Natasha Baker MBE is a British grade III para dressage rider who has won 11 gold and five silver medals at senior championships on three different rides – Cabral, Sookie St James and Mount St John Diva Dannebrog.
When Natasha was 14 months old, she contracted transverse myelitis (inflammation of a section across the spine), which resulted in permanent nerve damage, leaving her with a severe weakness, loss of balance and sensation, and the inability to feel her legs.
Natasha, who hails from Uxbridge in Middlesex, joined her local branch of the Riding for the Disabled Association aged nine. She decided on her equestrian career after watching the Sydney Paralympic Games on TV in 2000, setting herself the goal of winning a gold medal one day.
The 31-year-old made her championship debut at the 2011 Europeans aboard the late Cabral, winning individual and freestyle gold – a feat they repeated at their first Paralympics in London 2012. In all, the partnership won 11 gold medals together.
She was awarded an MBE in the 2012 New Year Honours list, was named Sports Personality of the Year at the 2018 European Diversity Awards and has built up a successful commentary career alongside her riding.
Natasha has been selected as part of the British squad for the Tokyo Paralympics, aboard Joanna Jensen, Christian Landolt, Phil Baker and her own 10-year-old mare Keystone Dawn Chorus (“Lottie”). This will be the mare’s first senior championship and the combination head to the Games on the back of a hat-trick of wins at Hartpury CPEDI, their final pre-Tokyo international competition.
The British paralympic dressage rider is one of six athletes from a variety of sports shortlisted for the Adidas Sports Personality of the Year category at this year’s European Diversity Awards
The Team GBR rider had barely started her freestyle test at the end of the afternoon when things unravelled in a dramatic fashion
The Netherlands makes history as Britain’s 23-year reign as champions of para dressage finally comes to an end
Natasha Baker and Mount St John Diva Dannebrog land their first medal together
Find out who passed and who was held at the para dressage horse inspection
The four riders who will attempt to continue Britain's golden para dressage record have been selected
The British para dressage shortlist for this September’s World Equestrian Games (WEG) contains a mix of old names and new faces —but who does H&H’s dressage editor think will make the cut?
Just two of the combinations have been to a championship before.
The Rio triple gold medallist has finally found her potential WEG partner
The para dressage multi-medallist has paid tribute to her ‘amazing’ competition horse, who was long-listed for the Beijing Olympics
The para dressage world lost an equine hero when Natasha Baker's ride Cabral was put down last weekend (26 February 2017). We celebrate his golden career in pictures...
'He has given me memories I will treasure forever. I cannot thank him enough'
The Brits add three freestyle gold medals and two silvers to their haul on the final day of Paralympic dressage competition
Great Britain remain unbeaten in Paralympic dressage, as the team secures gold with three team members winning individual medals
Natasha Baker and Cabral win Britain's second individual dressage gold and defend their London title in the grade II championship
Natasha Baker adds a fourth plus-70% score to the Brits’ tally to give the team a seven-point lead going into the individual competitions
Sophie Christiansen, Sophie Wells and Anne Dunham produce impressive performances for Britain on day two of the Paralympic dressage
As the 2016 Rio Paralympics swing into action, we find out a bit more about the 26-year-old British squad member Natasha Baker — from her biggest indulgence to ditching her McDonalds superstition...
It has been revealed which Team GBR rider will compete as an individual, while there has been a significant withdrawal in grade III
Medal contenders are among the five horses to be reinspected tomorrow
