40 SIDELINES MARCH 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
discharged from the hospital, I moved into the dorms at Brigham
Young University and began my freshman year as previously
planned. I had a hard time in the beginning trying to find myself
without the things I had previously used to identify myself. I
had been a diver, cheerleader, dancer and vaulter. I had been
an athlete. I didn’t know who I was anymore without my legs. I
wanted my old life back.”
Using the oldest rule in Riding 101, she got back on the horse.
Only months after her accident, Cambry was lifted on the back
of a horse and ponied around at the walk. It was a bittersweet
moment. It was an amazing feeling for her because she felt
as though she was walking through the horse’s movement.
However, it
was not the
same as she
remembered.
“I wasn’t
ready,” said
Cambry. “I
tried a few
more times
after to ride,
but it ended
up just
reminding
me of what
I had lost.” Around that same time, Cambry found a new way
of working with the sport she loved. Her previous vaulting team
invited her back to the barn and she came back to the vaulting
world as a coach.
In 2008, Cambry and her mother started Technique
Equestrian Vaulting Club with five vaulters and her Haflinger
mare, Miss Fire Opal. Miss Fire Opal was given to Cambry from
a former teammate and good friend, Julie Young, to help start
their vaulting club. In the last five years, the club has grown
to 40 vaulters, seven horses, four lungers and three coaches.
The team competes at the local, regional and national level
with multiple vaulters achieving individual and team National
Championship titles.
“Over the years, with the help from others, I have put pieces
of myself back together and created a new identity from a
wheelchair, but it wasn’t until winter 2012 that I truly felt whole
again,” said Cambry. Her mother had been taking dressage
lessons with David Macmillan to cross-train the vaulting horses
and one
Saturday her
lesson partner
canceled. She
convinced
Cambry to
join her so
they saddled
up Miss Fire
Opal and
Cambry got
on. “I’m still
not sure what
happened
during that lesson,” smiled Cambry. “I believe Opal and David
opened Pandora’s box. I realized I could actually ride, I didn’t
miss my legs anymore, and more than anything I missed riding
and showing. Being able to ride after eight years of sitting on the
sidelines changed me.”
Cambry, 26, is now currently training as a Grade II
{
“Over the years, with the help from
others, I have put pieces of myself back
together and created a new identity from
a wheelchair...”
}
Cambry is lifted by her brother and fellow vaulter off of
horse Martinelli, owned by Julie Young at the 2013 U.S.
Para-Dressage Symposium.
Photo by Lindsay Y McCall
Continued on page 42
