DressageDaily: The Heidelberg Cup 2003: Kathy Groves on the Road to Belgium

Wednesday March 26, 2003

The Heidelberg Cup

Kathy Groves on the Road to Belgium

Groves on Faleen Kathy Groves is riding for the first time in classes for riders with disabilities, and she plans to go as far as she can with it, hopefully to Belgium for the world championships this summer and eventually to the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.

When she was severely burned in an auto accident in 1995, Groves had to undergo numerous surgeries and months of rehabilitation. Doctors gave her a mere 6% chance of survival, never suspecting that she would ever sit on horse again.

Refusing to let their prediction demoralize her, Groves finished therapy in October of 1997 and started riding dressage for the first time in that same year. She had ridden before, but this was her first time in the dressage saddle.

Through trial and error she has worked out a prosthetic arm that allows her to hold the reins through a test. She started out with a myoelectric arm, then later tried a custom affair with a wooden hand that kept breaking. Over the years she has had a few mishaps, such as her arm coming off in the ring and once, while waiting in the start box at a horse trials, noticing that a silicone finger had become torn – she pulled it off and put it in her pocket, much to the shock of the man counting down her ride!

Groves on Freek There are four different grades of disability, each with its own test of relative difficulty. Grade I is a walk-trot test for riders who are paraplegic; the Grade IV test is for riders who are less severely disabled, and requires more difficult movements. The test that Groves will have to ride is similar to a third/fourth level test, with trot-work out of Prix St. George.

“The new arm is great,” she said of her latest development, which has a latex covering over the hand to cushion it against the reins, and was constructed at such an angle that she can have a better connection with the horse, and can even flex by contracting her shoulder muscles. “I thought I’d never get past first level. You have to have patience to do this; to survive what I did, you’ve got to have something.”

Groves’ positive outlook is contagious. At the competitor’s party that she sponsors, everyone has a fantastic time. Though her face is scarred from burns and her arm ends at the elbow, it is not her disfigurement that you notice, but her energy and enthusiasm, her strength and determination. Her sense of purpose is tangible, and evident in the numerous clinics and seminars she has hosted for riders and judges alike. Most recently she hosted a weekend seminar for judges at her Quiet Oaks Farm to educated them on how to judge riders with disabilities.

A member of the USDF Adult Amateur Committee, she noted, “I think the disabled riders’ community is where my energies are better served. I’m always asking organizers to add the IPEC (International Paralympic Equestrian Committee) classes to their shows. Some hesitate because they don’t know what it is, but there’s no liability; we’re all USDF members.”

Groves - Filley The path to Belgium is not easy: Groves will have to spend several weeks on the road going to qualifying competitions, now that she is on the short list. She will go to several shows from Florida to North Carolina. Last year she drove to Long Island for a show though, and said that she has fun traveling around with her horses and family. “My friends and family are great; my husband is very supportive,” she said. “I’m very excited and nervous at the same time.”

Groves owns several horses and had two two of them, Frëëk and Faleen, at the Heidelberg Cup. Faleen is a Trakehner (Rhombus x Fabian), that she has scored 72% with in the past; Freek is a KWPN (The Natural x Ornasolly). If she qualifies, she will take her own horse to Belgium.