MS doesn’t keep Shropshire showjumper out of the saddle

An amateur show jumper, her reputation was growing all the time as she competed all over the country, repeatedly achieving success with success on her Dutch warmblood mare Lorretti K.

But in 2014 Laura noticed she was getting weak while riding, and was even sometimes falling out of the saddle.

She gave show jumping up. It was becoming too dangerous.

“My vision would blur, my muscles would go weak and I would fall off the side for no reason as soon as my core temperature raised,” says the 25-year-old from her family home just outside Oswestry.

“I would struggle to walk and started having panic attacks.”

It took a year of tests but Laura was finally delivered the devastating diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at 21.

But even as she attempts to tackle her debilitating condition, she is now back in the saddle.

At the end of 2017, three years after her last competitive appearance, Laura was able to mount a horse once again and attend her first competition.

And she has now been called up to represent Team GB as part of para showjumping in Germany.

“The MS diagnosis came as a massive shock, although I was relieved to have answers,” she says.

“I felt like I was going down a black hole and that this was forever. By the time of diagnosis my symptoms had progressed. I struggled to care for the horses nevermind ride.

“As my lack of balance, muscle weakness and dizziness took hold it seemed that show jumping would remain a distant memory.”

In her family’s dining room there are pictures across the walls of Laura competing – a clear demonstration of what the sport means to Laura and her family.

“It took a long time to accept the diagnosis, but once treatment had started I began to focus on what I could do rather than what I couldn’t,” she says.

“I decided I was not going to let MS beat me or rule my life. My passion was my horses and I was determined to get back doing what I loved.”

Laura, who works in the family business of converting VW campers, has what is called relapsing remitting MS.

“A relapse is a new lesion in your brain,” she continues.

“I’ll start getting an extra MS related symptom one day. It will start slowly and then gets quite major.

“I’ve had the whole of my left side tingle. I could get cramp, or I have gone blind in one eye. Once I couldn’t feel anything from my knees down. They usually last six to eight weeks.

“They monitored all my relapses to see how many I had. Some people can have one in 10 years. I had five in a year, so that’s quite extreme.”

But out of determination Laura sought to improve her health as much as she could. She took on a personal trainer and regularly visits her chiropractor to make sure she is in the best condition she can be.

She visits the Walton Centre in Liverpool once a month to get an infusion of Tysabri which helps to reduce the relapses, which in turn slows down the progression of MS and the disability it causes.

And that has allowed her to get back on her horse.

“Being back doing what I loved was amazing – so much that I cried with joy,” she says.

Laura has continued to improve since she first started competing again 18 months ago, and has invested in a whole new ‘cooling kit’ for when she rides in order to avoid raising her core temperature too much.

She is also competing on a new Dutch horse Guusje, another warmblood mare.

“I have regular dressage and show jumping lessons and am now back competing properly,” she says.

“I have been accepted onto the British Show Jumping Para Team and get to compete alongside other people in similar situations to myself as well as able-bodied British Show Jumping competitions.”

Laura is keen to make the most out of the time she has being able to compete and says one thing the MS has made her realise is that she needs to seize the moment while she can.

“I could easily get myself in a massive rut,” she says.

“I could easily just stay in bed. But I’m not in a wheelchair yet and I don’t know if I ever will be, and I would urge everyone with a passion or a dream to keep trying, work hard and you will achieve it, you may just have to find a new way of doing things.

“Never give up and never let anything beat you.”