Bryanna Tanase knows the power of horses can change lives.
When the native Floridian competed for the title of Ms. Wheelchair Florida, her platform was her passion: “Equine therapy and how it helps people with disabilities.”
Although the competition sports some of the traditional sash-and-tiara pageant trappings, “It’s not your standard beauty competition,” says Tanase, 26, of Palm Harbor, Fla. “It’s all about who is going to be the best advocate [and being] the best representative you can for the disability community in your own way.”
Finding a Passion for Horses
Tanase, who was born with cerebral palsy, was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Florida 2022, advancing to that year’s Ms. Wheelchair America competition last August. She didn’t win, but as the only equine enthusiast in the field, relished the opportunity to share her message with a national audience.
Her platform speech hit home for at least one person.
“The competitor from Georgia actually messaged me a couple of days ago and showed me a picture of her riding,” says Tanase. “She told me that she wanted to do it ever since she heard me talk about it. I was like, this is the whole reason I talk about it. So many people don’t even know about equine therapy.”
Tanase learned about horses from the ground up. The second-born of triplets, Tanase didn’t grow up in a horsey family.
Her first exposure to horses came during a preschool field trip to a farm, where she was “fascinated” by a palomino pony. She began learning all she could about horses, but in-person encounters were limited mostly to seeing horses and taking pony rides during occasional family outings to a zoo in nearby Tampa.
Bitten hard by the horse bug, Tanase continued to research and read, which is how she discovered therapeutic riding. When she was a high school senior, her parents gave her four lessons at Quantum Leap Farm, a therapeutic riding center in Odessa, Fla.
“That was how I started formally learning how to ride,” says Tanase. “I soaked it up as much as I could, and I still ride there now.”
Para Dressage Dreams
Long before Tanase took her first riding lesson, a competitive streak led her to wonder whether equestrians with disabilities ever attained success in the show ring. Her internet sleuthing turned up videos of well-known para dressage riders like current U.S. star Roxanne Trunnell.
“I watched and was like, yup, I wanna do this,” she says.
Realizing that entering the para dressage ranks required more skill than she possessed, Tanase bided her time.
“[In 2019] I let the staff [at Quantum Leap] know that I was interested in doing more than just recreational riding,” she recalls. That spring, she sat in a dressage saddle for the first time.
Tanase had learned that para dressage athletes must be “classified”—evaluated by trained experts who determine riders’ eligibility to compete—and at which level, or “grade.” The grades and the para dressage tests are based on degree of impairment, from I (most impaired) to V (least impaired).
“I wasn’t sure how to get started,” says Tanase. “[But] I kept trying to reach out to people who could help me.”
One of her emails landed in the inbox of the United States Equestrian Federation’s (USEF) para dressage discipline manager, who informed Tanase that a classification event would be held in Wellington, Fla., in early 2020. Shortly before the coronavirus pandemic took hold, Tanase got classified as a Grade I para dressage athlete.
“I’ve been trying to climb the ladder since then,” she says.
Obstacles Along the Way
It hasn’t been a smooth climb. For starters, a para dressage rider needs a horse, and Tanase doesn’t own one. They also need to compete, and that’s hard to do without sufficient resources.
During the pandemic’s horse show shutdowns, she took advantage of virtual para dressage shows offered by the USEF as an alternative, and submitted video of herself riding a Grade I test. Her score didn’t quite meet the USEF benchmark, and then unfortunately her regular mount, Shane, had to be retired and later passed away.
Finding training opportunities has been another challenge. Quantum Leap’s therapeutic riding instructors have taken crash courses in dressage and do what they can to help Tanase, but the discipline is not their strong suit.
Area dressage trainers are supportive, but obstacles frequently arise, from barns that aren’t wheelchair accessible to horses that aren’t safe enough for a para equestrian. For the moment, Tanase is riding Quantum Leap’s Morgan gelding Courtscroft Diamond Blaze (aka “Khan”), and regrouping to try again.
She hopes to get video of a test with Khan before the end of 2023, and to earn a score that will move her one step closer to making USEF’s list of “emerging” para dressage athletes, which, in addition to opening up training opportunities, would make her eligible for a borrowed-horse program.
Education and Career
Like the majority of adult amateur equestrians, Tanase juggles career obligations with horses. In 2021, she earned a master’s degree in health care administration, and after a couple of years working part-time, she started her first full-time job this fall as an Rx data entry clerk for health insurance companies. She aims to work her way up to a supervisory or management role in health care administration.
Besides the Ms. Wheelchair campaigns and the online pavement-pounding, Tanase has written articles about her para dressage quest and snagged some local TV news coverage. Some of it’s for personal gain, of course—her ultimate equestrian goal is to make the U.S. Paralympic team—but it’s also to continue spreading the message of her pageant platform.
“Being able to ride gives me the opportunity to do things that I wouldn’t [otherwise] be able to do,” she says. “If it weren’t for riding, I wouldn’t have been able to talk to you today or to educate others in the equestrian community about what it’s like being a rider with a disability.”
Physically, emotionally, and psychologically, Tanase believes horses are the best therapy. That’s a platform we can all get behind.
Follow Tanase on Instagram @bt.paradressage.
This article about Bryanna Tanase appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!
