After Paralympic rider Kate Shoemaker’s incredible contributions to Team USA’s best-ever performance—that included seven gold medals—at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, one wouldn’t think she and her rockstar mount 9-year-old Hanoverian mare Vianne had much to improve upon.

But at the 2025 Adequan®/USDF FEI-Level Trainers’ Conference, clinician Monica Theodorescu helped her refine key details, including achieving more collection, establishing a bigger passage and creating a more forward-thinking piaffe. “She really encouraged me to ride positively into the contact, which is something we’ve been working on at home—just trying to improve that last little bit to make it incredible,” Shoemaker said.

While Theodorescu quipped to the audience that the ride might provide for a boring critique due to Shoemaker’s high level of skill, she helped the Grade IV Para athlete polish the counter-canter for better collection and self-carriage. She also reminded Shoemaker to think of shoulder-in first while turning onto the long side to the half-pass and coaxed her into more collection in the canter half-passes.

“I loved the way Monica put it. She was like, ‘Just put your leg on and do it.’ That clicked for me and honestly what made Vianne so special these last two days,” she noted. “Instead of being just a touch too light where you see every little aid, she was so harmonious and beautiful, and it was almost like I simply thought the aids and she felt them.”

Since 2025 is a non-championship year for Shoemaker and her powerhouse gray mare, she’s eager to get Vianne more secure in her grand-prix work and said she and many other Para riders are grateful that the FEI allows for adaptive equipment. Since her right ankle is paralyzed, she uses magnets in the sole of her boot and right stirrup to secure her foot in the stirrup.

“Without using compensating aids, I wouldn’t be able to compete at the FEI levels. This was the biggest game changer in my career because up until then, I was struggling to ride at Third Level,” she explained. “Without the magnets, I wouldn’t be able to do flying changes or the left-lead canter without my stirrup just falling off. There’s no other way for me to keep the stirrup so I can give the aids.”

Shoemaker has learned the lesson of working slowly and steadily with young dressage horses through her partnership with Vianne. She doesn’t ask her for too much at any one time, because she knows the mare will always give her all—even though she’s still so young.

“I remind myself to slow down and take it step by step. Vianne is doing amazing and I want to ensure she has a full, long career. But most importantly, I want to show people the harmony we have,” she said. “And if that means it takes us another year to get into the grand-prix arena that’s OK. Because when we do, I hope to present a picture of harmony because that’s really what dressage is all about—the harmony and how it changes the horse for the better when they become elastic, through and happy. And that’s my goal for her.”

For More:

• Read more about the 2025 USDF Trainers’ Conference here.

About Kate Shoemaker

Kate Shoemaker of Wellington, Florida, is a USDF bronze and silver medalist, both with distinction—and is a Grade IV Para athlete ranked No. 3 in the world and was part of the U.S. Para Dressage Team’s immense success at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Additionally, Shoemaker has earned several bronze and silver medals in both FEI World Championships and Paralympic Games and is an equine veterinarian. She is riding her 2024 Paralympic mount Vianne, a 9-year-old Hanoverian mare by Vitalis, owned by Norcordia USA.