Final Rio para dressage team selection is getting very close, and by the time you read this I will have competed at the crucial final trail at Hartpury CPEDI.
It is weird that how in February July feels so far away, yet we are now just in July and it feels like it has gone so quickly!
So it’s final selection for myself and one of my riders, Natasha Adkinson, and it’s a three-star international as well for a couple more of the riders I train so there was lots to prepare for.
At the end of the day I guess it’s our job and we are riding exactly the same test we do at any other competition. My aim is always to go out and ride at my best to show the horses to the best of their ability. I love dancing with them, they are so different, but both give you an amazing feeling.
Noki is also coming with us with his new rider Izzy. He loves coming away to parties. It’s weird to think I’ve competed him at Hartpury every year for the past seven years, (2009-2012 CPEDI, 2013 premier league grand prix, 2014 and 2015 CDI big tour) and this year I will be involved in his performance in a very different way. He does and always will hold a very special place in my heart.
Me training on camera
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
I have some help at home now — Beth has joined my small home team to help look after my horses. She was thrown in at the deep end by going to squad training at the end of June in her first week, but she coped really well. I met Beth through teaching her on her lovely Freisian, Jake. Having Beth’s help has also allowed me to pick up some more teaching.
I just wish the weather would pick up now too, I can’t believe the coats and horse rugs are back out to teach in – it is July isn’t it?
Sophie
Horse & Hound Newsletter
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Sophie Wells is a talented young dressage rider who has represented her country in both able-bodied and paralympic championships, winning team gold and two individual Grade IV silver medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
