Robin Brueckmann's Road to Belgium

Friday, September 15, 2006 - Meet Robin Brueckmann

A little introduction about me and my horse:

My name is Robin Brueckmann. I'm 48, and have been disabled with reflex sympathetic dystrophy for twelve years. I compete in open and ParaEquestrian shows.

In ParaEquestrian competitions, riders are grouped into four Grades, according to degree of disability. Grade I riders are the most disabled, usually wheelchair users with limited trunk control. I'm a Grade IV rider, with my disability being limited to my right leg. I ride without stirrups in both open shows (at Intermediare II level this year) and at ParaEquestrian shows. I have to have a Dispensation Certificate to be able to ride without stirrups. This has to be renewed annually.

I have been very fortunate to represent the US at a number of competitions.

In 1999, I rode a borrowed horse, Flower Power, in the World Championships for Disabled Riders in Aarhus, Denmark, and there I won a bronze and two gold medals. I competed, again on a borrowed horse, in the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, and found out on the first day of competition that this horse had never seen crowds. It was not the experience I had expected, although we got good scores. We did not place individually, but I helped the US to a sixth place team finish. In 2003, I took my 1997 Hanoverian gelding, Richmond, to Moorsele, Belgium to compete in the World Championships. We were seventh; he was just six years old, the minimum age for horses at that time. Ten days later, he was Reserve Champion Six Year Old Horse at Dressage at Devon.

This year, we were selected to represent the US on a team to go back to Moorsele, Belgium, for one of only a few qualifiers for the 2008 Paralympic Games. These will be held in Hong Kong.

There were three riders selected: Rebecca Hart from Erie, PA, on her Hanoverian gelding Norteassa (aka Nordkap or Pippin) Barbara Grassmyer from Placerville, California, on her Dutch mare Mibis myself, on Richmond (by Ramiro's Bube out of Salvana (Salvano)) We were selected on the basis of performance throughout the year and on our performance at Qualifiers at Gladstone, NJ, in June, at the Festival of Champions, where the riders for Aachen were selected as well.

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