Pittsburgh native and Penn State graduate wins gold in Paralympic equestrian event

Pittsburgh native and Penn State graduate Rebecca Hart won the gold medal in dressage at the Paralympics on her horse Floratina.

“I’ve been trying to get to this point for 25 years and have been close many, many times,” Hart, 39, told the Associated Press. “To actually make it, I feel like I’m going to wake up any minute. It’s just surreal. It feels like a dream.”

It was Hart’s fifth time representing the United States at the Paralympics. Hart, now team captain, was a member of the team that won the bronze medal in Tokyo in 2020.

Hart, who began riding at age 10, was born with a rare genetic condition called hereditary spastic paraplegia, which causes severe weakness and stiffness in the legs that worsens over time.

“Through horses, I was able to turn the anger I felt about my disability into a passion for the horse and the sport,” she told Starbucks Stories. “It completely changed my mindset – from this angry, resentful, misunderstood kid to an athlete.”

Hart, who now lives in Florida, was able to support her cycling career by working as a barista at Starbucks in Pennsylvania and Florida. Today, she is a Starbucks-sponsored athlete.

Dressage is compared to ballet or equine gymnastics, where riders and their equine partners perform a series of skills or movements that are rated on a scale of 1 to 10.

In other Paralympic equestrian news, Fiona Howard took gold for the USA on Diamond Dunes in the Grade II category and Roxanne Trunnell took silver on Fan Tastico H in Category I – a category for the most severely impaired riders.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.