Karen Brain to Represent Canada at 2005 Dutch Open International Dressage Competition for Disabled Riders

Karen Brain with (l-r), VDL Odette, Double Take (Karen's retired World Equestrian Games event horse), and VDL Titan. Photo © Sharon Burton/Ideal Images

Para-Equestrian Canada is pleased to announce that Karen Brain of London, ON will be representing Canada at the 2005 Dutch Open International Dressage Competition for Disabled Riders in Helvoirt, Netherlands on August 12-14th, 2005, where she will compete on a borrowed horse in the Grade IV classes.

Brain represented Canada at the Open European Dressage Championships for Paralympic riders in Portugal in 2002, where she was the highest placed Canadian rider, helping the team to finish seventh overall.  She went on to compete at the 2004 Canadian Open International Paralympic Dressage Competition in Ontario, qualifying for the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. In September, 2004, Brain achieved great success at the Paralympic Games, winning two bronze medals in the Grade IV Freestyle dressage test and in the Grade IV Championship dressage test.

Brain was also one of the winners of the Team Investors Group Amateur Athletes Fund bursary for 2005.  The bursaries are awarded to elite Canadian amateur athletes to help assist with the costs of training and competition.  

Brain, originally from Victoria, BC was a Canadian Equestrian 3-Day Event Team Athlete, achieving many victories, such as winning the Canadian Open Championships in 1998 and representing Canada at the 1998 World Equestrian Games CCIO****.  In 2001 an unfortunate riding accident left her partially paralysed, with a spinal cord injury. Brain demonstrated great perseverance in her rehabilitation and was able to start riding again just eight months after her accident. With her positive attitude and hard work, Brain was soon able to start competing internationally, this time as a Canadian Para-equestrian athlete.

In the Para-Equestrian sport, each rider is classified according to his or her functional ability. They are assessed by trained physiotherapists and doctors who evaluate either muscle strength, coordination, or a combination thereof throughout the athlete's body.  The rider is then given a functional profile that indicates the grade in which they would compete.  There are four Grades of competition, with Grade I representing the more severely impaired riders, and Grade IV representing the least severely impaired riders.  The competition within each Grade is judged on the functional skill of the rider, and not the level of disability.

Para-Equestrian Canada is the committee of Equine Canada which is responsible for developing and implementing programs on behalf of the Para-Equestrian community, and administrating the high performance program for dressage riders with a disability. For more information about Para-Equestrian Canada, please e-mail paraequestrian@equinecanda.ca

Karen Brain riding Dasskara at the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games. Photo © Darlene Brain