Paris Olympics 2024: Therapeutic Riding Trainer Pens Emotional Note as Michail Kalarakis Heads to Paralympics

Like the Paris Olympics 2024 would be a stage to welcome the athletes with big dreams. It would hold as much importance to the village behind them. Dressage is one such equestrian form, which is an ultimate form of art. To bring it to the tip of one’s fingers isn’t a smooth sail after all. But with proper guidance and strong will, the athletes have proven what heights they can achieve. In the same vein, Paralympic riders are also girding up well.

Over the years, therapeutic riding lessons have enabled riders with special needs to curb their emotional, cognitive, and physical disabilities. The horse’s movements and heartbeats have calmed people down year after year, and more people have been drawn towards this amazing breed. Recently, as one of the popular dressage faces made it to the big game, his Olympics trainer’s emotions overflew.

Equestrian trainer can’t contain her emotions ahead of the Olympics

Michail Kalarakis, who once said, “My ultimate goal is to encourage other people to find refuge in therapeutic riding”, has made it to the top. To accolade his amazing journey that many would draw inspiration from, his therapeutic riding trainer has shared a warm note. Sure to leave the world teary-eyed, the Instagram post caption of Marianna Grammatikaki reads, “It’s an honor to lead my athletes at such a high level and write the IRA socials about them! Our goal is Paris 2024!!” As her post, she took a screenshot of FEI’s official page, which reads, “Greeces Michail Kalarakis was six years old when he made the special discovery in a therapeutic riding lesson”.

The caption further reads, “Now aged 26 – with the FEI World and European Championships under his belt – he has a 2024 of endless possibilities to look forward to with his beloved 20-year-old gelding Eros.” Moreover, let’s take a look at his story, which has the entire world rallying for this amazing human and his trainer, Grammatikaki. 

Kalarakis’ inspiring journey

Born with cerebral palsy, the 26-year-old Olympics aspirant found it difficult to function like any normal person. After getting surgery on his left foot in the later years, he decided to take the next step forward despite extreme sensitivity. Meeting Marianna Grammatikaki in 2006 was life-changing. He decided to “a visit to Marianna at her riding club in Greece and to check out the horses”. 

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Starting with “Come on, Michail, it’s time for you to get on the horse!”, the trainer-trainee duo now slays in international competitions. Talking about his horse Eros, he said, “He doesn’t really care, because he knows that he will be consistent when the time for training comes”. Out of a multitude of benefits he had from therapeutic riding, he mostly reflected on “It has shaped how I view myself and how others perceive me”. But we await his performance at the Paralympics.

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