The U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions brings together some of the best horse and rider combinations in the country, and having the mobile white background studio there was a highlight of my season. One of the sessions I will remember most was with Paralympian Sydney Collier, her mare Bell Bottoms, and her service dog, Logan, at HITS Chicago Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, Illinois.
A Paralympian, Author, and National Champion
Sydney is a Rio 2016 Paralympian who has represented the United States in para dressage on the world stage, including at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy. On the road to Rio, she and Western Rose were crowned Grade Ib national champions at the 2016 USEF Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championships. That same summer, she was also celebrating the release of her memoir, Beyond Expectations: An Extraordinary Equestrian Journey from Deadly Diagnosis to the Paralympic Games, published by Trafalgar Square Books, and she held a book signing during the show.
Her partner, Bell Bottoms, known as “Beebs”, is a 2014 Oldenburg mare by Benetton Dream out of Issandra. Sydney and Beebs paired up in late 2023, and at the 2024 Festival of Champions they earned the reserve champion title in the Adequan®/USEF Para Dressage National Championship, scoring 69.5% in their freestyle. Sydney says Beebs picked her own freestyle music, choosing the songs that made her ears bop to the beat.
An Amazing Team in the Studio
Beebs is a striking chestnut, and against the white background her coat practically glows. Dressed in her braids, navy ear bonnet, and the red Horseware reserve champion cooler she had just earned, she looked every bit the champion she was. Sydney’s mom was right there helping with Beebs in the studio, and it was such a pleasure to photograph a team that so clearly works together.
Logan joined Sydney for some very special portraits, and he was the sweetest service dog ever, and such a ham for the camera. He settled right onto the cognac leather ottoman like it was made for him, with Sydney alongside in her U.S. team coat.
Sydney herself is such a cool, genuine human being. She is incredibly humble, she has some seriously amazing tattoos, including a memorial tattoo on her arm of Journey, her previous service dog. She is truly inspirational. Spending time with her was one of the best parts of my week. My two year old daughter came along to Festival of Champions with me to “help,” and she got to meet Sydney too. I am so grateful that I was able to introduce her to such an inspirational equestrian at such a young age.
If you would like to read Sydney’s incredible story in her own words, you can find Beyond Expectations from her publisher, Trafalgar Square Books. It is well worth the read.
Sydney, thank you for bringing so much joy into the studio, and to your mom and Beebs for being such an incredible team. I am so grateful I got to capture this chapter of your story.
Want portraits like these of your own horse? See where the white background studio will be next.