Hands & Hearts for Horses is proud to welcome Chris Carswell, a US para-equestrian athlete, for a para-driving demonstration in Thomasville, Georgia. This exhbition is free of charge and will be held at Hands & Hearts for Horses on Saturday, Sept. 10th, 2022 starting at 1 pm.
We are excited to partner with Chris and his non-profit 1Boy4Change, Inc. to spread awareness about para-equestrian athletes and para-driving in this area.
Chris is a para-equestrian athlete who competes in combined driving. In 2020, he qualified for Team USA as the youngest para-driver to ever make the team, but the pandemic kept them from in the world championships.
Para-equestrian athletes are those with one of two grades of physical impairment. Chris’ impairment is that he is legally blind and suffer from an illness that affects the connective tissues in his body.
The primary focus of para-equestrian sport is to provide educational and competitive opportunities for athletes with physical disabilities. Many disabled athletes compete, and even excel, in sports designed for the able-bodied, but para-equestrian in particular opens a world of competition to riders and drivers with even severe disabilities that might preclude them from other forms of sport, and does so while providing a structured, focused, and highly competitive environment. Due to his eyesight, Chris will never be able to drive a car, but he can drive a horse and carriage!
Despite all his challenges, Chris started doing community service when he was just six years old. These volunteering experiences led him to open my own non-profit foundation, 1Boy4Change, Inc., when he was just thirteen years old. Through his foundation he has trained and placed service dogs with US Military Veterans, supported US para-drivers and done other programs to benefit an under-served need in the community.
