She lost her legs in a terrorist attack – now, she's a Paralympic equestrian


de Lavalette is a decorated athlete in the discipline of para-dressage and has her eye on the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. Photo: The New York Times/Elena Dotoli

Five months after Beatrice de Lavalette lost her legs below the knee in a terrorist attack in Brussels in 2016, she was doing what seemed impossible: riding a horse.Then 17 years old, de Lavalette, who began riding at three, was at the Brussels airport when explosives in a suitcase she was standing beside were detonated, part of attacks in the city that killed dozens of people.

She awoke in the hospital with the big goal to ride again.

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