Lisa Martin (born 23 May 1972) is an Australian para-equestrian. She represented Australia at the

2016 Rio Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

Personal

Martin was born on 23 May 1972. She grew up in Scone, New South Wales. At the age of 28, a horse riding accident led to her fibula splitting and crushing into the bottom of her foot and a fall six weeks later caused further damage to her leg. After 20 operations in two years, her ankle was fused and her achillies tendon cut, she has less than 15 per cent movement in her ankle joint. She works as a dressage trainer and instructor.

Equestrian

Martin's heritage is in the equestrian world as she grew up in a family of

Australian Stock Horse The Australian Stock Horse (or Stockhorse), has been especially bred for Australian conditions. It is a hardy breed of horse noted for endurance, agility, and good temperament. Its ancestry dates to the arrival of the first horses in Aus ...

breeders in Scone. In her youth, she competed in eventing, polocrosse,

showjumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

and

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

and trained under the guidance of Rozzie and Olympian

Heath Ryan Heath Ryan (born 2 July 1958) is an Australian equestrian who represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as part of the dressage team. Born in Sydney, Ryan was Australia's three-day event champion three times, and won every I ...

. Fourteen years after the accident, she was approached to consider riding in para-equestrian events. Initially, Martin declined the offer to compete against people in a wheelchair. Martin was then told that wasn't the way paras worked, and was told the classifications and explained how they did work. Martin was classified as a Grade IV rider. Although she still competes in able bodied events, Martin said para-equestrian has become very professional. She continued on by saying there's a lot of support and the people involved are "incredible to deal with". At the

, she rode First Famous, a German Warmblood mare. She finished fourth in three events - the Individual Championship Test Grade IV, Dressage individual Team Test Grade IV and Individual Freestyle Test Grade IV and was a member of the Australian Team that finished ninth in the Team Competition.

References

External links

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International Equestrian Federation Profile and Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Lisa Paralympic equestrians for Australia Australian female equestrians Equestrians at the 2016 Summer Paralympics 1972 births Living people People from Scone, New South Wales Sportswomen from New South Wales