WITH seven Paralympic medals already in her saddlebag, five of them gold, few Rio-bound Paralympians are better qualified than Anne Dunham to judge how the Games have changed over the years.

The 67-year-old first competed at Atlanta 1996, winning team gold in the equestrian team open event, before going on to win gold at every Games until London 2012.

Dunham missed out on her home Games and is delighted to be back on the Paralympic stage riding LJT Lucas Normark, whom she has been with for five years.

“It’s like having strawberries and cream, Christmas and chocolate cake all at once, it’s absolutely fandabbydosy,” she said of her Paralympics GB selection.

“It’s absolutely wonderful, it’s a really great honour, and to do it for a fifth time is an even greater honour. I can’t beat it for an experience to be honest.

“My sport has changed a lot since 1996, in terms of how it’s performed.

“And back then I wasn’t thinking past 96, then in 2000 I wasn’t thinking past that and now in 2016 I’m just thinking about that.

“But a medal here would be absolutely wonderful, it would answer all my plans and dreams to do that again.”

Dunham is being sent to Rio by the British Paralympic Association, which is a registered charity that is responsible for funding, selecting, and managing the Paralympics GB team.

Rio 2016 is expected to be the most competitive Paralympic Games ever and Dunham said she will thrive on that.

“I like competition,” she added. “I’m one of those weird people that enjoys putting myself out there and competing. Just to go out there and try and do my best, that’s what drives me and representing my country, it’s a really good thing.

“When we started in Atlanta we didn’t take British horses over, we rode American horses sourced by the Atlanta people so you had our name in one hat and the horses in another hat, our name was drawn out, the pony’s name was drawn out and off you go for five days with only one hour riding a day to go and get to know him.

“Now we take our own horses that we have an established partnership with and, of course, the standard has risen because we have got horses that we work with on a long term basis and that are very well trained.”

Dunham goes into the Games in confident mood and is backing her long-standing relationship with her horse to stand her in good stead in the intense atmosphere of competition.

“I love the partnership with the horse, being on the horse I can do things that everybody else does without thinking about it and better than a lot of people do,” added Dunham, who starts her competition on Monday.

“We come here on good form, so we’re having a good time together and we’ve grown to know each other way. He’s a stallion but he doesn’t behave like one, it’s nice we have a really good friendship.”

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