British-born US Paralympic gold medallist Fiona Howard has set a new grade II freestyle world record.
On Sunday (9 March) 27-year-old Fiona, ranked fifth in the world para dressage rankings, scored 83.27% at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, in Wellington, Florida, with her triple Paris gold medallist Diamond Dunes.
The test, to the music from Avatar, surpassed the 80% personal best scored by the pair in the freestyle in Paris which helped the USA secure team gold.
“It was our first competition after the Paralympics, so I just wanted to get back out there and back in the groove,” said Fiona, who also scored a new 77.30% personal best in the grand prix A test on Friday (7 March).
“Dunes gives so much every single time I come in the ring. He’s never shown here, so it was a new ring, but he tried so hard for me. He’s pretty special.”
Fiona, whose mother is American and father is British, was born and raised in England. She competed on British reining teams as a junior, before immigrating to the USA in 2016 and taking up para dressage in 2021.
Fiona and 12-year-old gelding Diamond Dunes, owned by the Kasselmann family, made their international debut together last March after Francois Kasselmann suggested Dunes would make a good para horse. The pair have gone from strength to strength, winning 13 out of 15 starts.
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“We were looking, but not actively. I had another horse in Germany that we were qualifying for Paris, but we went to take a look,” said Fiona.
“His brain was so good, and he wanted to do what was right. I fell in love with Dunes from that day. Francois was really generous to let me try to qualify him for Paris and he got better and better and better. It’s pretty awesome to have a personal best in Paris and then come out here in March and have a world record. He’s amazing.”
Fiona was accompanied in Wellington by her Paris teammates Roxanne Trunnell and Rebecca Hart, along with her support network.
“It was a special show for me to have so many people there,” said Fiona.
“A lot of my family lives in England, so they’re super far away but I have an incredible team here. It gave me an extra boost because I wanted to make them proud. It’s special to be able to share these moments with them all.”
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
