Para-Equestrian Mari has been ranked World Number One by the FEI, in this Q & A, I find out about her journey into the sports, her connection with her Mare, and the person behind the rider.
Paralympian Debutant Mari Durward-Akhurst will be competing in her first Paralympic games this week. However, she will be in safe hands, or should we say hooves, with experienced Paralympic horse Athene, who has already got 3 Paralympic golds under her belt.
Ahead of the Paralympic games starting, Mari chatted with me about how she was feeling, what it was like to be ranked number one, and what it was like dealing with the pressure of the games with a chronic condition.
“Mari, these will be your first Paralympic games, what emotions are currently running through you?”
“I think I’m excited. I’m also a bit nervous. Getting here’s been such a long journey. Then we had the Olympics and now I just want to start competing.”
“You said your journey to get here has been a long one, can you explain further?”
“It’s been quite a roller coaster. There’s been not as many highs as I would like. There’s been quite a few lows with horses. It’s been hard because they have a mind of their own and there’s injuries and all sorts, and we’ve never been that lucky when we’ve owned our horses. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have a lot of loan horses over the years and those are the horses that I’ve done well on.”
“How did you get into Para-Equestrian?”
“My parents were heavily involved with the local ridings with disabled groups from when I was born. It was thought that I had cerebral palsy, so, my physio at the time said I should start riding because it would be a really good form of therapy. I started riding and I’m still riding now.”
“How much preparation goes into preparing for the games?”
“There is so much to prepare. It’s not just riding the horses. It’s grooming the horses, preparing the horses, and training them because going to the Paralympics, you’ve got to pack for you and the horses.
For myself, there is also training off the horse. I do a huge amount of strength, conditioning, gym work, and Yoga.
Lots of different things to make me to be able to sit as well as I can on the horse so we can both perform our best.”
“How do you cope with a chronic condition and riding?
“I’m a full-time wheelchair user and I cannot use my legs at all. It affects all four limbs and my trunk. When it comes to riding, it means I don’t have much control of my body and I’m quite shaky. When I’m at rest I move, but actually when I’m on a horse, the movement of the horse, my condition, Ataxia, quite likes it. It’s just that when we come to a halt, obviously I’m still moving, and the horse has to learn that they’ve still got to stand still.”
“You have been classified as a grade 1, what does that mean and do you have any adjustments?
“We are classified from Grade 1 to Grade 5. Grade 5 is the least impaired and grade 1 is the most impaired. I’m a Grade 1 so, we walk only in our test and that’s all I’m able to do on a horse, so it suits me well. It’s really hard. I think my trainer would say lots of people say, ‘Ohh, just walk, that must be easy’ and he’s done a few and he’s like it’s the hardest thing because you can’t go into a trot to sort of change the horse if the horse drops the activity a bit. The judges can see everything. You’ve got to keep an active walk with an uphill contact, and any small blip of a slight slip or something is immediately marked down.
I have looped reins which help me because I don’t have any grip. I ride without stirrups and then I have two whips which act as my legs, and I’m allowed to use my voice, so my horse is kind of voice-activated.”
“You’ve been ranked World Number One by the FEI, what does that feel like to have that title?”
“It’s amazing. I don’t look at the rankings that much. I realised we were going up in the rankings, but then I had a text saying you better go and look. When I realised I was World Number One, it was something I’d always dreamed of, but I never imagined that it would happen. So, it was pretty surreal. Seeing my name with the one next to it was a dream come true.”
“Does being ranked as World Number One, and Athene already having Paralympic medals to her name put a higher expectation on you at Paris?”
“I think there will be a lot of pressure, but I’m just trying to sort of put that aside and go and really enjoy the experience and just do our best and hopefully that’ll be enough to get us on the medal table.”
“Athene was previously ridden by Paralympian Sophie Christiansen, how did you get selected to ride her, and how have you built such a good report?”
“Athene is owned by Diane Redfern, and she’s based at South Bucks, RDA. Diane, she’s famous so, when I got the message asking if I wanted to come and ride her, obviously I immediately said yes, and yeah, we kind of fell in love. At first, it was different for her.
Other previous para riders who have ridden her, had been able to use their legs and I can’t use my legs at all.
So, she was a bit like what’s going on here, but we got on well together and she’s an affectionate mare. When you first meet her, she’s a bit unsure. She’s quite a lady, we call her, ‘The Duchess’.”
“You mentor other up-and-coming Para riders, how did that come about?”
“When I got selected for my first senior championship, which was the Europeans in 2019, I had quite a lot of riders asking me questions and I wanted to share my knowledge. Being a grade one is quite hard if you haven’t got the whole support team around you because you need so much.
Like going to Paris – I’ve got my trainer who warms the horse up for me and I’ve got my mum, who’s my carer, and then my dad who helps me get on and off the horse and I’m incredibly lucky to have that. It’s hard if you haven’t got that supportive team, so that’s the main reason I help grow ones just to help them on the journey and say that it’s not scary to go from RDA to Para Dressage, but you’ve just got to have the right team around you.”
“You are also a keen Para Rower, have you ever thought about switching sports?”
“The Para-Dressage has always been my real passion and it’s always a sport that I wanted to go to my first Paralympics in. However, during lockdown, we all had a long time to think about things and dressage can be quite stressful because it’s a very subjective sport. It’s all down to the judges and when we all sat at home I suddenly thought, ooh, I wonder if I could try a sport, that if you cross the finish line first you win. So, I gave rowing a try and I was quite good at it. It’s helped my riding cause my core is weak, but being in a rowboat has helped me to strengthen my core and my upper body as well, so it’s made a massive difference to my riding.”
“The ‘I am not Participating, I am competing’ campaign has hit social media in the past few weeks. What are your thoughts on it?”
“I haven’t seen it to be honest. I’ve turned my social media off. I’m just trying to focus on the games so I haven’t seen that, but I am competing and not participating.”
“Finally, do you think you can win?”
“Hopefully”
The Para-Equestrian team will be competing on the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th September. You can catch Mari in the Individual event, where she will also be up against her teammates Natasha Baker, Sophie Wells, and Georgia Wilson, competing for a place in the Team event and aiming for a spot in the freestyle event.
We wish Mari, Athene, and ParalympicsGB the best of luck from all at Ability Today and will be cheering them on from the sidelines.
Fun Checklist:
Three things you cannot live without:
Horses, Cats, and my Bed.
Favourite Film:
Something I like doing in my spare time:
Going to the Gym
Athlete looking forward to watching:
All of them are amazing.
One thing I would make accessible:
Toilets (without steps)
by Victoria-Jayne Scholes, ADJ CFJ Alumni & Diploma Student
https://www.legallypowered.co.uk
https://www.britishequestrian.org.uk/competitors/para-equestrian/para-classification