U.S. team riders Rebecca Hart and Fiona Howard have kicked off the first day of para-dressage competition at the Paris Paralympic Games with a pair of individual gold medals, and their teammate Roxanne Trunnell followed those with an individual silver, quadrupling the U.S. Paris Games medal count in just one day of competition.

Hart, going first for the team today in the Grade III competition, scored 77.90% on Floratina, a 16-year-old Hanoverian mare (Fidertanz 2—Rubina, Rubin Royal OLD) owned by Rowan O’Riley, to take the top podium spot above Tokyo individual bronze and team silver medalist Rixt van der Horst of the Netherlands aboard Royal Fonq (76.43%) and Natasha Baker of Great Britain with Dawn Chorus, double silver medalists and team gold medalists from Tokyo (73.16%).

This is the first gold medal for Hart, the U.S. team’s veteran member, who is appearing here in her fifth Paralympic Games. The winning score also was a personal best for her and “Flora.” In her previous Games, she finished fourth twice (Beijing 2008, London 2012), ninth (Rio 2016) and 11^th (Tokyo 2021). 

“I couldn’t have asked for more, and to get a personal best and a gold medal at the Paralympics is just—I feel like I’m in a dream,” she said. “I feel like I’m going to have to wake up here in a minute.”

Hart went into the arena knowing she’d have to deliver the ride of her life to get the gold that has eluded her for 16 years. And when she came out, she looked up at the scoreboard to realize she had.

“I knew that in order for me to get the [gold], I would have had to do a personal best,” she said. “And you always hope for that, but to actually see it happen, and see it on the screen, and as I’m looking at the screen, riding Flora, who I adore, the chateau—looking at Versailles and seeing that score, it just—I couldn’t have imagined a better scenario. 

“I took in the moment, but it also still feels surreal. I just kind of sobbed my way out of the arena. I was like, ‘This is great,’ ” she continued. “All the horses and all the people that got me there all just popped into my mind as we were walking out, and now I’m going to cry again, and it’s just wild.”

Hart heaped praise upon her horse. Flora previously competed through Intermediaire and won team gold for Canada at the 2019 Pan American Games (Peru) with Lindsay Kellock. She came to Hart from another able-bodied Canadian rider, Chloe Gasiorowski.

“I love the horse that I’m sitting on,” Hart said. “She has just felt like a partner since the day that I sat on her.”

The two partnered up in 2023, and Hart said it was love at first ride.

“She just knows her job. She is so confident in herself and the kindest and most intelligent mare I have ever experienced,” she said. “She had been a professional, able-bodied horse her entire career up until a year ago when I got her. And I have no legs, and I sat on her, and I was asking her some questions, seeing what her reactions would be—because you never know—and she offered me answers every time I asked her something. And all I had to do was go, ‘Yes, that’s it,’ and she was like, ‘Done. That’s how we do it now.’ She is so smart, and she fights for you out there, and she enjoys the atmosphere, she enjoys the competitions. She’s a queen, and she knows it.”

Hart said it was her, more than her mare, who was in awe of the atmosphere at the Palace of Versailles, where the equestrian competition is being held. After doing ring familiarization with Flora, which the mare sailed through unfazed, Hart said she needed to do some extra ring familiarization by herself.

“I had to take a lot of time myself, where I just came and sat quietly at the end of the arena and experienced the space and made sure I looked at Versailles and just took everything in, so that I didn’t lose my own focus in the grandness of this arena,” she said.

Howard Enters With A Bang

In the Grade II competition that came next, Hart’s teammate Fiona Howard made her Paralympic debut by winning gold aboard Diamond Dunes. She and the 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding (De L’Or—Wibella, Wolkentanz) owned by Dressage Family LLC and Hof Kasselmann scored 76.93% to hold off late challenges from the last two riders in the division, reigning world champions Katrine Kristensen and Goerklintgaards Quarter of Denmark (73.96%) and Georgia Wilson of Great Britain riding Sakura (73.41%), who took silver and bronze, respectively.

