A DARWEN teenager who saw her equestrian career slip from her when she suffered a serious elbow injury is hoping to make it to the Paralympics by 2012.
Cerebral palsy sufferer Felicity Helen Coulthard, 19, of Essex Street, was forced out of action for 18 months soon after winning first place in the Riding for the Disabled Association's National Dressage Championships in 2000.
After breaking her elbow in a training fall, plates and bolts had to be used by surgeons to fix her arm back together and Felicity had to start training again.
Three years later, Felicity has competed in competitions across the UK including her first International Para Trials in 2002 and the RDA Championships last year. She has also set up her own website.
But the best news was when she was invited to put her name forward for the prestigious World Class Start and Potential trials, open to those believed to have the talent to compete in the Paralympics within the next nine years.
The programme is lottery funded through Sport England to support the country's most gifted up and coming riders in the disciplines of dressage, paralympic dressage, eventing and show jumping.
Felicity said: "I was approached during this years RDA Championships during the summer and was invited to take part in the World Class Start and Potential training day which in October.
"Then I was invited to put my name forward to try for the programme."
Riders will be picked for final assessments and final selection next month.
Felicity rides and trains with Pendle Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) group and the RDA North West Dressage Group. Her first riding lessons were provided by Broadlands Special School, Blackburn, where she attended daily until she joined mainstream education at the age of five years.
Her cerebral palsy has left her with problems with her speech, fine motor movements and mobility but she is determined this will not stand in her way.
She said: "I must concentrate on my abilities and not my disability. Breaking my elbow made me more determined to carry on and win."
Training comprises two mentor sessions a week with advanced instructor Kate Bailey and she also travels a round trip of 180 miles once a month for training sessions at the Yorkshire Riding Centre with Jane Bartle-Wilson, who has played a major role in developing British dressage.
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