Anne Dunham rides Teddy
© AFP/File Mike Clarke

HONG KONG (AFP) - She was desperate to get up and get back in the saddle to finish the race.

A worried steward rushed to her and asked her if she could walk.

"I said 'No, but...'," said the Briton, who has multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair.

"It was too late, he stopped the event. I just wanted someone to pick me up and carry on."

For Dunham, who this week picked up her 12th Paralympic gold medal at the age of 59, riding has always been central to her life and she has no intention of stopping, no matter how many times she falls off.

"To give up riding would be to give up on life for me," the dressage champion told AFP at the Paralympic equestrian events, which are being held in Hong Kong.

And even though she is almost 40 years older than the rider in second place, 20-year-old compatriot Sophie Christiansen, Dunham is still aiming to be around for the 2012 Games in London.

"Horses keep you fitter and healthier and in good spirits most of the time," she said.

Anne Dunham rides Teddy
© AFP/File Mike Clarke

"I am stronger and fitter and more mobile than I would have been if I stopped. At the moment I intend to compete in 2012, but with my illness you have to take it month by month."

And does her age act as a barrier?

"It never occurs to me (when I am competing)," said Dunham, who now lives in Wiltshire.

"Although," she quips, "I am quite proud of it when I think about it."

Dunham first took up riding as an eight-year-old and soon became horse mad, spending her weekends mucking out stables in return for free riding lessons.

But after signs of foot trouble, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her late 20s just after giving birth to her daughter Amber, who has accompanied her to Hong Kong as her groom.

She has been wheelchair-bound since she was 30 and was forced by her illness to give up riding for five years.

But after a while, a friend suggested she get back up by riding side-saddle.

"It was a brilliant feeling just to be back up there and riding," she said.

Anne Dunham rides Teddy
© AFP/File Mike Clarke

Dunham was soon jumping again, and improved muscle relaxants for her legs meant that she was able to ride in a conventional position, often taking part in hunter trials, a competitive cross-country event that includes jumps.

In 1996 equestrian dressage events were added to the Paralympic programme in Atlanta.

As soon as Dunham heard the news, she says, she knew she wanted the gold.

"(The Games) has made it a big international event and sport," she said.

A record 73 athletes and 71 horses from 28 countries are participating in nine dressage events that run until September 11.

The events are being hosted in Hong Kong, as were the Olympics equestrian competitions, because China is unable to guarantee a clean quaratine environment.

Dunham competes in the "1a" class for the most disabled competitors out of six categories. Dressage is the only riding discipline at the Paralympics.

Dunham also competed in the team event here for Britain, which has won every previous Paralympic dressage gold -- a result, she says, of the increased funding the team gets from the national lottery.

"Before the funding, I had to find the money myself. All my life savings went on this before 1996, but now we are provided with so much," she said.

©AFP