Natasha Baker is on the World Class Start programme for Paralympic dressage, which identifies talented and dedicated young Paralympic riders and sets them on an established development pathway, who will ultimately proceed onto the Paralympic Performance squads in 2008, 2012 and beyond.
The World Class Start programme for Paralympic dressage is lottery funded through Sport UK.
Paralympic riders are graded from I to IV depending on their physical disability. Grade I riders have a greater degree of disability than Grade IV and the tests reflect this in the movements that are required to be performed. Natasha rides at Grade II level.
Below is Natasha’s diary that she wrote on her trip to Moorsele, Belgium to compete in an International Paralympic competition. It is her first competition abroad and had to attain special dispensation from the International Paralympic Equestrian Committee as she is really 'too young', but because of her great results this year it was granted.
Tuesday 27th September:
Finally the lorry is loaded and Mum and I are actually leaving and heading for the Unicorn Centre, Stow in the Wold, where the whole team is meeting. I am going to Moorsele, Belgium to compete in my first International competition abroad. The planning and preparation had been going on for months, Stuart the farrier came yesterday to re-shoe Never The Less, aka, Charlie and to give us a spare set just in case! Everything was labeled, even down to the hoof-pick! The tests I had to ride were engrained in my mind and I was particularly looking forward to riding my freestyle to music.
When we arrived at the Unicorn Centre the Team Vet Mr Rod Fisher was ready to check the horses over to make sure they were fit for travelling. All the riders collected their team kit, with our tops, shirts, breeches and saddlepads supplied by Dublin Clothing, we were going to look very smart. This coincided with a small photo shoot with some of my fellow riders.
Wednesday 28th September:
My mum, Lorraine, was one of a few people that got up very early to prepare the horses for loading, she was on the yard at 2.30am, all the horses were loaded by 3.30am and they left for Dover at 3.45am. It was really strange knowing that Charlie was travelling without us, but we knew he was in safe hands with Mark and Nina. All the riders and support staff left in the minibuses at about 9am and traveled to Dover to catch the Sea Cat to Calais the horses were going by road and ferry.
It was a fantastic atmosphere on the minibus everyone was on great form and we laughed and joked all the way. We arrived in Belgium late afternoon and couldn't wait to get to the venue and see Charlie. He had obviously travelled well, but he was tired, so we just led him out and hand grazed him for a while fed him and put him to bed.
We arrived at the hotel in Morsel where we were all staying; it was quite basic but clean and tidy. Mum and I were sharing a room with my teammate Sophie, her mum and also my trainer Sacha, so it was pretty cramped as you can imagine!! That evening we had a team meeting with Squad Trainers, Angela Weiss and Nina Venables, then as we were all shattered from the journey we went to bed early.
Thursday 29th September:
Up early, I slept great, but seems that I was the only one that did, I can sleep anywhere! Minibuses were shuttling people back and forth to the stable yard and I couldn't wait to ride today, especially in the main arena. Mum took Charlie off to hand graze him, which he looked forward to, he was missing his turnout. Sacha and I went to look at the main arena, which was huge! It was an amazing indoor arena, with tons of seating, a large outdoor viewing patio with tables and chairs and an enormous restaurant with full viewing all around. There were flags hanging everywhere and banners and huge flower arrangements, plenty of things for Charlie to look at!
Each country was allocated a time to ride and practice in the main arena, with no more than 6 people at any one time. We worked Charlie in the warm-up arena, he seemed to be quite full of himself then it was our turn in the main arena. We led him around in hand at first to let him have a good look, then I rode him, he was brilliant. We were in there for about 30minutes and he was really settled when we had finished.
Friday 30th September:
Today is the Warm-up test, my time isn't until the afternoon, and I much prefer earlier times, as the waiting was making me even more nervous. Jennie the Sports Psychologist (Psycho Lady!!) who was travelling with us gave me some tips on how to control my nerves and that helped. Sacha rode Charlie for 20mins, (as a grade II rider, my trainer is allowed to warm up my horse, but only for a maximum of 20 mins), he seemed very relaxed, more so than me, and was working well. When I got on I became so focused on what I was doing that I forgot my nerves and got down to concentrating on Charlie. Jennie always taught me to think of the three C's - Constructive, Concentration and Confidence.
