A Trakehner to Trust
A life-threatening accident led this hunter rider to a special horse giving her a second chance.
By Kim MacMillan
Life can change in an instant. Amateur hunter rider Heather McCann-Cuddy knows that better than most after a horrible accident resulted in multiple facial surgeries, looming fears to conquer and a long road to recovery. Thanks to a very special horse and inspiring people she met along the way, Heather has been able to regain trust and find her way to the championship arena at the prestigious Royal Horse Show. What she learned through her experiences are valuable lessons worth sharing.
in Toronto with her husband of 15 years, Brent Cuddy, and their six-year-old son Cameron. The family also shares their home with a Newfoundland dog named Polo. Besides riding, Heather and her family also enjoy racing sailboats and down- hill skiing. In 2016 Heather skippered their Dufour 32 boat to top their fleet standings with crewing by her husband and her father. As a history teacher at the all-girls’ school Branksome Hall,
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she teaches seventh through tenth grades. Riding and horses have been part of her life since she was five years old. Brent and Cameron share her love of riding as well; in fact, that’s how she and Brent met. “My husband rides jumpers. We met when we were showing our small ponies against each other. He was my first crush when I was just 12 years old. We recon- nected later when we were in our twenties. Cameron is now doing cross rails,” Heather shares.
Top: Riding buddies at the barn in October 2015, Heather McCann-Cuddy, and the 13-year-old Trakehner gelding Perfect Timing, aka Romeo, by Heling, and her 5-year-old son Cameron with his pony Sparky.
eather McCann-Cuddy, 43, grew up in the Toronto, Canada suburb of Oakville where her parents, Dr. Thomas and Karen McCann, still live. She now lives
Near-Death Accident Two years ago, it was a day much like any other. Heather was holding the horse that she had owned for ten years at the barn where they boarded at that time. Something spooked him and he kicked out. “He leaped straight in the air, and although I was holding his head, he cow kicked with his left hind. Even though I was wearing my helmet, he kicked me directly in the face. My son and my husband were about ten feet away from me when this happened,” Heather recalls.
She says that she doesn’t remember much about the acci-
dent but has vivid memories of the ride in the ambulance to the nearest hospital. “The paramedics were trying to revive me. I knew that the easiest thing at that time would have been to just to slip away. I distinctly remember that feeling of just going to sleep and this feeling that my body wanted to slip away. But I thought of my then four-year-old son, and I thought of my husband and my family and of the students who I love at school and all of my friends. I knew that I had to pull myself back to that moment in the ambulance with the paramedics.”
Warmbloods Today 31
Meg O’Shea of Jump-Shot Photography
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