CARBROOK horse vet Janine Dwyer is today in Tokyo after flying with three horses aboard a cargo freighter from Sydney yesterday.
Dr Dwyer is attending her third paralympics, tasked with ensuring all is well with four-legged members of the equestrian team.
“My role is to facilitate the health of the team horses,” she said. “Hopefully, I won’t be doing very much.”
Dr Dwyer spent 10 years gaining the right accreditation – much of it self-funded – in order to qualify as the national team’s vet, and she says she’s heavily invested in the team’s success.
Australia will have four competitors in the dressage events, the only equestrian event staged at the Paralympics.
“They are all seriously good riders,” Dr Dwyer said.
“Each of them would be very competitive in open competition.”
If something does go wrong, Dr Dwyer will be liaising with vets back at home who regularly care for each of the horses. The team has competitors from far and wide – one each from New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Europe, where one of the team members is training with a German coach.
“I get to know the horses a bit while we’re in camp, but the riders are the ones who have the true relationship with them,” she said.
Dr Dwyer has volunteered her time to disability sports for well over a decade, often attending 3-4 day events. The Paralympics will take her away from her All Horses Veterinary Services business for weeks, but she says the joy of being part of the national team is well worth it.
In 2012, Dr Dwyer was employed by the Hong Kong Jockey Club as part of a pool of vets at the Beijing Olympics. Equestrian events were all hosted in Hong Kong.
She first became the national team’s vet in London and will now carry the role into Tokyo.
