| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | December 14, 1998 England | ||||||||||||||
| Home town | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Northeastern University | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | United States | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Para equestrianism | ||||||||||||||
| Disability | Dystonia | ||||||||||||||
| Disability class | Grade II | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Fiona Howard (born December 14, 1998) is a British-American para equestrian. She competes in Grade II para dressage. [1] Howard is representing the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Howard was born to an American mother and British father in England, and was raised in London. Starting when she was 11 and continuing into her teenage years, she faced a number of health problems. Issues with her bones inhibited walking. Her digestive system was impacted by bouts of scarlet fever and Lyme disease, resulting in the permanent use of a feeding tube. Howard immigrated to the United States in 2016 while pursuing medical treatment at Boston Children's Hospital. [1] [2] [3]
She entered Northeastern University in 2017, and graduated in 2021 with a degree in psychology. [1]
Howard began riding at age three, joining Pony Club age age four. [2] [4] As a child, she competed in reining. [1] At age 14, Howard represented Great Britain at the 2013 FEI European Reining Championships for Juniors and Young Riders. She returned to the competition in 2016. [2]
Following time away from the sport due to health issues, Howard resumed riding in college. [1] She began competing in para dressage in 2021. In 2022 she competed as a Grade II para dressage athlete at the FEI Perrigo CPEDI3* at the Tryon Summer Dressage. In 2023 she and her horse, Jagger, came second in the Grade II event at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival Week 3 CPEDI3*. [2]
Howard was named to the United States Paralympic equestrian team in July 2024. [5] At the 2024 Summer Paralympics Howard won gold in the individual championship test grade II, [6] the individual freestyle test grade II, [7] and the team event [8] with mount Diamond Dunes, whom she has worked with since early 2024. [2] [5]
Since 2022 she has trained in Wellington, Florida with fellow para equestrian Kate Shoemaker. [5] [9] [3] She also trains in Germany in the spring and summer. [1]
Howard lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Outside of riding, she works remotely at Boston Children's Hospital as a clinical cardiac research assistant. [1] [9]
She was diagnosed with dystonia at age 19, and uses both crutches and wheelchair. She has a service dog named Elvis. [1]
Anne Patricia Dunham OBE is a British Para-equestrian who has competed in the Paralympic Games.
Rosalie Fahey is a Paralympic equestrian competitor from Australia. She won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Games in the Mixed Dressage – Championship grade I event.
Joann Formosa, is an Australian Para-equestrian, who won a gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics.
Para-equestrian classification is a system for para-equestrian sport. It is a graded system based on the degree of physical or visual disability and handled at the international level by the FEI. The sport has eligible classifications for people with physical and vision disabilities. Groups of eligible riders include The sport is open to competitors with impaired muscle power, athetosis, impaired passive range of movement, hypertonia, limb deficiency, ataxia, leg length difference, short stature, and vision impairment. They are grouped into five different classes to allow fair competition. These classes are Grade I, Grade II, Grade III, Grade IV, and Grade V(Grade Names Changed as of Jan 2017). The para-equestrian classification does not consider the gender of the rider, as equestrines compete in mixed gender competitions.
Para-equestrian is an equestrian sport governed by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), and includes two competitive events. One is para-equestrian dressage, which is conducted under the same basic rules as conventional dressage, but with riders divided into different competition grades based on their functional abilities. The other is para-equestrian driving, which operates under the same basic rules as combined driving but places competitors in various grades based on their functional abilities.
Michèle George is a Paralympic equestrian of Belgium. She won seven gold and one silver medal at the Paralympic Games.
Sophie Wells is a British para-equestrian who won three medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, and 2 Golds and 1 Silver at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and most recently Team Gold and Individual Silver at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Natasha Louise Baker is a British para-equestrian who won 2 gold medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, 3 at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and 1 more in the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Deborah Criddle MBE is a British para-equestrian who won three gold medals at the 2004 Summer Paralympics and three medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Lauren Barwick is a member of the Canadian Equestrian Team, in grade II Para-Dressage, who has competed in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games. She won three medals in those games. Barwick has featured in CBC's Heartland and has several awards.
Equestrian events at the 2016 Summer Paralympics consist of 11 dressage events, ten for individual riders across five classes, and a single mixed team, mixed category event. The competitions were held in the Olympic Equestrian Centre in Rio, in September 2016.
Sharon Jarvis is an Australian para-equestrian. She represented Australia at the three Summer Paralympics - 2008 Beijing, 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo.
Emma Booth is an Australian Paralympic equestrian. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Lisa Martin is an Australian para-equestrian. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and has been selected to compete at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Angela "Annie" Marie Peavy is an American dressage rider. She will be participating in the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro riding Lancelot Warrior.
Rebecca Hart is a para-equestrian from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hart was born with a rare genetic disease, familial spastic paraplegia (FSP). FSP affected Hart as a child with difficulty gaining strength in her upper body as well as slowing down her motor development.
Courtney King-Dye is an American equestrian. She competed in two events at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Amelia White is an Australian para-equestrian. She represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Georgia Wilson is a British equestrian, who won bronze medals in the individual championship test grade II and individual freestyle test grade II events at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, and the Individual championship test grade II event at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. She also won the individual championship grade II event at the 2019 FEI European Championships.
Roberta 'Bert' Sheffield is a British-Canadian Para-equestrian, who has competed for Canada at international competitions including the Paralympics.
