Versailles, France – The U.S. Paralympic Dressage Team finished their time at Paris 2024 Paralympic Games with a tremendous final day to conclude competition at the Palace of Versailles. The team saw three combinations podium in their respective freestyles, with Hart and Howard completing the coveted triple gold-medal sweep in their Grades and Shoemaker finishing with an individual bronze in the Grade IV FEI Grand Prix Freestyle aboard Vianne. This is the most successful Paralympic Games ever for the U.S. Para Dressage Program, bringing home nine total medals – seven golds, a silver, and a bronze.
“This has been just a tremendous week. It is so difficult to achieve what this team did here in Paris – to finish with a team gold, two triple gold-medalists, and medals in all of our grades,” said Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline. “There has been so much effort put into this team and this program and I knew that we would get here, but to see it all come together the way it has this week is really a testament to the athletes, their coaches and teams, and the commitment of the federation to put this program in a place where something like this was possible. It’s a significant marker for the future and one that we can continue to build on into the future with a home Games on the horizon in LA.”
The U.S. Paralympic Dressage Team accounted for seven of Team USA’s 105 total medal count from the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, and 13.8% of the overall gold medal tally for Team USA, marking more historic feats for the team and program in Paris.
Kate Shoemaker (Wellington, Fla.) started the day off for the U.S. team with a bang, earning a personal best with Vianne in the Grade IV FEI Grand Prix Freestyle, breaking the elusive 80% barrier with an 80.170%. Shoemaker and Vianne, a 2016 American Hanoverian mare (Vitalis x Ramiro’s Bube) owned by Norcordia USA cared for by Katherine Barrett, emerged as one of the top combinations in Grade IV competition in 2024, and capped their first Paralympics as a medaling combination. Paris 2024 was Shoemaker’s second Games as an athlete and notched her first individual podium finish with an individual bronze.
“I could not keep the smile off my face. From the moment after the first halt, I was just like, ‘I’m here, with my favorite horse in the world,’ and the feeling she gave me just gave me so much joy,” said Shoemaker. “I have always felt so much emotion surrounding the music from Forrest Gump, but also the movie. The movie’s all about overcoming, and keep going, and getting to something. I think that’s what our freestyle did today. It was overcoming and getting to the end and the joy and the peace at the end, and that’s where we were at today. I really hope that the music just spoke to everybody, and they could feel that it was coming from our souls at the same time.”
In an incredible and historic feat, the U.S. finished the final day of competition at Paris 2024 with two combinations completing the week earning three gold medals, taking top honors in all three classes within their respective grades. Fiona Howard (Boston, Mass.) and Diamond Dunes, a 2013 Hanoverian gelding (De L’or x Wibella) owned by Dressage Family LLC and Hof Kasselmann and cared for by Claire McNulty, were stalwarts in Grade II in their Paralympic debut. The pair’s scores continued to trend upwards throughout the week, culminating with an incredible 81.99% for their choreography to music from the movie Avatar in their individual freestyle, securing their third gold medal of the week.
“When I was in the hospital, I didn’t really know what my life was going to look like,” explained Howard. “I was alive, but I wasn’t actually living a life. So, I just kind of took it one day at a time, and just people believed in me. My doctors believed in me; my support team here believed in me. Looking back, I’m like, ‘Wow, I climbed a mountain.’ I have to give a lot of credit to the people around me, because I wouldn’t be here without them. Horses have been a reason to just keep going,” she added. “They’re always there for you. Every morning, I wake up and I’m grateful to be around them. Every moment I spend with them just kind of inspires me to keep going.”
In an emotional and triumphant week, the program’s most veteran member, Rebecca Hart (Wellington, Fla.), in her fifth Paralympics (2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024), stamped her mark on Paris 2024, taking home two individual gold medals alongside the team’s gold. She concluded her final day at the Games with 83.533%, a significant jump in score and timely personal best for Hart and Floratina, a 2008 Hanoverian mare (Fidertanz x Rubina) owned by Rowan O’Riley and cared for by Mackenzie Young, marking the most successful Games for Hart and the program she’s dedicated her life to over the past twenty years.
“I was a little concerned when we started cantering,” Hart admitted. “I was like, she’ll come back to me, she always does. It’s just electric, and she’d been hearing all the crowd for the warm-up before. I just got her back, I told her she was fine, because she went, ‘Are we OK?’ and I said, ‘Yes, we’re fine,’ and she said, ‘OK, I trust you.’ It was such a magical moment, and then we hit the markers the way we needed to.”
Aside from her own performance, Hart, who has served as an honorary captain of the team for the past few Games, discussed the steady increase in the success within the U.S. Para Dressage program, while also touting the firm and supportive coaching of Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline as a major key in their success.
“What I’m really, really hoping that this success and these medals bring for para is the recognition and the equality of the multiple disciplines within our federations, and realizing we are valuable, and we can deliver when we need to,” she said. “We have an incredible coach and supporter in Michel, and he’s really changed this program for us. I think that will help just grow the sport more, bring in more sponsors and horse and people, and that is what I’m hoping for, for the future.”
Roxanne Trunnell (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) and Fan Tastico H, a 2017 Oldenburg gelding (Fuerstenball OLD x Weltmeye) owned by Karin Flint and cared for by Rafael Hernandez-Carillo, rode to fifth in their individual freestyle in Grade I, finishing with a score of 77.30% from the judging panel. Trunnell finished her Games with an individual silver and team gold in her third Paralympics.
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