Eleanor “Ellie” Brimmer’s first big para dressage show back in 2010 got off to a rocky start.

Brimmer was aboard a borrowed horse in California for her first FEI show who turned out to be a bit cheeky, and he bucked her off while she was circling the arena, eliminating her. Despite the inauspicious beginning, Brimmer kept at it, earning a spot on the longlist for the 2012 Paralympic Games, a national championship and leadership roles out of the saddle.

Brimmer (Wellington, Fla.) stays busy as a competitive rider and the president of the U.S. Para-Equestrian Association as well as a member of the Board of Directors for U.S. Equestrian.

A Plymouth, Minn., native, Brimmer comes from a long line of fox hunters and equestrians. She grew up riding hunters and jumpers before finding her fit in the para dressage ring at 22 after graduating from Randolph College with a degree in American culture.

“I learned about para by reading the dressage section of the Rule Book, because there just wasn’t a lot of advertisement about it,” said Brimmer, who was born with Cerebral Palsy.

She currently has two horses: My Moment, a 15-year-old Hanoverian mare on whom she won the 2024 Adequan/USEF Para Dressage National Championship, and Langagers Krack I Love It, a 14-year-old Danish Warmblood mare.

My Moment is a confirmed para horse (“I joke that she’s my zombie apocalypse horse because I can hack her all over and she doesn’t care about anything,” she said) while Langagers Krack I Love It is a newer ride for Brimmer, who spent two years out with an injury. These days Brimmer, a Grade II rider who competes at the Grand Prix level in para dressage, trains with Andrea Woodard.

“The U.S. has such great talent in the para ring that I’m not putting team pressure on myself,” she said. “As soon as you say, ‘I’m going to make a team,’ a screw comes loose.”

In addition to her work in governance and her riding career, Brimmer has long prioritized volunteering. Her first para dressage volunteer experience came at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Brimmer traveled to Lexington, Ky., to watch the competition and she decided to stop in the show office to say hello to Lloyd Landkamer, who was running the para-dressage sport.

“I go in the office and he’s like, ‘Ellie, what are you doing?” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘I’m here to watch.’ He narrows his eyes at me and says, ‘You’re going to run tests today.’ So the first day I ran tests, and the second day he decided I didn’t screw that up too much so he put me down in the arena and had me to do the scoring.”

Since then Brimmer has been an active volunteer at dressage and para dressage shows, especially at White Fences Equestrian Center in Loxahatchee, Florida, which gives her a chance to see and meet others involved with the sport.

Brimmer says as the active para dressage athlete on the USEF Board she brings the perspective of a small sport to the group.

“People really enjoy seeing the harmony between para horses and riders,” she said. “And also I think we bring a certain awareness to accessibility and safety other sports might not be aware of.”