Imagine riding with no sensation in your legs or seat and only the muscles in your stomach and back for balance. Frightening, isn’t it?

Lynn Seidemann not only faces this challenge every time she mounts, but she also does it at an international level.

She did it at the Paralympics, held Sept. 21-26 in Athens, Greece, following the Olympics, bringing home a silver medal in the dressage freestyle

As the reigning World Champion, Seidemann was under pressure to lead her young team to victory. This year marked the 12th Paralympics, but it was only the third time equestrian had been included.

Although she was always an athlete, Seidemann didn’t try riding until after a skiing accident in 1984 left her paralyzed from the waist down. In 1992 Seidemann competed at the Paralympics in doubles tennis, earning a silver medal in Barcelona. But a year later she was ready to try a new sport.

“I basically started riding for therapy,” explained Seidemann. “My back had started to curve, and I just felt like I wasn’t using everything that I still had available to me. I can feel from my bellybutton up, but some of those muscles in your stomach, you’re not really using when you’re pushing a chair. When I first started riding, it really made me use my lower stomach and back, the opposite muscles I use for pushing a wheelchair.”

Seidemann began riding at Equest in Wylie, Texas. “You should have seen me when I first started riding,” she said with a laugh. “I had two side walkers and a lead person for two years.”

Despite the slow start, the therapy soon turned into a love affair with the sport.

“For me, horseback riding is the one thing I do that I’m not disabled,” she explained. “When you get on a horse, the wheelchair isn’t with you. I feel like I can walk, run, play, all those things. Plus you’re tall.”

Seidemann’s competitive nature soon drew her to horse shows.

“When you compete, it gives you the goal to keep in better shape, to make the effort to be the best you can,” she explained. “I guess it’s that challenge. Can I do the next step? What’s the limit of the capabilities I have right now?”

Seidemann started competing in 1998 and quickly shot to the top, earning a place on the 2000 Paralympic team in Sydney. At the time horses were provided and riders randomly drew their mounts before the start of the competition.

An Eye-Opening Experience

“I didn’t do very well,” admitted Seidemann. “It showed me where I needed to improve and that I needed to work on these skills to move up to the next level and be competitive.”

It was also team coach Missy Ransehousen’s first experience of international Paralympic competition. “It really opened our eyes that we had to improve our program and our riders, because the other countries were certainly much more advanced than we were,” she said.

Ransehousen is an international event rider and the daughter of Jessica Ransehousen, the U.S. dressage team’s chef d’equipe. Based at Blue Hill Farm in Unionville, Pa., Missy was convinced by student Hope Hand to apply for the coaching position before the 2000 Olympics.

After the surprise at Sydney, Ransehousen got serious about improving her riders and scheduling more training sessions. “We also really helped them try to find more suitable horses to train on,” she said.

Seidemann benefited from this increased structure. Although she lives in Coppell, Texas, her instructor, Renee Albrecq, communicated with Ransehousen and put together a training program for Seidemann. She was prepared when she went to the International Paralympic Equestrian Com-mittee Dressage World Championships in Moorsele, Belgium, in 2003 and won both the individual gold medal and the silver medal in the freestyle.

That was the first time that riders could bring their own horses. Seidemann competed Phoenix B, a Polish Warmblood, owned by Rebekha Maffei, who lives in Scotland. After winning the competition, Maffei agreed to let Seidemann compete him again at the Paralympics in 2004.

“It was very stressful trying to get matched up with horses,” recalled Seidemann. “It’s just so much better to have your own horses. You can really build a rapport with your horse. It’s just a more true test of what you’re able to do.

“It made it really great to see how many high-quality horses were at this event and how skilled the different riders with disabilities were,” said Seidemann about Athens. “It just felt like it was on a bigger scale and had moved up a couple of notches.”

High Hopes

Four riders competed on the Athens team. Keith Newerla, 21, from Seaford, N.Y., joined Seidemann in the Grade I division on the Dutch Warmblood Lumberjack. Newerla has cerebral palsy and attends the University of Minnesota-Moorhead, where he’s majoring in broadcast journalism and plays wheelchair basketball.

Barbara Grassmeyer, of Placerville, Calif., competed Mibis in the Grade III division. Grassmeyer, 32, imported the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare this spring. Born with a congenital birth defect called Apert’s syndrome, Grassmeyer has been competing for 12 years and was the alternate in 2000.

Kathryn Groves rounded out the team on her own Dutch Warmblood, Fleetwood. Groves owns her own dressage facility in Winter Garden, Fla. She lost her right arm below the elbow after an automobile accident and competed in the Grade IV division.

