The 24-year-old Julia Porzelt from Prien a. Chiemsee, her riding pony mare, Lettenhofs Lovely Daintiness, (“Dainty” for short) and her Oldenburg gelding, Bruno, are a successful trio in para dressage. Julia has a congenital disability with prostheses on both sides from the thigh down. Since childhood, Porzelt found purpose, overcame all difficulties and liberated herself into a world class athlete through the unlikely origins of equestrian therapy.
From hippotherapy to competitive horse riding
At the age of four, Julia Porzelt began with hippotherapy, physiotherapy on and with the horse. After a short time, however, this therapy became too boring for her and she took a break from riding.
At the age of ten she started riding therapy. From an initial passion, the idea of competitive riding developed relatively quickly. In 2010, she competed in her first riding event and, since 2013, she has owned her own mare, Dainty.
In summer, Julia, moved back to her home town after having spent several years in Bayreuth to train at Lettenhof in Harsdorf, where Dainty originally comes from, under the Anselstetter family. For about a year now, the promising young horse, Bruno, provided to her by Anke Strohscheer, has also been at her side. She now trains with both horses with Tanja Koll in Rosenheim.
Paralympic Games as the long-term goal
Julia competes in about five to six major equestrian events as well as several regional one-day events every year. The division of the riders in these events, which are divided into five different "grades", depends on the individual impairment. This is to ensure that comparable impairments lead to comparable attainments.
There are separate tasks for each grade. Julia starts in the Grade II group, so her event tasks consist of walking and trotting sequences. In addition to para-equestrian event, Julia also competes in regular events together with non-disabled competitors. She is allowed to use her aids, but is otherwise assessed in the same way as the non-disabled riders.
Julia also regularly competes in national events such as the Bavarian and German Championships and has already enjoyed many successes there. In 2015, she took part in an international event for the first time. In 2016, she became South German as well as German Champion. In the future she would like to ride in more international events and championships in order to realise her dream of the Paralympic Games. In order to get a big step closer to this goal, since last summer she has been training with the big horse Bruno, who has the potential to keep up with the other competition horses in the international events.
From hobby to profession
Long term, Julia, who has had a lot of positive experience with riding therapy, would like to make her hobby her profession and support people with a disability.
In addition, through her social media activities, she wants to draw more attention to para sport and reduce prejudice against people with disabilities. For Julia, who attended a kindergarten and a school together with non-disabled children, it goes without saying that physically disabled people should participate in normal everyday life. This enables non-disabled people in particular to learn how to deal with disabled people normally and to recognise that a disability does not exclude people from having a social life.
Memmert joins Julia
The company decided to show its support and is a proud sponsor of Julia's para dressage career. It an honor to participate in her growing and inspiring career which has already turned heads. Follow up with Julia via her social media and keep an eye out on Memmert news for latest updates about her amazing career.
