Blind Para' rider Nic Thompson tells her incredible story and shares her dream to represent Great Britain.
I am 32 years old and was born with an inherited eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative condition of the retina leading to sight loss and in some cases total blindness. At the age of 8 my parents and teachers started to notice that I could only read very close up and was struggling to read the blackboard. At first it was thought I had a psychological problem and I undertook numerous tests to try and diagnose what was wrong. As RP was only relatively recently discovered it took 2 years before I was fully diagnosed.
As every child will confirm the most important thing when you’re young is to be "normal". I knew my sight condition was progressive, but the only way I found I could deal with it was to pretend it wasn’t happening. I was able to attend "normal" school and 6th form college and refused to accept any extra help as all I wanted to do was to fit in. After leaving college I pursued my equestrian career working and training in various different yards where I gained invaluable experience.
The first major stepping stone to acceptance was when I reached my early twenties. I started to lose my central vision and from that day forward it was not so easy to pretend anymore. As I was then unable to read and write, I realised it was time to be more upfront with people. I had perfected the act for so long that some of my friends were unaware that I had an eye condition. It’s amazing how good you become at avoiding certain situations that might catch you out.
When I was 8 I had my first riding lesson and from that day forward I was hooked. All my spare time was spent at the stables, it didn’t matter what I did, as long as I was there. Eventually my parents gave in and found me a pony and for several years after I spent my time show-jumping. I had a succession of horses which all taught me a lot, but due to my gradual sight loss it was becoming evident that show-jumping was not really an option for me any more, so I made the transition to dressage.
My love for dressage grew, but not knowing there was an opportunity for me to compete I had a professional rider compete my horse whilst I continued with the training. This gave me great satisfaction but it’s never the same watching someone else reap in the reward for something you know you have taken so much time and effort in achieving.
Welt Santa Cruz ("Ollie"), my current horse, was bought as an un-backed five-year old whom I started and produced myself. He had not been named and was only referred to as "the ugly one". They were right, he WAS ugly and he was always standing in the field on his own as the other horses obviously thought the same thing! He is now, however, the epitome of the story of the ugly duckling. At least I think so anyway!
The initial plan was to take a few months to turn him around and sell him to try and make a little bit of money. That plan never worked as little did I know how naughty this ugly duckling was going to be. I now know what people mean about the Weltmeyer temperament! If you put all the bad things a horse can do, buck, rear, jump, twist and spin together, he did them all, sometimes at the same time! Needless to say, I couldn’t sell him as nobody would want to buy him. There were always glimpses of brilliance and I just hoped these glimpses would become more and more frequent.
Various trainers tried to help me, but nobody wanted to ride him. But even though he was very naughty, he was never nasty. I never felt like he was behaving in this way to get me on the floor, it was purely his way of expressing his disapproval. He was obviously meant for me as he was the reason I entered into my career of Para-Dressage. He was so talented I knew it would be a waste if he wasn’t competed but, as no-one else wanted to ride him, I knew I would have to work out a way to do it myself!
Before entering this new world of Para-dressage, I had to overcome a big psychological battle with myself of actually accepting the fact that I was, and probably always will be, disabled. It’s a horrible word and I am still not overly comfortable saying it, as I’ve always thought of myself as being exactly the same as anyone else, but I just can’t see! It’s much the same when I’m competing, I see myself as a dressage rider who just needs a little extra help. I was worried that by becoming a Para-rider I might be treated differently, but of course these preconceptions were incorrect. The riders, supporters, trainers and in fact anyone connected to the Para-dressage world are some of the nicest people you are ever likely to meet. People are understanding, but in no way patronising and as everybody has a disability you are just one of the crowd.
Through a friend of the family I was put in touch with Clive Milkins, who runs South Bucks RDA, and he told me everything I needed to know about Para-dressage and how to get started. Together with Jane Goldsmith, they gave me advice as to how I could go about competing in able-bodied and Para competitions. I found myself a trainer, Richard Barrett, who is still my trainer today. He has been fantastic and so patient working with Ollie, who has not been the easiest. He trains me the same as any other rider having a dressage lesson.
The first thing I had to do was to be classified. This consisted of me visiting my local ophthalmologist with a classification form. He did various tests to asses the amount of vision I had and sent the form to British Blind Sport. The classification was matched to a profile which described my disability and the profile was linked to a Grade of similarly inhibiting impairments. I am classified as Grade III Profile 36 (B1), but have chosen to compete at Grade IV. The reason behind this is that if I were to ride at Grade III I would have to wear a blindfold, whereas if I compete in a slightly harder Grade (Grade IV) I can just ride as I am. Sometimes people find it very difficult to comprehend why it would make any difference to a blind person wearing a blindfold. There is a difference to being ‘black-blind’ and blind, and very few people are in fact black blind. I still have light perception and a very small amount of peripheral vision. As with any disability, you learn to use what you’ve got, no matter how little it is!
