Inspired by her grandfather, she quickly put her foot in the stirrup. Like many little girls, she felt a sense of fulfillment when she rode a horse. Pure happiness. A cloud came to disrupt her world.
In 2007, when she was 21, Manon Claeys fell from her horse during a ride. The medical toll was severe. She suffered from injuries to several nerves, fractures to her vertebrae and neck. Her world was turned upside down. Rehabilitation lasted two years. She still has unilateral paralysis of the right half of her body, but that didn’t stop her from starting to ride again. “When I learned that my back was broken in three places, that I had a fractured neck and that I needed surgery within 24 hours to avoid irreversible damage, I understood that I had a second chance,” she confides when she talks about this chapter of her life.
The Paralympic Games begin on Wednesday with their flagship disciplines, new and adapted
From that moment on, the rider gave another dimension to her sporting practice. She linked performance to inspiration. “I banned the word abandon from my vocabulary. Despite the difficulties, I was determined to get back on the horse. I learned to face my new limits and I remained combative. My accident was not a pleasant experience, but it made me the positive and proud Paralympian that I am today. I want to show that despite the limitations, we are not limited. I am a strong and positive person, not a sad person with a disability.”
In 2016, she took part in paradressage events for the first time with her horse San Dior. Since 2017, she has won numerous medals and, above all, she wants to help people with disabilities.
