Equestrian Life September 2017 Issue

CHRISTOPHER
BRADLEY
The horse-power of speech
Christopher Bradley reached the
age of six before he spoke for the
first time - saying ‘hello, gorgeous’
to the family’s first pony.
He was echoing mum Veronica’s
daily greeting to Welsh mare,
Anna.
She said: “Christopher still
struggles with conversation but
if he’s on a horse or you ask him
to tell you about his horses, you
can’t shut him up!”
Christopher was identified as
being autistic as a child but
Christopher Bradley with his non-stop
received a further diagnosis just
mum Veronica
last year of a rare chromosomal
disorder through advances in genetic testing. Christopher is the sole
known person in the UK and only the eighth in the world with ‘microdeletion
of the short-arm branch of the 19th pair of chromosomes.’
smile with his horse,Quintus, and proud
Christopher, 31, is competing for the Eastern Region on his grey French
Thoroughbred, Quintus.
Christopher Bradley
smiles his way round
the Prix Caprilli
course on his French
Thoroughbred,
Quintus
A FINAL WORD FROM THE
HOSTS
“We all here at Parklands have
come back down to earth after our
Equestrian centre was taken over
for a week to host the equestrian
discipline of the 2017 Special
Olympics. We were honoured to be
asked two years ago if we would
consider hosting the games. We
assisted the Olympic Committee
in organising and deciding what
temporary infrastructure would
need to come in which included
40 temporary stables, a 200-seat
grandstand, huge marquee for the
athletes' lounge and not forgetting
several large glamping tents to
ensure the grooms were able to
stay close to the horses. As well
as the premises, we supplied the
athletes with 19 of our amazing
riding school horses and ponies who
looked after each and every rider
and were turned out to perfection
by our staff. The athletes and
coaches only had 20 minutes on
the day before competition began
to decide which horse was suitable
for which athlete each rider only
allowed to try two horses. Going
on a very vague description of each
athlete our head instructor here at
Parklands Clare Mellors selected
which two to try and all pairings
were successful, we could have sold
all our horses as the athletes loved
them!
The whole week was magical, if a
little exhausting, but we would do
it all again in a flash to be involved
in such a special event every single
athlete wore a huge smile no matter
where they were placed. It was so
refreshing to see such positivity in
a highly competitive environment
with all the athletes supporting one
another.
“We all here at Parklands have
come back down to earth after our
Equestrian centre was taken over
for a week to host the equestrian
discipline of the 2017 Special
Olympics”, commented Abigail
Shaw.
www.equestrianlifemagazine.co.uk 59