Roberta Sheffield

Did You Know?

• Sheffield has lived with rheumatoid arthritis since age 15.
• She read politics and public policy at Aston University.
• She began riding at Gaddesden Place Riding for the Disabled Association Centre.

Career

Sheffield began competing for Canada’s para-dressage squad in 2013, having previously represented Great Britain. Her first international outing for Canada came at the 2014 World Equestrian Games, where she finished fourth in the freestyle test on Bindro T. The following year, she bought Fairuza, a six-year-old Gelderlander mare. She debuted at the Paralympics in 2016 aboard Double Agent, a nine-year-old Donnersohn mare, taking 14th place in the Grade III individual event. After a 2018 reassessment showed her impairment had worsened, she was reclassified from grade IV to grade III. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, she placed tenth in the team test alongside Canadian teammates Lauren Barwick and Noni Hartvikson. In 2022, she rode Fairuza at the integrated FEI World Equestrian Championships, finishing sixth. That same year, at the CPEDI3 Keysoe International, she won the grade III team test and the grade III individual championship test, and came second in the freestyle. At the CPEDI3 in Waregem, she and Fairuza placed second in the team test and fourth in the individual test. She also earned second-place finishes in the team, individual, and freestyle events at the CPEDI 3 in Deauville. The Canadian Equestrian Federation named her owner of the year for 2022. At the 2023 CPEDI 3 Mannheim, she won the freestyle with a score of 74.489%, took first in the Para Grand Prix B, and placed second in the Para Grand Prix A. Competing with Fairuza at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, she placed sixth in both the individual dressage grade II and the individual freestyle grade II. With teammates Jody Schloss and Austen Burns, she finished 11th in the team event. She received the 2024 Equestrian Canada Para Dressage Award for Athlete of the Year, and Fairuza won horse of the year.