Mietta Innes-Irons’ dream of representing the Goulburn Valley on the global stage has moved another step closer to realisation as she begins her preparations for the World Games.
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The Shepparton para-equestrian star is one of the region’s most inspirational sporting figures, having battled back from two serious spinal injuries to ride again in the past decade.
Having first risen to prominence for her heroics in the saddle from the age of four onwards, the 31-year-old already has a past to be proud of, after reached the heights of Grade One eventing and A-grade show jumping at pony club by the time she was 11.
However, back in 2017, the talented dressage performer suffered her first career-threatening injury - L3-S1 and spinal cord torsion - after her horse fell on her in a freak accident, which led to her needing 35 surgeries by the end of the decade.
Recovering 95 per cent of leg function after the insertion of spinal cord stimulator in 2020, she was finally pain free and eventually got back to competing.
Disaster struck once more for Innes-Irons, though, as she was electrocuted in another unforeseen accident just a year later which left her suffering from Post Electrocution Syndrome.
Despite still feeling the after-effects of this incident to this day, this incident inadvertently set her on the pathway to taking up Para Dressage - something that ultimately has saw her install herself as one of the nation’s standout talents.
“Stepping into the Para world, everyone got it,” she said, opening up on how this set of circumstances provided her with a unique opportunity to still fulfil her destiny of representing her country at the highest level, while finding a community.
“They understood the pain and suffering off the horse, they understood the chronic pain, the mourning the loss of function and what your life looks like now.
“Everyone’s lost so much being there but the thing we have in common is a love of the horses and a feeling of how lucky we are to still do this.
Mietta Innes-Irons’ commitment to para-dressage knows no bounds as she targets World Champs glory.
“It’s a pretty incredible feeling but when we’re on a horse, we feel completely free, there’s no physical limitation and you’re not refined to a wheelchair or crutches or pain or limitation.
“All of that goes away and it’s such a special feeling.”
In December, she became a part of the Australian Para Equestrian High Performance Squad (Green Squad), having been identified by the governing body as demonstrating podium potential for upcoming major international championships.
In this vein, she is currently taking part in a training camp in order to ensure that both her and her horse are able to maximize their performance at upcoming tournaments including the World Equestrian Championships in Aachen, Germany this August.
“At our second qualifier for the World Games, I wasn’t happy with our performance, it showed how many holes were in our training,” she said.
“I sat down with my team trainer, Julia, and said ‘we’re nowhere near where we need to be, there’s so many things that we need to improve on’ and she decided we probably needed to move away and be based with a professional stable and trainer.”
“To be in that intense training will be incredible.
“Unfortunately where we are, there’s not a lot of access to what I need and it would end up taking a whole day for a lesson.”
Alongside her beloved Westphalian gelding Helmut, Innes-Irons expects to compete at six of these garland events including three World Equestrian Games and the holy grail of the Paralympic Games.
“The other half of our team is our horse and you need a pretty incredible partnership, she said.
“The horse needs to be even more in tune with us and receptive to what we want and incredibly calm-natured as most of us are tied onto our horse in some way.”
You can also donate to Innes-Irons’ Australian Sports Foundation campaign ahead of the upcoming World Equestrian Games qualifying events at Boneo next month, followed by Sydney in June.
You can listen to interview with Mietta Innes-Irons in full in the next episode of “Shepparton News Meets...” podcast, which will be released on Tuesday, April 21 on our website, alongside all major platforms.
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