Eleonore Elstone’s success in international competition has earned her high praise as an excellent ambassador of Canadian para-dressage. Operating her Sunfox Training Centre in Langley, BC, she is not only a paralympian, but also an Equine Canada high-performance Level 3 coach since 1991, a member of the EC Coaching Committee since 1992, and an HP1 master evaluator.

Born in Germany, Eleonore got her first pony at the age of seven and began competing at 12 in first and second level dressage and 1.10m jumper classes, with a smattering of three-day eventing thrown in for good measure. She attributes much of her success and tenacity to her mother, who owned a riding school when Eleonore was in her teens. It is with her mother’s horses that she competed in all three disciplines up to and including young rider level in eventing. “My mother shared my love for horses and supplied me with horses to ride and compete on while growing up. She also taught me how to look after them, as for my mom the well-being and care of the horses always came first.”

After graduating from high school, she began working for Walter Guenther, who was at the time the national trainer for the German dressage team. “It was while working and riding for Walter that I got my true dressage foundation for riding young horses and schoolmasters right through to grand prix-level horses.” She trains at home with Leslie Reid and Canadian team coach Andrea Taylor, but has also trained with Dr. Reiner Klimke, Udo Lange, Christilot Boylen and Klaus Martin Rath.

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