The team went in with high hopes, but also with the knowledge that three of the four riders had only a few months to prepare with their horses.

“It’s a lot to do to try to get them familiar with the horse, get the aids trained, get their freestyles together, and prepare them for the test and make sure the horse and rider are fit enough,” explained Ransehousen.

The riders had nine days to train and accustom their horses to the facility in Athens before the competition started. On the first day of competition, Newerla and Seidemann finished fourth and fifth in the individual Grade I championship with scores of 69.68 and 68.94 percent.

“All you can do is prepare physically, mentally and emotionally,” said Newerla. “The most painful thing was watching [the bronze-medal test].”

For Seidemann, the best was yet to come. Performing to show tunes, she rode a stunning freestyle on Phoenix that lifted her to second with a score of 76.06 percent.

“She made a very good picture with her horse,” said Ransehousen. “It was just a very nice, fluid test with good music and accuracy.”

Seidemann incorporated leg yields, lengthenings, serpentines and free walk into her test. “I try to limit the walk because I think it’s kind of boring to watch, but Phoenix had a great walk, so we did add more walk with him,” she said.

She finished second to Lee Pearson of Great Britain, who rode to an astounding 87.00 percent to win on his own Blue Circle Boy. Pearson also won the individual championship (77.26%).

On team test day, Seidemann improved on her individual performance, ending with the team’s high score (69.89%). The team finished seventh of 10 teams. Great Britain stood atop the podium, with Germany and the Netherlands following.

“I think for Athens we knew what we needed,” recalled Ransehousen. “Our next step is to make sure that we have the horse-and-rider combination together longer so that we’re more prepared.”

The next step for Seidemann may be finding an international mount of her own. “If I plan on going to Beijing [in 2008], I want a horse that I have more control over the fitness,” she insisted. “I’m hoping to find a 13-year-old, 14-year-old that can’t maybe do the very high levels but can manage me.”

Seidemann also has the task of fitting her riding around her full-time job as a supply chain analyst for Microtune. She prepared for the games by working out in her home gym and in the swimming pool. She also took at least two weekly lessons from Albrecq at Victory Farms.

“Renee’s worked really hard to try and push me to my limits,” said Seidemann.

Seidemann owns a 16-year-old Quarter Horse named Ryan and rides him in local shows. “I have a ramp that someone gave me money to buy,” she explained. “It’s portable, and I can take it to whatever facility I’m at. My mom comes to help me, and we can just hop on and go at any able-bodied barn that way.”

Dispensations Allow Riders With Disabilities To Compete

At the Paralympics, equestrian athletes compete against each other within their grade. Doctors or physical therapists classify their level of disability into four different levels.

Grade I is the most disabled, mainly wheelchair users with poor core stability. Grade III riders are usually able to walk without support, and Grade IV riders are the most able-bodied, with impairment of one or two limbs or some visual impairment.

Dispensations are made to facilitate the most effective riding. At the Grade I level, riders may use two whips. Voice commands are allowed, as are a variety of breakaway stabilizing straps and custom saddles.

The dressage tests are different for each grade level. Grade I and II perform movements at the walk and trot, while canter is added for Grade III and IV. Riders may ride more difficult movements in their freestyle.

Cheering Children Charge The Atmosphere

The stands can be depressingly empty for dressage competition, and the Paralympics in Greece were no exception until freestyle day, when busloads of schoolchildren were brought in to watch.

“Everybody was on one side, and the kids were in the back, near A,” explained Keith Newerla. “When the music came on, they started clapping with the music, and clapping is what sets [Lumberjack] off.”

Newerla managed to get the spooking horse into the ring, but his test suffered as Jack was tense and continued to spook at that end of the arena.

“I halted, and they clapped, and I turned him to the audience hoping if he could see it he’d be better,” recalled Newerla. “The place just erupted as I was walking out. He decided to do a 180 and run off. They just got louder. I tried to get control, and he pulled me forward on the neck, and I pushed off the neck and bailed. I thought he might jump over the rail!”

Newerla tore his supraspinatus (collarbone muscle) in the fall. “I realized how bad it was when I tried to open a door with my left hand, and I couldn’t do it. I was wheeling around in circles for a little while because I only had one arm,” he joked.

Newerla was able to compete in the team test, but his ride was disappointing after his excellent individual performance.

“I don’t want to use it as a scapegoat,” he said, “but it could have been one of the things that affected my performance on team test day. It’s tough riding around with one arm and no legs.”