There are many challenges to overcome as a blind rider, mostly mental! The riding is all done by feel, in that you can’t see if your horse is straight, bent correctly or on the bit and, in any event, though these issues should have been tackled and perfected in training not during the test anyway. You must be able to multi-task if you are a blind rider, not only do you have to remember the test, think about your riding and how the horse is going, you also need to count your strides, remember certain angles and shapes and listen for the caller helping you to navigate your way around the arena.
I have tried many different methods of calling and the system that works the best for me is to have a caller standing at X, who calls X as I begin my test, so I can navigate my way down the centre line to his voice. For the rest of the test he calls every marker as I approach it, sometimes saying the letter twice if I need the preparation time.
Prior to arriving at the competition I will have ridden through the test numerous times, counting exactly how many strides there are in each movement. This helps me know when the marker is coming, so that I can prepare for the next movement. I also have an able bodied rider ride him reasonably frequently to help with his straightness, especially centre lines and halts.
Before entering a competition I always contact the venue to find out how the arena will be laid out and whether it is spooky, for instance. An arena with split white boards is more difficult for me as there is no set line for the horse to follow. If this is the case I will ask the venue to make the gaps between the white boards as small as possible. With everything there is to think about, you definitely have to be very focused to cope with all the challenges at a competition.
The warm-up is also a great challenge, as not only do you have to navigate your way around the arena but you have to avoid the other riders that you can’t see as well. The way I overcome this is to have a walkie-talkie with somebody standing on the edge telling me where other people are. I also wear a fluorescent vest that says "blind rider" on the back to make the other riders aware of my disability, in the hope that they will give me space. I always make sure I arrive at the competition in plenty of time so I can orientate myself and we can discuss any potential problems we may encounter on that particular day.
It is also very important to have a strong support team at home and at a competition, for example Beth Butler, who is an Equine Sports Therapist and a dressage rider (she has made a number of equine massage video with Horse Hero), has been treating Ollie since I bought him and she is always there at the drop of a hat to iron out any problems. Together with my vet, farrier and saddler they make a great home team and all contribute to my success. At a competition my support team is just my partner Gary. He is my driver, groom, trainer, caller and most importantly ‘my rock’ who picks up the pieces when it doesn’t go to plan. I couldn’t do any of this without him.
I first started competing Ollie 3 years ago doing some able-bodied prelim and novices. As neither of us had competed in dressage before it really was like the ‘blind leading the blind’! He was very spooky and I had no idea what he was spooking at! Nevertheless we carried on and bit by bit we grew in confidence. I started competing in Para-dressage competitions last year and I qualified for both National Championships at Grade IV Restricted and came 4th and 1st respectively.
I then went on to qualify for the summer nationals which you can only compete at if you are an Open rider. This test was the equivalent of a Medium and Ollie was nowhere near ready. Five weeks before (once we heard we had qualified) we had never even attempted half-pass. I took him anyway for us both to gain experience and confidence from being at a busy atmosphere.
Last autumn I was awarded a place on the BEF Foundation Squad, which is a programme run over 2 years for up and coming riders. Our coach is Tanya Larrigan (ex Horse Hero blogger) and the extra training sessions have been very useful for me and Ollie.
At the end of last year I decided I needed to tackle the issue of spooking. I was losing so many marks at a competition, which was very frustrating and unnecessary, so behaviourist Michael Peace showed me a way to prevent spooking. It was simply to set up spooky scenarios in the arena at home and Ollie gained confidence and learned to deal with difficult situations for himself. This was the best decision I ever made and we have not looked back since. Subsequently, we have not lost a single mark through spooking! Now he has grown out of his terrible teens and has become very reliable and is an absolute pleasure to train and compete.
This year I qualified for both the Nationals in the Open section and came second and third respectively. I was then selected to compete as an Individual rider in my first International, which took place over 3 days, and I came 3rd overall in Grade IV. The last competition we did was a Para Inter-Regional competition. Four riders from five regions took part in a national competition. I am please to say our team won and I was Reserve Champion in the Individual Competition.
Since then, I have been advised that there will be more opportunities for me as a Grade III rider as I would be competing against people with similar disabilities and due to a slight rule change, I could wear blacked-out glasses, rather than a blindfold which is slightly easier as I do not get the disorientation and claustrophobic that I do with a blindfold. So, if I can find a backer and if my preparation is successful, I intend to start competing in Grade III next year in the hope that I may get selected to represent Great Britain at a Paralympics in the future.