Paralympic horses soak up some Rio rays as seen on social media

In the early hours of 4 September Britain’s Paralympic horses arrived at Rio’s Galeao airport.

This followed a lengthy overnight flight from Belgium’s Liege airport on a specially adapted cargo plane.

With Paralympic dressage competition now in full swing, we take a look at what has been happening behind the scenes thanks to social media.

See how the horses are settling into their Paralympic surroundings:

Sophie Wells gives her Paralympic ride Reece a workout in the Brazilian heat

What a night! The Paralympic opening ceremony was a sight to behold, with Team GB being led by flag bearer and dressage rider Lee Pearson

Natasha Baker gets off to a winning start

Lee Pearson says hello to his Paralympic mount in the state-of-the-art stables

Nothing can get in the way of the British support — this spectator is enterprising in his use of a broom to ensure optimal flag waving

Lee Pearson gives his horse Zion some arena practice

So this is what the athlete’s canteen looks like

The British Paralympic team doing their country proud

Sophie Christiansen spends some quality time with her horse behind the scenes

Read the full Horse & Hound Paralympic report in next week’s H&H magazine (22 September issue)

Gemma Redrup

H&H features, racing and point-to-point editor

Gemma is an experienced journalist, having been part of the H&H team since 2014, who is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s reporting talents have taken her to numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.