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aims for


Physical challenges won’t rein in this determined young horsewoman


Elizabeth and her current


partner, Mr. Darcy, an 11-year- old Dutch Warmblood.


by Melissa Roddy Wright Elizabeth Pigott was in middle school when doctors told her


Now a 23-year-old biomedical research assistant from Downingtown, PA, Elizabeth has arthrogryposis, a rare congential condition characterized by contracted joints and muscle weakness.


Born with dislocated, contracted hips, clubbed feet and milder joint contracture in her hands, Elizabeth’s condition has meant a lifetime of surgeries, chronic pain and physical therapy that began almost at birth.


One fateful day in 1992, she was introduced to therapeutic horseback riding. “I had a childhood friend with cerebral palsy who loved it,” Elizabeth says. “I went to watch her ride once and said, ‘I want to do that’.”


Her doctors and therapists were against the idea initially, worrying that she would get hurt. But Elizabeth was a precocious 7-year-old who was getting bored with the conventional physical therapy she had received all her life. Te horses inspired her, and she and her parents agreed that she could give this new type of therapy a try.


For months, even sitting on a horse was a challenge: muscle tightness and painful bone-on-bone contact from Elizabeth’s dislocated hips made it nearly impossible for her to sit astride.


“It took about a year and a half of stretching to get me into a saddle. For that time, I used a (bareback) pad and


12 | www.holistichorse.com she likely would be in a wheelchair by the time she was 35. • Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Pigott


surcingle, with my legs sticking out to the sides,” she says. “Even then, I could only take the pain for 15 minutes or so.” PLEASURE IS WORTH THE PAIN


B


ecause of the issues with Elizabeth’s hips, pain – to a greater or lesser extent – has remained a constant companion in her riding career. But it’s a tradeoff she’s


willing to make for the benefits.


“Te natural movement of the horse helped things move and swing, and just moving with the horse as it was walking around – the back and forth, constantly adjusting so you don’t fall off – my parents say it made the biggest improvement in my balance,” Elizabeth says. “Once I was able to sit in the saddle, able to walk and trot and do functional movement, I was able to start building strength and actually learn to ride.”


Elizabeth spent years in therapeutic riding programs, but over time, the focus of her lessons gradually changed from physical therapy to learning to ride.


A


s a high school freshman, she competed in her first


show. Specially designed for therapeutic riding students, the competition involved a dressage test, a trail class and an equitation class. She won grand champion, earning her the chance to ride in a special class at the Devon Horse Show, a major annual hunter/jumper show in Pennsylvania. At Devon,


she was introduced to Hope Hand, a


former U.S. Paraequestrian Team competitor Holistic Horse™ • June/July 2010 • Vol.16, Issue 67


Elizabeth, 8, aboard “Tug,” the horse with whom she learned to trot and post, at Tipperary Therapeutic Riding Facility in Pennsylvania.


Elizabeth’s arthrogryposis forced her to use an exaggerated “chair seat” to sit astride.


Jen Cain


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