Equestrian is one of the newest sports on the Virtus programme, added in 2016.
Athletes interested in competing need to contact their National Federation.
History
Equestrian is a sport of skill and control, creating the perfect synergy between animals and humans.
After Denmark’s Liz Hartel, a rider with physical impairments as a result of polio, won Olympic silver in 1952, a new generation of riders were inspired and Para equestrian was born.
Riders with intellectual impairments were included in Grade 3 competition when the sport was introduced to the Paralympic programme at Atlanta 1996, but have not been included in Games since then.
In 2015, at the Federation of Horses in Education and Therapy International (HETI) Congress in Taiwan, a Task Force was established with Virtus to begin to reinvigorate equestrian for athletes with intellectual impairments.
Riders take part in an innovative annual video competition where countries submit footage of their athletes according to strict regulations. This was designed to make the sport more accessible for teams. The test used is comparable to the PD Grade IV Novice A Test.
In 2020 the new Virtus eligibility groups of II2 and II3 were added, as well as a Youth Class for which a test similar to the Grade 2 Novice A Test was chosen.
Upcoming Competitions
View the Virtus competition calendar
Results
All results from equestrian competitions can be found here.
Rules
View the equestrian rules (item 7.12)
Virtus Para Equestrian Committee
- Uta Rindfleisch (CHT) – Chairperson
- Mary Longden – Oceania
- Andrey Sukhov – Europe
- Amanda Heath – Europe
- Ulrich Nickel – Europe
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Reece Dunn- The Golden boy from Tokyo 2020 Paralympics
Reece Dunn is an athlete with an intellectual Impairment from Great Britain. He won 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and emerged as the most decorated athlete with an Intellectual Impairment. He was also the most successful British athlete. -
Presentation of the Virtus para equestrian video competition 2021 (senior section)
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Presentation of the Virtus para equestrian video competition 2021 (youth section)
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Breanna Clarke (USA) Gold Medallist Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
Breanna Clarke (USA) Gold Medallist Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games 400m (T20) shares her Games experience. -
MakingInvisibleVISIBLE - Celebrating Tokyo 2020 Paralympians in Intellectual Impairment class events
The Paralympians who competed at Tokyo2020 in Athletics, Swimming, and Table Tennis in the intellectual impairment class events. 63 Medals. 120 Athletes. You shine like stars!
Photo credit: OIS Photos -
Athletes with Intellectual Impairment at Tokyo2020 Paralympic Games
At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, athletes with intellectual impairments competed in 22 medal events across Athletics, Swimming, and Table Tennis. This is a short highlights reel of some of the images from Tokyo2020, thanks to OISPhotos and ITTF. -
Todd "the HULK" Hodgetts
Before leaving Tokyo, Todd the Hulk shared with Virtus some of his thoughts.
Tokyo will be Todd's third consecutive Paralympic Games, the most any Australian athlete with an intellectual impairment has ever competed at. -
Virtus - Our place in the human race
Across the world, there are between 156-250 million people who live with a disability that is not visible. Source: WHO Report on Disability 2011.
Intellectual Impairment knows no boundaries. It cuts across the lines of racial, ethnic, educational, social, and economic backgrounds, and it can occur in any family.
There is a solution - SPORTS.
Virtus: World Intellectual Impairment Sport for 35 years has been on a mission to drive the development of elite sport worldwide for athletes with an intellectual impairment. But, like our athletes, Virtus has been invisible, mainly making a visible global impact every four years during the Global Games, which qualifies some ID athletes to compete at Paralympics in Athletics, Swimming, and Table Tennis only.
It's our time, to balance the scales and see millions of people have opportunities and access to sport, advocate for more inclusion of athletes and sports, and change the world for athletes with ID.
Virtus World Intellectual Impairment Sport, “Virtus” is the brand name of the International Federation for athletes with intellectual impairment and is a founding member of the International Paralympic Committee. Registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in the UK (1173901)