A one off bespoke solution for competitive para rider Jane Lishman looks set to turn into the next big thing in the world of disabled riding.

Jane Lishman has been riding all her life and has always been passionate about all matters horse related. She received her first pony as a child and started competing in events not long after.

In 2006 however, Jane suffered a serious accident which resulted in the loss of both her legs and requires her to use a wheelchair. Not deterred, Jane would eventually return to the stables and has become a top dressage para rider, there remained however just one difficulty…

Whilst she has complete control when riding the horse, it was getting on and off her mount that presented some serious difficulties. She contacted Dolphin Mobility trying to find a suitable solution. Working together they ended up commissioning a custom made hoist that is fitted to the back of Jane’s mobile horse box.

Speaking to Craig from Dolphin Mobility he explain, “we went down to an event she was taking part in and saw how she got on the horse, throwing herself onto a bale of hay which was then lifted by machinery. Once it was at the right level she would again launch herself onto the saddle and wrestle onto it. It was neither safe nor practical and was pretty tense watching”.

“We tried to find something that was right for her needs on the market but nothing quite fit the bill”. Necessity being the mother of invention, Dolphin Mobility started looking at other options to solve this issue. “There’s a hoist manufacturer we work with and we sat down with them and designed this thing. They built us an initial prototype which we had a look at, tweaked a few bits here and there. Later on Jane changed her horse box so we had to do a new design. Eventually we brought the horse box down to the factory and they fitted it.”

The Para Rider Lift is available to the public but being a bespoke design, it’s a bit of a process getting it. It depends to a large extent on the horse box, the individual using it and their horse. Craig from Dolphin Mobility explains further, “it’s tailor made so we would need details of the vehicle they want it fixed to. Or if you have a particularly huge horse we could adapt the hoist to suit that.

Dolphin Mobility is now looking at manufacturing wall mounted hoist that can be fitted inside stables, reaching a greater number of para riders across the UK. 

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