Dressage Rider Rebecca Hart Doesn’t Let Her Disability Define Who She Is
True Champion
BY Y.A. TEITELBAUM
Rebecca Hart was born with a progressive genetic disease that causes her muscles to waste away, stiffness and paralysis in the legs, and nerve pain — but this disability hasn’t stopped her from becoming an elite dressage Paralympian. Hart, who has hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), has competed in Wellington and around the world, including three Paralympics and four World Equestrian Games. The 2018 WEG in Tryon, North Carolina, was one of her most memorable. “It was a historic moment for me to be able to get the first WEG medal for the United States, and to be able to do that on home turf with my dad watching made it even more special,” the 35-year-old Hart said. “It was the first major event that he had been able to attend.We had a running joke that if I got a medal, he got to keep it as payment for all my lessons as a kid. Winning bronze and silver medals at the 2018 WEG is something I will never forget. My dad let me keep the medals. He’s a good guy. I have them in a shadow box in my house.” Hart speaks candidly about her disability and works hard every day to keep herself in shape. “The functionality of my body will 38
march 2020 | wellington the magazine
Rebecca Hart with El Corona Texel, known as Tex.
continue to deteriorate. I feel it most in my balance, coordination and leg strength,” said Hart, who grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from Penn State in 2009.“But through being active and maintaining my fitness by riding and working in the gym, I have been able to compensate and adapt, to a point, as the HSP progresses. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything that you can take to keep it from progressing. I use a cane if I am standing at an event or party. It allows me to balance and be able to focus on
the people I am with rather than having to focus on not falling down.” In addition to her 2018 success at WEG, Hart also qualified for the U.S. Paralympic team in 2008, 2012 and 2016. She wants to make it four in a row with the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. She is a strategic competitor, according to Rowan O’Riley, who owns Hart’s top two horses and is a Grand Prix dressage competitor herself. O’Riley had been attending para-dressage shows to watch a friend compete when she became aware of Hart’s skill as an athlete and competitor. She soon agreed to sponsor Hart. “When Becca is training, she considers her competition in the world rankings and the environments in which she expects to compete,” O’Riley said. “She takes into account weather, travel, type of stadium, time of day, all the things that might affect her performance, and then designs her training program to bring her horses to their peak performance under those conditions. When something doesn’t go as planned, she comes to me the next day with an action plan to address whatever the problem is. If her ride was affected when her horse spooked at the flowers in the arena, then Becca will ride for the next month