The next thing I knew the steward was calling my name and I was next. We rode into the arena, passed all 5 judges sitting at their tables and the bell sounded for me to start, my heart was pounding but it was excitement now. I couldn't believe that I was there competing against all these other countries and riders that had so much more experience than me. We flowed through the test and I knew that he was working with me every inch of the way. We halted at G and gave the final salute, I was so proud of him; I knew it had been a good test. When I left the arena and saw mum and Sacha in tears but with big smiles on their faces, I felt relieved that it must have looked good too. The scores were all computerised and therefore came out very quickly, Sophie came to tell me that I was currently 2nd with two more to go, we knew then that I would be in the prize giving so we quickly rushed to get Charlie ready for that. When they called us in for the presentation I had remained in 2nd place behind Angelika, a very experienced German rider. I couldn't believe it, I never expected to be placed so highly, I felt really proud, and when I heard the German National Anthem play I thought that will be ours playing one day for me.
Saturday 1st October:
The pressure was on today, we both had to prove that we could be consistent and after yesterday I had gained so much confidence that I was really up for it. My test was early in the morning, great, not too much hanging around and lots of time left to watch and support the other riders. Again Charlie worked in well, he seemed to know that a lot was expected of him and he was up for it too! This time I rode down the centre line brimming with confidence, we rode a fantastic test, and again I finished 2nd to Angelika.
Angelika was very friendly and afterwards we spent a lot of time chatting, it was a wonderful opportunity to be mixing with these top foreign riders.
That evening a posh dinner was laid on at the venue for all riders and support staff from the 11 Nations that took part. Presentations and speeches took place and it was great to be involved.
Sunday 2nd October:
The freestyle to music is on the final competition day. I was really looking forward to it, but was a little apprehensive as I had only ridden it once before at a competition. My music is a selection of ABBA hits and it really suits Charlie’s rhythm, we both love riding to it. We trotted down the centre line, halted and saluted, fantastic, got to C and turned left and just at that moment a child jumped down off a chair right in front of us. Charlie spooked and jumped sideways, I had to really work on getting his concentration back, getting us both re-organised and still stay in time with the music. We seemed to make a good recovery and the rest of the test went without a hitch. I came 3rd in the freestyle but I was really pleased that the spook didn't spoil the whole test. After the presentation for my class, I went back to watch the other freestyles tests in the other classes, they are great to watch, each one is different and so is the music.
It was then the time to start packing up for the trip home, and afterwards we all returned to the hotel for a rest and a reflection on the whole trip.
The British team had decided to award two of their own prizes, one to the best team member, which went quite rightly to Liz Stone and one to the best achiever, which to my utter amazement was awarded to me – I couldn’t believe it!
On the long journey home some of us slept, whilst others were singing and phoning radio stations to request songs.
What a trip, I had never in my wildest dreams expected to do so well. I would like to thank the World Class Programme for giving me the opportunity to gain so much experience. Your first trip abroad competing is always exciting and I will certainly always remember it!!
2009 Update
Natasha is on the World Class Silver Potential Pathway and has so far achieved: OLDENCRAIG DRESSAGE 04JAN2008 E48SO WALD MINOR 1 68.62 5 OLDENCRAIG DRESSAGE 01FEB2008 E53SO WALD MINOR 1 63.82 2 WINDMILL FARM 08JUN2008 E58SOQ WALD MINOR 4 66.88 4 SNOWBALL FARM DRESSA 16JUN2008 E53SOQ WALD MINOR 1= 66.76 4 HAROLDS PARK FARM 22JUN2008 E50SOQ WALD MINOR 1 67.14 4 SEO OLDENCRAIG SOUTHERN 09AUG2008 E58RCO WALD MINOR 15= 62.81 2 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHI 19SEP2008 PE3IN WALD MINOR 3 65.88 (Grade III) OLDENCRAIG DRESSAGE 20FEB2009 PE2-TEWC WALD MINOR 1 73.33 (Grade II)
