AN appearance at London 2012 would see Anne Dunham become the first person to appear at five consecutive Paralympic Games.

Dunham, 63, who is based at James Hussey’s Weir Farm in Broad Hinton, proved she was on course when she took her major championship gold medal total to a stunning 17 with a hat-trick at the FEI European Dressage Championships in Belgium in September.

She helped the British team set a new highest-ever winning team total of 444.26 per cent in Moorsele and the veteran rider admits that she never anticipated a more prosperous precursor to 2012 than that.

“I’ve never had a year like this, where we seemed to go out and win and win and win and win,” said Dunham, who was appointed an MBE in 2009.

“I think the reason is that I’ve got such a good team this year because my daughter’s (Amber) come to work for me until the Olympics so I’ve got some real consistency in the yard at home – I’d always relied on part-time grooms in the past.

“It’s been a very good time for a year just like this to come but it’s just about not getting overconfident because you’re back to square one again the next year. You start from ground zero.

“It’s an open competition and you’ve got to make sure you’re still firing on all cylinders and perhaps a bit stronger even that you were last year.”

One of the most testing periods of 2011 came in June when Dunham was told that she does not have multiple sclerosis – more than 30 years after being diagnosed with the condition.

Instead, she was re-diagnosed with dystonia, a condition similar to MS, and the Great Britain star admits that she’s still coming to terms with that.

“It still is a massive shock and I still find it really hard to think of myself not with multiple sclerosis but with dystonia – it doesn’t fit,” she said.

“It’s just the label that’s changed but I find it really weird and I don’t know if people will ever really make the crossover because they still think of me with multiple sclerosis.

“It’s a change of a label and it hasn’t changed me.

“If I’d had this diagnosis earlier, I don’t know if things would have been different and I will never know because you can’t put time back.”

Seven-time Paralympic medallist Dunham will let the Great Britain selectors run the rule over her ever-reliable chestnut gelding Teddy and new ride LJT Lucas Normark, who is owned by the Lady Joseph Trust, ahead of next year’s Games.

Dunham insists that she still has the passion for top-level competition, with the Paralympics in particular being as prestigious as ever.

“Going to the Paralympics is still the pinnacle of the sport,” she said.

“You’re competing against the best in the whole of the world and the standard is even higher than at a world championship.

“It’s just amazing and it stretches you and challenges you so much it makes you think and push yourself.

“It makes you find your inner strength and that’s what I like about it.

“To do my fifth is a record and to do it in London – I never aspired to doing something like that.

“I’ve said I’ll keep going as long as I’m winning golds and that’s what I intend to do.

“If I stop winning, I’ve obviously got past my sell-by date and it’s time to bow out gracefully.

“As I’ve got to know the sport and enjoy and grow with it “I’ve grown to love it more and more – I’m as keen as ever.”

Crowd pleaser Teddy's starring role

The majority of Dunham’s success has come riding Teddy, who is owned by Sally Ann Brown, and she says that her gelding’s attention-seeking personality is the key to his success as a dressage horse.

“We’re a good partnership and he enjoys the limelight – he likes to be the centre of attention,” she said.

“At home, if he can’t get to be the centre of attention by being good, then he’s naughty.

“At competitions he thinks ‘oh, I’ve got a crowd watching me now and I’m going to preen’ – he’s got a very good attitude for it.

“He’s good away and bad at home and I’d rather he was bad at home any day.”

Dunham also thinks that maintaining a ride is one of the most difficult aspects of preparing for competitive action.

She said: “With equestrianism it’s the horses you have to worry about because they break very easily.

“It’s harder to keep a horse on form than it is to keep a human on form because you can’t reason with it.

“You can’t say ‘now look, we’ve got this very big competition coming up, the biggest thing you’ve ever done, so you’ve got to look after yourself, sleep well, eat right and really prepare’ – you can’t do that.

“You can build them up but the slightest thing can go wrong.”