“Diamond Dunes is amazing; he really tries so hard for me,” Howard said, noting she’s only been riding the gelding since March. “This is obviously the biggest atmosphere I’ve ever taken him in, and I just really went in there and was like, ‘I trust you,’ and he was like, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got you.’ He gave me confidence throughout the whole test. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to do my first Paralympic Games on.”

She said the horse’s calm nature was part of the confidence boost that helped her deliver a winning ride in her Paralympic debut.

“He went in there from Day 1, and he was like, ‘This is cool,’ and he just strolled around,” she said. “As long as he’s got his people, he’s like, OK. He just follows you and trusts all of his people, and I really think that’s been a big part of today, is my team really gave us both confidence.”

Like Hart, she said the royal venue at Paris is awe-inspiring.

“You just look down the arena, and you’re like, ‘Wow.’ Honestly, I had to refocus myself because I’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s really pretty [the Palace of Versailles] … And then I’m like, ‘Wait—I have a job.’ It’s such a beautiful venue, and all of the people have been so great.”

Howard is the lone rookie on this year’s U.S. Para-Dressage Team, and she credited her more experienced teammates—Hart, Roxanne Trunnell and Kate Shoemaker, all of whom were on the squad that won first team medal for the United States, bronze, in Tokyo—with making the experience less overwhelming.

“It’s been incredible, and it’s helped me so much,” Howard said. “All my teammates have been to at least one Paralympic Games and numerous world championships. If I had any questions, I’d go to any of them and be like, ‘Hey, how does this work?’ And they were like, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll explain everything.’ They’ve just been my biggest supporters through all of this, and I’m so thankful for them and so honored to be on a team with all of them.”

Trunnell Takes Silver

In the Grade I individual test that wrapped up the day’s equestrian competition, Roxanne Trunnell couldn’t quite repeat her double individual gold medals from Tokyo on her new ride, Fan Tastico H. While she and the 7-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Fuerstenball OLD—Wehmut, Weltmeyer) owned by Karin Flint scored a 78% that put them well clear of the competition for most of the day, they couldn’t hold off a challenge from reigning world champions Rihards Snikus and King Of The Dance, representing Latvia, who earned 79.16%—the highest score of the day—to win the division. Another world champion, Sara Morganti, rode Maribelle into bronze position (74.62%).

Trunnell was pleased with her young gelding’s performance in the big atmosphere of Versailles. She was particularly pleased with his work in the walk serpentine—and said he seemed to be equally pleased with himself.

“He felt very relaxed,” she said. “When he came out, he immediately wanted sugar cubes!” 

On The Upswing

With five Paralympics under her belt, Hart spoke to the historic nature of Tuesday for not just the athletes themselves but for U.S. para-dressage.

“From how hard we fought in Tokyo for that bronze medal, and then over the last four years, our team has developed so much. We’ve put in so much work, and to have it actually come together in the moment, in the ring, on the day that we needed it to, is surreal,” she said. 

She credited Chef d’Equipe Michel Assouline, who joined the U.S. program in 2017, after the Rio Paralympics, for developing the country’s athletes and infrastructure to make the United States internationally competitive. The country entered this year’s Paralympics ranked No. 1 in the world.

“We’ve always had talented people,” Hart said, “and it’s just a matter of structuring our program so that we can get the best and continue to grow and have the resources to develop the program even more, and it’s been wonderful to have him guiding us on that path.”

Trunnell echoed those sentiments.

“We’ve all been working so hard; it’s nice to see it pay off,” Trunnell said of the trio of medals she and her teammates earned Tuesday. Adding of Assouline, “He is a brilliant coach. He got us all straightened up, to do harder training, better horses. He’s really good.”

Trunnell said the individual successes so far bode well for Friday’s team competition. The three riders that will represent each country there will be named before it begins.

“I think we’re in a very good spot to hopefully medal,” she said.

Paralympic dressage competition continues Wednesday with Grades IV and V. The final U.S. pair, Kate Shoemaker and Vianne, are scheduled to go down centerline at 5:58 a.m. Eastern Time. The competition is being streamed on NBC’s Peacock.

See complete results from Tuesday’s para-dressage competition here.

The top eight riders from each grade qualify for the freestyle competition, which will take place Saturday.