Paralympics 2008

Hong Kong

So it's all over.

For me, this has been a six-week equestrian journey. First, the Olympics with all its highs and lows, then to the Paralympics with mostly lots of highs.

Once again, Britain has proved itself the best para-dressage nation on the planet with five golds and five silvers. Well done to the riders and everyone involved with the team - it's been an absolute pleasure working with you.

One of the tournament workers said behind me in the interview area when Lee Pearson won his ninth Paralympic gold... "Oh, not another British win?" Yes sireee...

All this success, though, begs the question - why is Britain so good at para-dressage compared with able-bodied dressage?

I put it to Lee who immediately said "because the disabled athletes in the British team are all really talented", but he then went on to talk about the brilliant para-dressage set-up with a great support team and good funding.

From my viewpoint, as an outsider looking in, it's even more complicated. There is a lot of talent in para-dressage but importantly, that talent is spotted.

Once spotted, it's nurtured, trained, supported and helped to find good horses. I'm sure the same can be said of able-bodied dressage - but is it to the same degree? Obviously able-bodied dressage is a much bigger world.

The horses required for the top level are 10 times more expensive and therefore much harder to find owners willing to foot the bill.

There are also many more riders vying for the medals and obviously technically much more difficult. Britain's para-dressage team also have the added advantage that the rest of the world quite hasn't caught-up with them yet.

Even the equestrian might of Germany finished more than 26 points behind them in the team event. That's a huge margin.

But there's another element we maybe haven't considered - there is something extra special about para-dressage that people love; something "human" that attracts the press and people who wouldn't normally watch the sport.

No-one has asked me this week: "So para-dressage, what's it all about then?" Yet I was constantly asked that question about able-bodied dressage during the Olympics.

If you discount horsey magazines, able-bodied dressage gets next to no media coverage in the UK. Olympia's World Cup qualifier is probably the only event which makes the back pages.

Yet Lee has been starring in a prime-time BBC programme and will get more TV and radio coverage this week than all the able-bodied dressage riders will probably receive in their lives.

During the Olympics I tried my best to get dressage on Radio 5 Live as much as possible. At one stage I actually felt like I was starting to get somewhere, particularly when Emma Hindle did so brilliantly.

But ultimately if there's no British medal, people lose interest. Plus the Olympics is only a four-yearly phenomenon. It's not enough for the wider public to catch on to the sport.

In Holland, Anky Van Grunsven is a household name, in Germany Isabell Werth is practically a goddess and Kyra Kyrklund has a TV crew permanently following her around for Finnish TV. They are dressage celebrities. In Britain the only dressage celebrity and household name is Lee Pearson - enough said.

Of course, there's no reason why Lee shouldn't receive that attention. He is immensely talented and like most of the British team here, actually competes in able-bodied classes as well.

He controls his horse almost entirely through his hips and bottom and told me "I have a very tight bum because of it." Lee just loves feeding me those lines in interviews!

But why can't the able-bodied sport attract some of that limelight? Please don't think I am trying to undermine it or anyone involved in the sport. That is not the point of this blog.

I know many people are working really hard to improve the British success rate in major championships and their work is starting to reap rewards.

I just wish we could all find a way to make it as appealing to the wider public as para-dressage and with that, improve Britain's success rate.