Canadian Paralympic Dressage Team for Paris 2024 Announced

Canada

A team of three Para dressage riders and their horses have been nominated to represent Canada in Para equestrian at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Equestrian Canada announced.

The Canadian Paralympic dressage team includes:

Austen Burns & Happy Feet 3 – Grade I – Newry, IR
Jody Schloss & El Colorado – Grade I – Toronto, O
Roberta Sheffield & Fairuza – Grade II – Lincolnshire, GBR

Paris will be the third Paralympic Games appearances for Sheffield and Schloss.

Sheffield, who holds dual citizenship with the UK but represents Canada on the international stage, made her debut at Rio 2016 where she helped the country to a 13th place team finish. She then competed individually at Tokyo 2020 where she placed 12th and was part of the team that achieved 10th place. At both Games she competed in Grade III. She was reclassified earlier this year and will be entering the Grade II ring in Paris alongside Fairuza.

“I cannot describe how it feels to be nominated for Team Canada,” said Sheffield, who is currently ranked seventh in the FEI World Para Dressage Individual Rankings (Grade II). “It is such a huge honour to represent my country, and it’s been such an incredible journey with so many twists and turns. There is nothing like wearing the maple leaf.”

Grade I athlete Schloss made her debut at London 2012 and then represented Canada at Tokyo 2020 where she finished 11th place. Her partnership with El Colorado is a new and developing one that has proven to be an exciting one to watch through the run up to Paris.

Both Sheffield and Schloss represented Canada at the 2022 FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark where Schloss placed 13th in the Grade I and Sheffield placed fifth in the Grade III.

Also a Grade I athlete, Burns will make his Paralympic Games debut with his partner Happy Feet 3. Based in Northern Ireland, Burns was born in Vancouver and began riding in Langley, BC at the age of three.

To be eligible to participate in the Paris 2024 Para equestrian competitions, the selected athlete-horse combinations must have achieved the FEI Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MER) at selected events during the qualification period. The athletes each qualified for the team based on their performance results during the internal qualification period of January 1 – July 1, 2024.