Australian Para equestrian stars Murphy and Martin chase World Championship success
After standout performances at the 2025 Australian Para Dressage Championships, Bridget Murphy and Lisa Martin are now targeting World Championship success The FEI World Championships will take place from 11-23 August 2026 in Aachen, Germany. Para dressage events will be held from 19-23 August. 07 Aug 2026
Australian Para equestrian rider Bridget Murphy’s mount Macey is a pony with a big personality.
“She's been known to give a bit of a side eye,” Murphy says. “She's a bit of a tomboy, to be honest. She loves rolling in the mud.”
Also known by her performance name Penmain Promise, Macey is a nine-year-old Dutch Riding Pony Cross Welsh and was possibly one of the smallest horses at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Macey has a habit of playing hide and seek.
“She's a known escapist. She never stays where you leave her,” Murphy said. “She got out of a stable at training camp... We were very, very, very strict when we were actually in Versailles. No one leaves this horse unattended unless the stable is padlocked.”
Riding to excellence
Last year, Murphy recorded two personal best scores at the 2025 Australian Para Dressage Championships, her first competition since her Paralympic debut at the majestic Chateau de Versailles in Paris.
Murphy went into the competition with low expectations, hoping to pick up where they left off at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
“When we got the scores the first two days, I'm like, well, this just changes everything because we've been chasing that 70% for so long. To get 73, it was like, Woah!” she said, adding that unfortunately, Macey was unsettled by a crackling speaker and had to withdraw from the freestyle.
Murphy hopes to continue her fine form with Macey at the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026, which will take place from 11-23 August in Aachen, Germany. Para dressage events will be held from 19-23 August.
“She's coming up into her prime,” Murphy, a Grade II rider, said.
Looking ahead beyond the LA28 Paralympic Games, the next Summer Games, Murphy has in the back of her mind the possibility of competing on home soil at Brisbane 2032.
“Macey would still be young enough that she could do it, but I also have a couple of young horses that I've bred,” she said.
Creating poetry
Meanwhile, Grade V rider Lisa Martin and her German horse, Vilaggio, have had a busy post-Paris period on the competition circuit.
At the Australian championships, she and Vilaggio scored 71.966% and 74.781% in the Grade V Grand Prix A and B, respectively. In the Grade V Freestyle, they scored 77.375%, the highest freestyle score of the championship.
“I’m lying in bed one night and I'm thinking I need to captivate the audience with the freestyle. Freestyles are exciting to listen to and get the choreography done and everything. But I wanted to really do something different,” she said.
“The light bulb came on, and I went ‘Oh my god, I need to do a poem’.”
Martin approached renowned bush poet Carol Heuchan, who has spent a lifetime around horses and equestrian events.
“She said I don't think I've ever done a poem for like 20 seconds and then another 10 seconds. She said that's nearby impossible, but she pulled it off... It came off beautifully,” Martin said.
Back to the saddle
Martin split her fibula in a horse-riding accident at age 28. After 20 operations, she learnt to walk again.
In 2016, she made her Paralympic debut at Rio on Famous First and finished in fourth place in both the Dressage - Championship Grade IV and Freestyle Grade IV.
“Rio was like this honeymoon... I was on a really super horse,” she said.
Another riding accident in 2019 resulted in life-threatening injuries when a horse crushed her body. It was an uphill battle just to get back in the saddle and Martin said it almost broke her mentally.
She has adapted her riding style to the reality of her injuries and limited mobility in her pelvis.
“I've got a dodgy left leg and a one on the right that doesn't work so well. Sitting trot has been a real challenge,” Martin said.
At Paris 2024, her second Paralympics, Martin's partnership with Vilaggio was relatively new. Their best event was a fifth-place finish in the Dressage - Championship Grade V.
“I was a lot more experienced in what they'd been the judges would be looking for,” she said.
World Championships and beyond
Ahead of travelling to Europe, Martin shared her long to-do list to prepare her horse for overseas travel. She said horses need a slow build-up of weight before they fly, and changing from the Australian winter to the European summer can be tough.
“You've got to clip the horses' coats off before they get on the flight because they get too hot,” she said. “They can overheat and actually get very sick.”
Martin is excited to wear the green and gold, representing Australia on the biggest stage.
“Representing Australia never grows old,” she told Equestrian Australia. “The call to say you’re on the team still gives you goosebumps every time.”
“Riding into that stadium for the first time is a feeling that’s impossible to describe. You have so many emotions running through your body. You’re trying to focus, trying to enjoy the moment and ride the test of your life.
“But when you’re there, training before the competition, you say to yourself, ‘We’ve done it,’ and then I just enjoy every moment of the journey.”
Martin, who became the first Australian Para equestrian athlete to reach world No. 1 in Grade V, is dreaming big beyond the World Championships, saying she wants to qualify for both the LA28 Olympics and Paralympics.
“Why not dream? I mean, you know, let's give it a good shot,” she said.
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Please visit the FEI website for more information about the World Championships
