About Me
Lara and Bella, June 2015.
My name is Lara Oles and I am a Para Equestrian. I was in a freak skiing accident in 2006 that damaged my spinal cord, leaving my right arm permanently paralyzed and stroke- like symptoms in my right leg. My goal is to represent the United States on the Para Equestrian Team.
If you are like me, before my accident I thought that the Paralympics were named because the athletes are paralyzed; but there are many other physical impairments that can classify someone as a Paralympian. In fact, “para” comes from the Greek preposition meaning “beside or alongside”, illustrating that the Paralympics are parallel to the Olympics, and the two movements exist side-by-side.
I took dressage and jumping lessons in high school, but most of my riding was in the woods and orchards, or on the dunes and beaches of Michigan. My first horse after college in 1991, was a thoroughbred off the track and I had big plans for him in dressage. We trained at a Dressage barn in Wisconsin and had some initial successes at schooling shows. Unfortunately, he went lame within a year and I got so poor and discouraged trying to heal him, I decided to stick with trail riding for the next 18 years.
In the fall of 2010, I attended the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky and watched the Para Dressage freestyle competition. Those amazing athletes inspired me to try dressage again. Unfortunately, the small Wyoming town we lived in had no indoor arena or Dressage instructor, and there were not any within 110 miles. As luck would have it, the closest barn that offered dressage lessons was the National Ability Center (NAC) in Park City, Utah. Since they specialize in adaptive riding it was a perfect place for me to begin riding dressage again.
After a year of riding at the NAC, they nominated me for an award with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH). Amazingly, I was selected as PATH’s “Independent Adult Equestrian of the Year”. In November 2011, I got an all-expenses paid trip back to Lexington, Kentucky to accept my award. After the ceremony, a woman from the Carlisle Academy in Maine invited me to attend their U.S. Para Equestrian Training Camp.
That was the start of my journey. You can see photos and captions of events from 2012 through the present under my Dressage Photos pages.
If you are like me, before my accident I thought that the Paralympics were named because the athletes are paralyzed; but there are many other physical impairments that can classify someone as a Paralympian. In fact, “para” comes from the Greek preposition meaning “beside or alongside”, illustrating that the Paralympics are parallel to the Olympics, and the two movements exist side-by-side.
I took dressage and jumping lessons in high school, but most of my riding was in the woods and orchards, or on the dunes and beaches of Michigan. My first horse after college in 1991, was a thoroughbred off the track and I had big plans for him in dressage. We trained at a Dressage barn in Wisconsin and had some initial successes at schooling shows. Unfortunately, he went lame within a year and I got so poor and discouraged trying to heal him, I decided to stick with trail riding for the next 18 years.
In the fall of 2010, I attended the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky and watched the Para Dressage freestyle competition. Those amazing athletes inspired me to try dressage again. Unfortunately, the small Wyoming town we lived in had no indoor arena or Dressage instructor, and there were not any within 110 miles. As luck would have it, the closest barn that offered dressage lessons was the National Ability Center (NAC) in Park City, Utah. Since they specialize in adaptive riding it was a perfect place for me to begin riding dressage again.
After a year of riding at the NAC, they nominated me for an award with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH). Amazingly, I was selected as PATH’s “Independent Adult Equestrian of the Year”. In November 2011, I got an all-expenses paid trip back to Lexington, Kentucky to accept my award. After the ceremony, a woman from the Carlisle Academy in Maine invited me to attend their U.S. Para Equestrian Training Camp.
That was the start of my journey. You can see photos and captions of events from 2012 through the present under my Dressage Photos pages.
Lara, Dan, Annie, and Bella, June 2015. Photos by Impulsion Images.
