Bermuda dressage rider Sultan Darr is seeking sponsorship to help him buy a horse to compete in this year’s Pan-Am Games in Mexico.Brazil-based Darr, previously known as Kevin Edwards, also has one eye on competing at next year’s Olympic Games in London.“It’s a huge investment, but for those that want to compete it’s a very necessary part of it,” said Darr, who represented Bermuda at the 1999 Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg, Canada.“Life is short and we must always try to contribute something. I feel privileged to help educate others with a similar interest and to represent internationally my home of Bermuda.”A former pupil of Warwick Academy, Darr earned riding lessons as a teen by mucking out stables and doing various odd jobs around the nearby Warwick Riding School.“My mentor was Barbara Smith, who introduced me to dressage,” he said. “Although we primarily competed in jumping, Barbara always insisted that we give the utmost importance to the basic training dressage. She believed that it would allow for a better-trained jumping horse. I listened well.”At the age of 20, he was injured severely in a motorcycle accident in which he nearly lost his foot. Thanks to Dr Colin Couper’s expertise, he recuperated and continued with his quest.“Everyone told me to forget riding horses and concentrate on just being able to walk again,” he said. “I was determined that this would not stop me even if I had to ride with one leg.”After a long, painful recovery, Darr decided to throw caution to the wind and left his Bermuda Government employment for the US. He served as an apprentice for three years at the Pennsylvania training centre of two-time Olympian Belinda Nairn.There he met the two riding masters who most influenced his career Herbert Rehbein and Karl Mikolka.““I rode in clinics with them and over time was able to combine what I’d learned from each of them into my own style and philosophy,” said the 47-year-old rider.After leaving Nairn’s centre, Darr moved to Germany to train with Herbert Rehbein for five years. He then returned to the US and for one year and three months studied under the German team coach, Harry Bolt.In 1997 he became the coach of the Peruvian team for the Bolivian Games, which resulted in the country earning the team silver and an individual bronze the nation’s first ever medals in dressage.Three years later, Darr was asked to go to Brazil to train, teach and compete Lusitanos (Portuguese breed) horses at Haras Modelo, a modern horse breeding farm.For more details contact Darr at mestredarr[AT]yahoo.com.brUseful website: www.sultandarr.blogspot.com