Winning Para Debut for Former Event Rider Jonty Evans at 2023 CPEDI Hickstead

Former event rider Jonty Evans was among the Para-dressage winners at this week’s CPEDI Hickstead on 9-14 May 2023. His first international victory is the first step of a journey that he hopes will lead him to the Paralympic Games in the future.

With his top horse Cooley Rorkes Drift (known at home as Art), Jonty reached the top levels of eventing. The pair were ninth individually at the Rio Olympics in 2016, after which the horse's owner was offered a large sum of money for him. But Jonty was unwilling to lose the ride, and he set about crowdfunding to raise the money to buy him. A remarkable £500,000 was raised, with 6,800 people becoming Art's new 'owners'.

The pair had just enjoyed their first international win at Belton, and they were in the lead at Tattersalls International Horse Trials in June 2018 when they had a crashing cross-county fall three fences from home, which left Jonty in a coma for seven weeks. He had to learn how to walk and talk again, but after a three-month stay in hospital and a lengthy rehabilitation, Jonty was able to return to riding a year after his accident.

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