#bemoredylan: South & East inspiration Dylan Ward

South & East BD Youth rider Dylan Ward has been inspiring followers and members both across the region and further afield, officially ‘kicking cancer’s butt’ and striving towards huge dressage goals. As part of Dressage For All Week, we speak to his mother Jess, to learn more about Dylan and his amazing journey. 

In June 2022 at the age of seven, Dylan Ward was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer with less than 50% chance of survival, in June 2022. An extensive course of high-strength chemotherapy, radiotherapy, proton beam therapy and oral chemotherapy followed, with Dylan facing lifelong disabilities from the damage the cancer caused. 

Now nine-years-old, Dylan can’t ride as a graded para rider until the age of 13, so currently competes in non-disabled competition, working towards making his test debut at Elementary level.  

Dylan has made amazing progress within the BD system, recently competing his ponies at the Cavago Associated Championships and picking up two top ten placings at the Codham Park LeMieux Quest Semi-Finals. This summer, he took part in the Inter Regionals, collected heaps of rosettes at the U25 Championships and has also ridden at the Petplan Area Festivals. 

On the final day of Dressage For All Week (11-15 November 2024), we’re sharing an interview with the equally as inspiring Jessica Flack, proud mum to Dylan and number one supporter of his dressage journey. Learn about one talented young rider, his story, his and his mum's choices in wearing the Sunflower, and find out more about the amazing positivity behind his challenges. 

Tell us about Dylan’s dressage journey? 

Before he was poorly he did quite a lot of jumping, but he lost his confidence, so to help with this we started to do a little more dressage. He was only six at the time, we began with our riding club and he got quite into it! He had a go at Quest, which he really enjoyed. His pony Inky was not a dressage pony at all to start with, he’s worked really hard to get him where he is now. Quest was the starting point for both of them, Dylan qualified for the then-Regionals, before he was unfortunately diagnosed with bone cancer in his hip in July so he couldn’t make it to them that year. He didn’t compete for a good six months after being diagnosed.  

I don’t think the medical professionals realised how serious and into his riding he was. He’d just starting thinking about contact and working properly, but he was so dedicated to it and horses were his life. I was told to keep him away from horses and riding, because his hip was so fragile – it was all to do with the risk and the unknown factors. A couple of months down the line they could tell that he was not quite himself, and we made the decision to let him ride again. It wasn’t long before he was off cantering behind my back! I didn’t want him to feel restricted and feel like a poorly child, so it was a joy to get him back in the saddle. The February after his diagnosis I booked him a competition as a birthday treat and then he was back to affiliated competition in September 2023. Since then he’s flown, often I think ‘he’s not going to be able to do this’, and he just goes and proves me wrong.  

He rides twice a day, five or six times a week to keep the ponies fit, and he just cracks on. He’s got massive goals, he wants to ride in the Paralympics. 

Why do you as a parent, and Dylan as a rider, choose to wear the Sunflower? 

Unless you know Dylan’s story, you don’t know that there’s anything ‘wrong’ with him, you don’t know he’s been a very poorly child. Before he started wearing the band, we wore a yellow ribbon in the tail to signify a para rider, it’s not widely known about but had the wording RDA rider on, just in case. We used to have people asking us what this was, so it was great when the Sunflower was introduced. It’s the awareness that he is not able-bodied. His disabilities are visible when he’s off the horse, and he has hidden disabilities too, but the things that hinder his riding – you can’t tell at all when he’s in the saddle.  

What are the benefits to you both, and also those around you? 

It’s awareness I think. To give an example, I get him to wear it because when he’s on a horse at a championships, say he’s entered the arena with a whip in his hand, it actually helps us to share with people that he’s a rider with dispensation. He does ride with dispensations, he’s been recently permitted two whips, which he can use at championships, and use of voice along with caged stirrups and straps.  

It gives me peace of mind as a parent, knowing that those around him will be aware that he’s got other needs. Sunflower covers such a huge range of hidden disabilities and physical disabilities. I’ve sometimes worried about people questioning his using the band, because lots of his disabilities are physical; but cancer is one of those listed, and although technically he’s in remission now, he’s dealing with a lot of knock on effects.  

Can you give an example of some of the challenges Dylan faces away from horses? 

In daily life, Dylan uses crutches, the reason I wanted to mention this is because more than often, people associate crutches with injury and not illness. So we get people coming up to us in the supermarket, asking what he’s done! The answer is ‘nothing, he’s disabled’ and this happens multiple times a week. As he’s getting older he’s actually becoming quite sensitive about it.  

He has worn the Sunflower out and about away from horses, and I bought a lanyard for him when he was first poorly at the start. It’s a really good tool for awareness and starting conversations.  

How important, as a parent, do you think it is that we continue to raise awareness and improve support to those with both physical and hidden disabilities?  

Even though Dylan doesn’t have an intellectual impairment, I have to say that I’ve had my eyes opened through friends of ours, fellow riders, RDA connections for example, to the challenges that they face and the lack of opportunities there were before for these riders. It’s going in such a great direction now, for both hidden and physical disabilities.

When Dylan is old enough to ride in para competitions, I’m sure he will choose this option, he's too young to be graded at the moment but he can still take part in non-disabled activity with dispensation that will help him continue through the levels.

It’s about creating conversations, and understanding everyone’s individual needs. I used social media to help raise awareness by documenting Dylan’s journey through everything, so the more we can do collectively, the better. It’s important to acknowledge that there’s still a lot of progress to be made, both in equestrian sport and in general life, but if you don’t talk about the difficult stuff, it’s not going to improve or change.  

The amazing relationship between horses and humans has been a key theme this week, how have horses had a positive impact on Dylan’s mental health?  

I could probably write a book about it! When Dylan was in London having proton beam therapy, which is exceptionally strong, alongside high strength chemotherapy at the same time – he should’ve been laid up in bed but we would request the proton beam early in the morning so we could take him out to explore...that’s not normal to be that full of life, and some of it is definitely just down to Dylan being Dylan, but a lot of that was the horses. He had to stay in hospital to have his chemo, but we’d go in, come home and go straight to the yard. He was very sick, but he never let it get inside his head because the horses were there as a focus and a friend. I really believe that the reason he was so good with everything was because he had the horses to look forward to, they had a huge impact on him.  

To give an example, at play time at school, he has to sit in his wheelchair and he’s not allowed to play with the other children due to the risks – the same applied to P.E. I can take him swimming now, which is great. But even thinking about it physically, his left leg, if he wasn’t riding would be much worse than it is now. The beauty is, I’m his risk assessment with the horses, and the positives so far outweigh the negatives.  

Follow Dylan's journey 

Follow Dylan's journey on social media, click here to check out his inspiring account, ran by Jess and sharing every step of his dressage dancing adventures. 

Photo: KB Photography / Cavago Associated Championships 2024