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.
Eleonore sustained a compound fracture of her lower left leg and ankle in 1979 when schooling a horse who reared and fell. She was in the hospital for six weeks and in a cast up to her hip for four months. More surgery was needed to remove a portion of the talus that would not heal, followed by more time on crutches. The physical challenges, uncertainty for the future, and the exhausting rehabilitation were all daunting, yet she overcame it all in her return to the ring. “I’ve faced a few challenges, but so far none that were insurmountable,” she explains. “I was on crutches for eight months and not allowed to weight-bear, so my biggest challenge at that time was to learn how to walk all over again – I had become quite proficient at hopping on one leg. It took riding a stationary bicycle to rewire my brain for the walking function. Being on my feet and walking for long periods of time to this day has been my biggest challenge. Riding, on the other hand, has been my saving grace. Mentally, I learned to put mind over matter and to persevere when it comes to everyday life.”
She acknowledges the support of her family, which allows her to compete with the best in the world. “My brother has always been my staunch supporter; both my husband, Robert, and my daughter, Ashleigh, are usually in charge of being videographer and photographer. Out-of-town competitions we try to do as a family and often my daughter gets to take her horse and compete as well. Both have cheered me on and supported me during my absences when competing in the United States or Europe since I started riding with the Para-Equestrian Team.”
Eleanore has an exciting string of horses this season, among them Donatello, an 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned by Liz Trenchard. “Donatello has a lot of presence and always gives me the best rides at a competition. He seems to always know when it counts!”
Having finished seventh individually and 10th in the Grade IV freestyle with Zareno at the 2012 London Paralympics, Eleanore says that her career highlights also include having students ride at the NAYRC and being the Canadian young rider coach from 1992-94. “I take just as much satisfaction in seeing a student succeed with their horse as in having a great ride myself. I definitely like winning, whether it is as a coach or as a rider.”
