“I was with him for a good 10 minutes, and he was just unflappable. He was very sensitive, sensible, he took one look at my wheelchair and thought, “Oh, ok.” That’s often a good indicator of a horse that’s going to handle me.
“And while I hadn’t specifically been looking for a Thoroughbred, he was more of the lean, lanky, smaller type which actually suited me because my hips don’t do wide horses anymore,” she says.
The rest is history. She called him Ricky, and gave him the show name of El Capitan. She’s now had him for six happy years.
“The day I trialed him, he got a bit confused a couple of times with the sitting trot, because he hadn’t done much of that before. I can’t rise, but once he worked out that I just wanted him to trot and not canter, he was away.
“I remember having one of my first lessons on him. He’d go when he was asked to go, and he’d stop when asked to stop. You could just sit there and enjoy it, as he was so trainable,” she says.
Anthea is a former eventing rider who suffered severe spinal injuries in 2006 after falling down a bank while leading her horse. Her story is remarkable.
“I was 24, so it’s coming up 20 years, next year. I remember even when I was in the hospital, I didn’t care if I couldn’t walk. I just wanted to ride my horse, and the doctors all thought I was nuts.”
“But there was one nurse who was a rider, and she knew. She got it. And I was really lucky as I had friends through competing that were able to get me into Riding for the Disabled while I was still in the spinal unit,” says Anthea.
After four months in rehabilitation, she learned how to ride again and began using compensatory aids that took her riding from strength to strength.
Paralympian #177 Anthea Dixon (nee Gunner), Paralympic Games, London 2012. Credit Paralympics NZ.
Six years later, Anthea represented New Zealand at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Then, in 2014, she became New Zealand’s first para-equestrian dressage rider to compete at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, where she was ranked 13th in the world and third in the Grade II para-equestrian category. Today, she coaches the occasional rider and judges able-bodied dressage in her spare time.
“It’s always weird for horses when they begin to work with para-equestrian riders. It is hard for them to work out why the rider’s leg isn’t giving them the aids they usually expect.
“You also want them sensitive enough because I haven’t got the leg strength to keep them going, so they need to go on their own.”
Anthea Dixon takes Ricky for ride down by the local river.
Anthea says she bought Ricky at a good time in her life, and being a Thoroughbred, he came with some good foundational training.
“In terms of leading him, right from the start he worked out the personal space thing, and I can lead him from my wheelchair. I’ve also got a little scooter, and I lead him alongside that. Once he worked out that it wasn’t scary, it was just a food wagon. And when it comes to mounting, because he is used to parking up next to a mounting block, he just stands there waiting as my husband helps me to get on.”
She says some people may consider warmbloods the preferred breed for dressage these days, but a Thoroughbred is working well for her.
“I think there are certainly benefits to the breed. As I say, if you’ve not got a lot of strength, then they go on their own. They’re very trainable, and if you have one with the right personality they will handle things being a little different.”
“I guess a part of the fun of it for me, too, is training how I want Ricky to be. It’s easier for me to train him for para from the start, rather than trying to retrain something else.”
Anthea Dixon and El Capitan (Ricky) competing at the Canterbury Dressage Future Stars Festival 2025.
Anthea’s goal for this season has been to do a full season of competing, as it’s the first one she has had after a series of injuries.
“Ricky’s stepped up to the Grade 3 Para Grand Prix tests this season, which has been a big ask for him. But I wanted him to get the exposure at the bigger competitions in the other tests that we had to ride there. He’s actually done quite well, the marks have been better than I had anticipated, so the judges obviously like him which is nice,” she says.
“Next season, all going to plan and if we don’t have any more injuries, maybe we’ll aim for nationals, if I can get him a bit more consolidated at that level.”
Anthea and her husband Aaron live on a property in Canterbury with two dogs, a cat, and Ricky’s mate Brian, a retired crossbreed. She says her accident was just one of those bad-luck things that could happen to anyone at any time.
Her final words,
“If you dream big, and set lots of small achievable goals, anything is possible.”