As the dust settled on the 2024 Paris Paralympics, we heard from Canadian para-dressage rider Roberta Sheffield, who competed in the Grade II Freestyle final aboard Fairuza, her 15-year-old mare. She was the only Canadian to qualify for the Freestyle, where she placed 6th overall with a score of 73.187%.
These Games marked Sheffield’s third Olympic appearance; she made her debut at Rio 2016 where she rode Double Agent to 14th place and helped Canada to a 13th-place team finish, then competed at Tokyo 2020 where she placed 12th individually aboard Fairuza (aka Wonky) and was part of the 10th-place team. She was reclassified as Grade II earlier this year after competing in both those Games in Grade III. Sheffield, 43, currently sits 7th in the Grade II FEI World Rankings, and 46th overall in para-dressage.
Clive gives Wonky a smooch.
‘Bert’ shared her impressions of these Paris Paralympics. “It was an amazing experience to do the Freestyle at the Paralympics,” she explained. “This is my third Paralympics, but it’s my first time doing a Paralympic Freestyle. My personal ambition for the Games was to finish plus-70 in each test, so I needed to finish top-eight in the Individual to get into the Freestyle.” (She did even better than that, placing 6th in the Individual with 70.345%. She was also the highest-placed Canadian in the opening Team event with 70.967%.)
“The team behind me here has done such an amazing job of making that possible,” she said appreciatively. “We’ve had so much support. They’ve done a brilliant job supporting me and my horse and I owe them everything. Given the run-up we’ve had to this Games, it’s been a long, hard slog for everybody involved. My support team have been incredible, both from Equestrian Canada and my own home team. I could not have asked more of anyone. They were absolutely epic.”
Sheffield continued, “I missed out in Tokyo by a tiny fraction of a point because there were so many of us that literally all congregated on one score. I was on the wrong side of history in that score. So this Games has been very different, because I’ve been able to achieve what I wanted to do.”
The locale on French soil also made a difference for the rider, who resides in Lincolnshire, UK. “These Games have been so different. It’s been so much closer to home, so it’s been far more like competing at a home Games. So although I haven’t got my Canadian family here. I’ve got my British family here, and I’ve got the people that support me from home here.”
Not that she actually saw her supporters once she entered the imposing ring at Versailles. She laughed, remarking, “I have to say, I didn’t notice anyone I know in the stands, because once I’m in there, I don’t want to focus on the stands, I don’t want to pick individual people out or see who I’m performing to. I just want to keep that opaque, bulletproof energy bubble around me and my horse so we can compete without that distraction.”
Sheffield stressed that full points needed to go to Wonky, her two-time Olympic partner. “She’s an incredible horse. We’ve had such a long-term relationship; I bought her almost exactly nine years ago, and we started in international competition together in 2018. She’s definitely been a slow burner, both as a dressage horse and for the judges. She’s got the most amazing mind. Her brain is incredible. She handles pressure and environments so well.
“She’s a little bit crazy, but that’s kind of what I think helps us both to get on with each other. I think we understand each other’s crazy ‒ we resonate.”
Clive Milkins, chef d’équipe for the Canadian Para-Dressage Team, said of Sheffield that he was “absolutely thrilled with her performance. She’s been impeccable all week. She delivered three very good, consistent performances, and today was calm. What I’m always looking for is consistency and harmony, and that’s what Bert delivered.”
He commented on the overall team aspect. “We’ve had a very good team competition. Of course, I’d have liked to have been higher in the rankings – and as per usual, it’s a subjective sport, with one judge who didn’t quite agree with the others – but as far as I’m concerned, it’s been a very good, solid, consistent team performance. The morale in the camp has been absolutely excellent, and to introduce a new athlete at every one of the last three Games means a really exciting future for the sport of para-dressage in Canada.”
~ with files from Equestrian Canada