PHOTO ©SUSAN J. STICKLE PHOTOGRAPHY
BEATRICE DE LAVALETTE FACES OF DRESSAGE
U.S. Paralympian Beatrice de Lavalette was born in France but now lives in Wellington. Growing up in a horseloving family, she started riding early, studying both dressage and equitation. Her entire life changed on March 22, 2016, when, at age 17, she was critically injured in a terror attack at the Brussels airport. Suffering massive internal injuries, burns, a spinal cord injury and the amputation of both lower legs, she worked her way back into the saddle of her beloved mare, Delegada X. She has since become an accomplished para-dressage rider, competing in her first show in April 2017. As a member of U.S. Para Dressage Paralympic Team, de Lavalette represented her adopted home country at the Paralympic Games last summer in Tokyo aboard her mount Clarc.
wellington the magazine | march 2022 49