7 minute read
Goals Reimagined:
from SEQM_May2024
by sandhillseqm
How para dressage re-ignited international dreams for Fiona Howard
Cassidy Oeltjen
In the fast paced, perfectionist oriented world of dressage, it’s easy to feel like missing a few days of training or competing as a set back. Every ride is an opportunity to get better, improve scores, increase strength, or fix a weakness.
As an active, determined, and accomplished young equestrian, 16-year-old Fiona Howard found herself in a position where she thought she was facing an unfortunate pause in her schedule. Up until then she had amassed experience competing around the world...
...“I started riding horses at around 3 years old and rode in both England and the Southern Pines area. My first ever competition was actually near the Southern Pines area and I still have my first two blue ribbons I won at that show on my wall today!” she explained. “I grew up doing dressage, show jumping and eventing in England as well as some of the hunters when in North Carolina.”
“Around the age of 8, I also began showing quarter horses in England,” she continued. “As I entered my teenage years I primarily focused on reining and competed at the FEI Junior European Reining Championships winning a team bronze medal for Great Britain as well as multiple National titles in the Youth and Non Pro divisions.”
As her teen years approached, she began experiencing trouble with things like cutting her food and began picking up random injuries. Fiona’s parents couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to the injuries of their active, athletic daughter, than just ‘growing pains’. She was struggling more and more with fine motor skills, and by 2016, she was only able to get around with the use of crutches.
After stumping the doctors in England, the family headed to Boston Children’s Hospital where they initially planned for an intense, 8-week stay.
“Those 8 weeks turned into months and then into years and I ended up having to move to Boston,” she reflected. “I was diagnosed with a genetic condition that affects my entire body. I was also diagnosed with dystonia which progressed causing severe bilateral leg deformities as well as affecting my arms and spine.”
“My digestive system was also severely affected which left me hospitalized throughout 2018, 2019 and 2020,” she continued. “My entire digestive system was shutting down and I was left unable to eat. I ended up on TPN, which is nutrition that is administered straight into your veins via a line going into your heart.”
In 2019, two of her doctors took a chance with a major surgery with the hope she could have a better quality of life. While the surgery was successful, the recovery was not without complications.
“In fact, I had multiple ICU admissions where the doctors told me to prepare for the worst but my medical team never gave up on me and they didn’t let me give up,” she said. “It was during one of those ICU admissions that I said if I made it out of the hospital I wanted to get back to riding horses.”
Even with most of her energy being consumed by healing, Fiona was also attending Northeastern University throughout the process. It was at the barn where the riding team was based that Fiona found her way back onto a horse.
“We took it slowly and they let me tell them what pace I wanted to go,” she explained. “Despite having ridden for the majority of my life, I was now having to learn how to ride with a very different body. I no longer had the same aids I did when I was younger so I had to adapt. This is when I decided to look into para dressage and knew I wanted to get back to competing. I was now balancing my senior year in college, major health challenges and riding horses but I was the happiest I had been in a very long time.”
With her first rides accomplished and a completed college degree, Fiona moved on to get classified as a Grade 2 para dressage rider.
In para dressage, the rider’s mobility, strength, and coordination or visual impairment are assessed in order to classify their grade. The Grades range from I (most severe) to V (least impaired). The athletes compete based on their classification grade, and then based on their skill level within their grade classification.
After a few trips down center line at the national level in para dressage, Fiona found her way back to the FEI level, competing at the Tryon Equestrian Center in June of 2022. She had begun training with Tokyo Paralympian Kate Shoemaker, and with Katie’s help, they found Jagger, Fiona’s current top horse.
“My coach Kate had known of him for a few years,” Fiona reflected. “We were actually not even actively looking for a horse but a couple days later I went over and rode him. I competed with him the next day in a couple para classes and it just all clicked. I came out of the ring saying ‘this is my horse!’.”
Fiona’s intuition definitely didn’t fail her. She and Jagger’s bond developed quickly as they traveled the world together.
“We had an incredible 2023 competing in CPEDI competitions all over the world, always placing in the top two,” she recalled. “We started 2024 by winning all our classes at the Al Shaqab CPEDI in Doha, Qatar. Jagger has been based at Hof Kasselmann in Germany this past year to allow us to compete at European competitions.”
“Jagger has really taught me so much, he is the type of horse that if he trusts you, he will do anything for you,” she continued. “He also has a huge personality! He is very food motivated and definitely a little cheeky. I love just hanging out with him, in his stall, hand grazing or grooming. He knows when we are entering the competition arena and always tries so hard. His nickname in the barn is Mr. Perfect! He really is the definition of a ‘heart horse’ for me.”
While Jagger gave Fiona the confidence to get back into the big rings, he also imprinted the personality and skills that are necessary for a successful para dressage horse… traits that she has found in the newest addition to her string, the 11-year-old Hannovarian gelding, Diamond Dunes.
“Francois Kasselmann (Hof Kasselmann) messaged Kate a couple weeks ago and said he thought he might have a really great para horse for me,” Fiona explained. “He was in Florida for the winter season which made it easy for us to drive over and try him. After the first ride on Dunes, I told Kate I thought he could be one of those special horses that we are always looking for in para and she agreed.”
Just like Jagger, Fiona and Dunes wasted no time in solidifying their partnership.
“We decided to enter him in the CPEDI at World Equestrian Center - Ocala after only having him for about a week,” she said. “We went into the competition just wanting to have a good experience but Dunes exceeded expectations and was just incredible, sweeping the Grade 2 classes and scored a personal best of 79.9% in the freestyle!”
Fiona and both horses have a big 2024 planned, with CPEDI competitions in Europe and the hope of being selected to represent the USA at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games!
“My health challenges will always be there but I don’t want to waste a single moment of life,” she reflected. “We don’t know what the future holds but I will ride horses for as long as possible. The freedom and happiness horses give me is hard to put into words. My health has taken so much away from me but when I sit on a horse, I feel like I can move again. I’m reminded of the little girl who just loved horses and won her first blue ribbon in North Carolina.”
Fiona at the Garden Of England International Show, July 2016.
Fiona at the Garden Of England International Show, July 2016.
