Lee Pearson CBE has Won:

3 Gold Medals at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games!
3 Gold Medals at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games!!
3 Gold Medals at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games!!!

Thats: 100% success over 3 Games!

Ever wondered what a typical - or not so typical - day is like for one of Britain’s most talented dressage riders?

From the Weakest Link to the star studded Butterfly Ball there is never a dull moment in sight.

Today my alarm went off at 5.30am. Breakfast is always a big job in my house as there are the fish, four Dachshunds, a cockatoo and then the horses out on the yard to feed!

With an exciting day planned away from the stables the car was packed up and I was ready to leave by 7.30am. After a long but enjoyable drive, thanks to my new car, I pulled up outside the Pinewood Studios and felt a mixture of nerves and excitement as I realised in less than an hour’s time I would be face to face with Ann Robinson filming the Weakest Link!

The afternoon was so much fun but I won’t spill the beans on the final result you will have to watch the show yourself! If I was at home on the yard, by this time I would be riding the horses and then catching up on paperwork and emails.

I am an ambassador for a wonderful charity – Caudwell Children which was founded by John Caudwell to help change the lives of children with disabilities throughout the UK, with direct donations of treatment, therapy, specialised equipment, sporting equipment and dying wish holidays.

After a late night I will be heading back home to Staffordshire tomorrow to ride Gentleman in preparation for a competition the following day to hopefully qualify for the Summer Championships. Gentleman is a very talented seven-year-old Hanoverian gelding and is quite sensitive to ride.

I use the Equissage system on Gentleman daily to help keep him supple and relaxed. When used before riding he is much freer in his movement and easier to work in. With 13 horses over four yards at the moment I am very busy.

Any spare time I do have is usually spent resting up or with my boyfriend, friends and family. My door is always open and I love to have people over in the evenings for a meal and a nice bottle of wine.

Usually I try to be in bed for 10.30pm but it rarely happens at the moment, midnight is more likely! Before I turn my light out I like to relax and watch television, usually a wildlife documentary or something on the Horse & Country channel. 

Lee Pearson CBE is sponsored by Equissage, the world renowned horse massage system that can help to improve your horse's life, fitness and performance.

Developed by Niagara Healthcare, Equissage is a multi-unit physiotherapy massage system developed specifically for equine use. Its ability to deliver unique cycloidal vibrations which reach deep tissue, muscle and bone via the pad or hand unit enable

Equissage to actively treat a number of specific problems, as well as helping to maintain peak condition and general good health. Safe, versatile, non-invasive and easy to use, the system is suitable for every horse, in every discipline.

From happy hackers to top competition horses, Equissage has improved the lives of many horses and ponies worldwide.

Lee has a condition called arthrogryposis. This is when a foetus’s muscles don’t grow correctly while in the womb and cause joints to be limited in movement at birth. Lee had to have 15 operations and still can’t move his ankles or knees, so he controls horses using his hips. He walks with his legs completely splinted from hips to heels and uses crutches or an electric wheelchair to get about.

The reason Lee started riding was because he couldn’t pedal a bike. All his friends had BMX bikes. “Mine was a hairy version, Sally the donkey, who wouldn’t turn right and bucked everybody else off but me,” says Lee.

He went to a riding school for lessons when he was eight years old. When he was nine, he had his “dream Christmas” as he was given a pony. However, the pony bucked him off every day and Lee stopped riding for a while. He wasn’t put off for long and started riding for a local lady with hunters. Eventually, when he was 15, he bought his own horse, a former racehorse “as they were cheap and I didn’t have much money”.

Lee jumped, showed and did endurance, only discovering para dressage while watching the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics on television. He contacted the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA), which was the governing body of the sport at the time, and eventually somebody came to assess him. “This chap came expecting me to have a finger missing or something as I had told him what I had been doing. He couldn’t believe I was so disabled, but I couldn’t believe they graded me in the most disabled category. Until then I hadn’t realised how disabled I was,” he says.

Although Lee is certified as a grade 1 rider, the level for the most disabled competitors, he rode Blue Circle Boy in the more technically difficult grade 3 classes in 2005. Lee now has a yard with six stables and spends his time producing horses. He has a groom to help him, whose salary is paid by his sponsors Lafarge Cement UK.

Date of Birth: 4th February 1974.

Lives: Cheddleton, Staffordsire.

Major Achievements: Lee has won 21 gold medals since starting para dressage competitions in 1998. He won three of those at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics and another three at the 2004 Athens Paralympics plus another three at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Lee is the only disabled person to have won a title at the British Dressage National Championships. Competing against able-bodied riders, he took the 2003 elementary restricted finals.

Lee was voted BBC Midlands Disabled Sports Person of the Year 2003 and 2004 as well as BBC Midlands Sports Personality of the Year 2004. He was warded an MBE in 2001 and an OBE in 2005 in recognition of his monumental equestrian success and services to the sport for the disabled. Also in 2005, Lee was bestowed an honorary doctorate from Staffordshire University.

In 2006, Lee won the Grade I Disabled Dressage Rider Championship at the National Dressage Championships.

2007 bought another three gold medals when Lee won team gold, individual gold and individual freestule gold (Ib) at the World Championships, Hartpury.

In 2008, Lee continued his run of success when he successfully defended his titles in the Individual Grade Ib Freestyle and Grade Ib taking gold in both. He was also part of the Gold medal winning team.

Top horse(s): Lee retired his top horse, Blue Circle Boy and found and trained Gentleman, his latest top horse, from a youngster to winning three gold medals at the 2008 Paralympics.

Age when started riding/why: "Aged 8, because he couldn’t pedal a bike."

Name of first horse/pony: "I had a donkey called Sally first but my first horse was called Duke." First competitive experience: “A fun ride when I was 15 on a four-year-old racehorse I had just bought who had come out of training a few days before.”

Trainer: Ferdi Eilberg and I train myself a lot of the time.

Most admired rider(s) : “I was inspired when I watched a video of Germany’s Ulla Salzgeber and Rusty perform their 1999 World Cup freestyle.”

Qualities you look for in a horse: ”A fabulous walk and I like them to be sharp, but not spooky. My horses need to be forward going as I don’t have much use of my legs.”

Favourite competition venues: “Beaver Hall, it’s 10mins from my home.”

What other career would you have chosen? “Something to do with animals or something in motor racing, definitely not anything to do with paperwork, which I’m allergic to.”

Favourite meal: "Chicken Korma ready meals or beans and cheese on toast, but the cheese must be melted into the beans.”

Favourite drink: "I love Bailey’s, otherwise a cup of tea or a chocolate milkshake. To stay hydrated - I don’t like water - so I buy lots of Aldi’s squash or Ribena.”

Best advice you’ve ever been given: “Don’t get on a horse, which I ignored."

Who would you most like to have dinner with: "Anybody sexy, rich and interesting”

Ideal holiday: “Anywhere with the above….. Lanzorote was one of my best holidays, anywhere close to the beach will do!”

Favourite TV programme: Ugly Betty.

Favourite book: Horse and Hound ("that’s as close I get to a book").

Favourite film: Pricilla Queen of the Desert or Pretty Women.

Favourite band/singer: Whatever is on the radio.