Para-Equestrian

Natasha Baker

Natasha Baker MBE is one of the most decorated Paralympic dressage riders in history — a triple Paralympics campaigner (and counting) whose journey to the top started with a doctor’s warning that she would never walk unaided.

Baker was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis at 14 months old, a neurological condition that left her without use of her legs. She discovered horses on a family holiday ride at age nine and, by 14, was competing at national level through the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) pathway. She made the move to senior international dressage after a breakthrough 2011 season and has not been off a Team GBR squad since.

The London 2012 home Games

Riding Cabral — affectionately known as “Ted” — Baker delivered two dominant rounds at Greenwich Park to win gold in both the individual and freestyle tests in Grade II (now Grade III under the 2017 classification revision). She added team silver the same week. It was the first time a home Paralympic audience saw a British rider take double gold on the dressage boards.

Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020

She successfully defended both individual titles at Rio 2016, this time with Cabral joined by the Mount St John-bred Mount St John Diva Dannebrog (“Lolly”). At Tokyo 2020, she took team gold with Team GBR aboard Keystone Dawn Chorus, helping Britain to its fifth consecutive Paralympic team gold.

Championship Record

  • Paralympic Games: Individual gold × 2 (2012), Individual gold × 2 (2016), Team gold (2020), plus individual and team silver/bronze across all three Games
  • World Championships: Multiple team and individual medals in 2014, 2018, 2022
  • European Championships: Consistent medallist from 2011

Off the horse

Baker is one of British Para-sport’s most active ambassadors. She speaks regularly on resilience, inclusion and the role of sport in rehabilitation, and runs clinics for the RDA and British Dressage. She was appointed MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours.

Read more about Britain’s Para-Equestrian roster or the World Class Programme that produced her.