“Sometimes I’ll just hit a wall and say, ‘I’m done for today.’ ”
few weeks this past winter [2012], at 1.35 m. She had four faults every class. Then at High Prairie [Colorado] she won the mini prix the first week and went around clean the second week with one time fault.” Jennie mentions that they had to figure out Lucy’s bitting
early on. “We tried maybe ten bits. One would work great for a week, then it wouldn’t work any more.” She also describes the mare as somewhat lazy. “She’s long in the body, so you have to use a lot of leg to get her haunches underneath her and a lot of arm strength to get her to come through. When we first started her, she was really spooky, but she’s thankfully grown out of that.”
…Then Louie Jennie bought Waterloo II (Larino keur x Ferro preferent)
two years after Lucy, in 2010. Of Dutch breeding, the 2003 gelding was bred by Bosch Farms in Red Deer, Canada and is registered Canadian Warmblood. Like Lucy, Louie was bred to be an athlete. His sire Larino is a son of the legendary Concorde; his dam Erina earned the prestatie predicate. Louie’s full sister, Vanilla Shake, is the dam of Blossom keur, the top star mare for the KWPN/NA 2010.
Dealing with the Disease Since she was diagnosed with MS in 2002, Jennie has seen
riding as one of her most important forms of therapy. “When I’m riding, nothing hurts,” she explains. “It all kind of goes away.” In addition, she finds that riding Lucy is an excellent physical workout. “I’m really tired after I ride her. We have a joke: If you want to get in shape just go ride Lucy for a little bit,” she says with a laugh. Unlike Anne Romney, a celebrity and rider who also deals with MS, Jennie doesn’t have a huge network of support staff. Instead, her family and her trainer are her team. At home, she credits her father with helping her manage the farm. “My father and I have done horses together from day one. We rode together when I was a kid, and he encouraged me to take lessons when I was eight,” she explains. Her father lives on the 35-acre property where they
have a six-stall barn, an outdoor ring and pastures. “My dad thought maybe I’d outgrow the horse bug. I haven’t yet,” she says with a smile. In 2003 the two of them had driven her previous jumper, the Oldenburg Elmo, to Calgary for Jennie’s first Spruce Meadows. “I knew my husband Marley and I would start having kids pretty soon,” she says. “I wanted to do the bigger jumpers and I was thinking, ‘I don’t know when I’d be able to go again.’” Laura Kraut was her coach at the show. “Michael and
Wilson couldn’t go, and Michael asked Laura if I could ride with her for two weeks. It was great. I won a class up there, so it was memorable.” Jennie’s workload increased this year when she added
two more horses to the farm. In March, surrogate mares foaled Lucy’s twins, Will and Lilly. The colt and filly were sired
32 January/February 2013
by Futurist (For Pleasure x Madison), a stallion selected for the American Hanoverian Society Jumper Breeding Program. Jennie says, “My biggest issue related to horses and life in
general is fatigue. I have to be very careful about that. With the horses, in the summer, the heat is a major issue.” She chooses horse shows carefully: a few local Colorado shows, the HITS Desert Circuit (California), and Spruce Meadows. “I’ve tried everything. I’ve worn cooling vests. I try
showing first thing in the morning. It works. I just can’t do it all the time. If it’s hot, I’ll change my plan and show early, or I’ll wear one of the cooling vests—whatever I need to do to make it work,” she explains. Fatigue is what slows her down. “I’ve accepted it now, but
for a while I felt like it was such a limitation. I can’t do it all. It’s very difficult to come to that realization, because I want to do it all. I want to get up at six a.m. and hack my horses before the show. Some days I can, and some days I can’t.” She describes the exhaustion she feels. “It’s not like a
normal fatigue. You can’t think, your brain doesn’t work and it’s hard to just get off the couch. It’s not, ‘I’m tired and I’m going to rest here for a minute,’ but instead, ‘I cannot physically and mentally continue.’ It’s very different than just being a little bit tired. Sometimes I’ll just hit a wall and say, ‘I’m done for today.’” She’s grateful that her trainer Michael understands her
situation. Jennie says, “He knows that if I say to him, ‘You need to hack the horses in the morning,’ I’m not just giving up and being lazy. I know that if I want to show in the afternoon, I can’t get up at six and hack them.” Jennie has adjusted to her condition but she never totally
gives in to it. “I have Elmo, Lucy, Louie, the weanlings, plus two children and a husband. I finally hired someone to clean stalls five days a week—and I do the other two!” Jennie gives a great deal to her horses—both of her time and her devotion. Clearly, they also give her a great deal, providing some of the strength needed to cope with the daily demands of a chronic illness. Thanks to her equine companions, she is able to face those demands with determination, flexibility and a healthy dose of humor.
Jennie with Lilly and Will at home in Sedalia.
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