Britain’s Natasha Baker: Para dressage horses treated like kings and queens

Natasha Baker insisted para equestrian horses are “treated like kings and queens” and the whipping scandal is not representative of all riders after winning bronze at Paris 2024.

Equine welfare came under the microscope ahead of the Olympics when three-time gold medallist Charlotte Dujardin was suspended due to footage emerging of her repeatedly whipping a horse.

Baker clinched third place on the podium in the grade three individual event on Tuesday as Paralympic dressage events began at Chateau de Versailles, before British teammate Georgia Wilson replicated that feat in grade two.

The six-time gold medallist, who was riding Keystone Dawn Chorus – also known as Lottie, said: “We love our horses so, so, so much. Especially in para dressage, we are trusting our horses with our entire life.

“I am pretty useless physically and so I am putting all of my trust into Lottie and she, I think, loves me as much as I love her, and I think that’s really on display.

“I’d love to invite anybody to my yard and at any time. I think these horses are treated like kings and queens.

“Just because one situation has happened doesn’t mean we’re all doing the same.”

Baker posted a score of 73.167 on a grey morning in the grounds of the former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV to win the ninth medal of a Paralympic career which began at London 2012.

The 34-year-old became a mother in May last year and spent 12 months out of the saddle.

She blew a kiss to son Joshua after performing in heavy rain before likening her horse to fictional nanny Mary Poppins.

“If you’d told me that I was going to even be selected for the Paris Games over Christmas, I would have absolutely laughed in your face,” said Baker, who finished behind American Rebecca Hart and Rixt van der Horst of the Netherlands.

“I was very naive going into the whole pregnancy, coming back from it and everything. And my pregnancy was harder than I imagined it would be.

“She (Lottie) is the best girl, she trusts me implicitly, I trust her and she’s just awesome. I call her Mary Poppins, because she’s practically perfect in every way.”

Wilson subsequently added another bronze to Britain’s tally, emulating her achievement from Tokyo.

Sir Lee Pearson won gold in the event back then but was unable to defend it after being suspended by British Equestrian amid an ongoing investigation ahead of selection for France.

Wilson registered 73.414 on Sakura in the penultimate ride, before Denmark’s Katrine Kristensen leapfrogged her into second spot as American Fiona Howard took Pearson’s title.

“We like Lee but he’s not here,” the 28-year-old said of Pearson.

Britain has topped the equestrian medal table at each of the last seven Games, with Pearson winning 14 golds between 2000 and 2021.

Asked if the world has caught up, Wilson said: “I think it has. I knew coming in it was very rare that I was going to get a medal maybe and hard work if I was to get one.”

Games debutant Mari Durward-Akhurst finished sixth on Athene Lindebjerg in the grade one event, with a score 71.792.