Ricky Balshaw
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| Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | November 10, 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Para-Athlete (Dressage_Grade 1b) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 2002–2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Ricky Balshaw, (born 10 November 1986) is a British Para equestrian rider who represented Britain in Beijing 2008 Paralympics, winning the silver medal with Deacons Georgi (now semi-retired). He also holds two world-championships and one European awards.
Balshaw was born with cerebral palsy which has restricted the muscle movement in both his legs and hands. He also has very little natural balance. With what he does have, he has been taught through physiotherapy to walk with the aid of two sticks.
When Ricky was 4 years old, his physiotherapist recommended that he took up horse riding as a part of the physio. Ricky, confused by what he had just heard decided to give to go. He started riding at Brockton Court RDA Group (Riding for the Disabled Association).
At the age of 10 Ricky was the 7th person in Europe to be selected for a state of the art operation on his spinal cord. The procedure involved opening his back up and then artificially stimulating each nerve ending to see which made the worst results on his muscles, in theory, see which muscles were working against him. Once identified, they were to cut the nerve effectively killing to muscles. This being a relatively new surgery could have put Ricky out of commission, leaving him wheelchair bound, unable to walk again but the surgery was a success, though Ricky had to learn to walk and ride again.
Ricky made his debut in 2002, the following year he was a member of the British team.
When Balshaw turned 14 he was put on the World Class programme and was pretty much sent all over the world competing and training to gain experience. In 2003 he was named first reserve for the World Championships. When called he was under a great deal of stress at that point, not only finding out that he was to replace a very close friend who could not make it there due to health reasons, but being given less than 3 weeks to prepare. Ricky describes that moment as "one of the most bittersweet moments, he's experienced". He was in the Grade ii category, his first big opportunity, and missed out on a bronze by the skin of his teeth.
The grade boundaries had changed and Ricky was now a grade 1b rider. With this new grade Ricky was given his second opportunity at the World Championships in 2007. Riding his horse Deacons Giorgi, Ricky and his steed smashed all expectation and gained a bronze medal. In 2008 the greatest opportunity that all male and female athletes work towards was now on the books for Ricky. Ricky and the British Para Dressage team were now on an airplane heading to Beijing Paralympics. Excited and what he described as "one of the best experiences of his life" Ricky and Deacons Giorgi (retired) flew back home to the UK with a Silver medal in hand, coming second to Lee Pearson a fellow British Paralympics team member.
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Wikipedia