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Tuesday, May 22 2018 / Published in Sidelines Feature

Gigi McIntosh: From An Accident, To An Uphill Battle To Paralympic Success

Gigi McIntosh
Photo by Eliza Engel

By Britney Grover

Everything was in line with Margaret “Gigi” McIntosh’s big eventing dreams: Under the tutelage of Bruce Davidson, she had ridden in her first 3* event in 1997, followed by the 4* level in 1998. She was long-listed for the Pan Am Games both years, and had high hopes for her future. Everything changed over a single jump in spring 1999.

Gigi gets a little push from her daughter Charlotte McIntosh Tarr

Most people would consider the circumstances of Gigi’s paralysis a disaster — but Gigi sees herself as lucky. “With the diagnosis of an incomplete spinal cord injury, I realized the first morning at the Good Shepherd Rehab Hospital what a great opportunity I had been given,” Gigi shared. “While initially completely paralyzed from my chest down, I had the prospect of regaining my strength and mobility through hard work, an outcome denied those whose spinal cord had been completely severed. Just knowing that I’d been spared eternal confinement in a wheelchair was all the motivation I ever needed.”

That motivation enabled Gigi to regain the ability not just to walk, and not even just to ride: She is one of the country’s top para dressage athletes, having competed in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro and with her sights now set on the 2018 World Championships.

A Horse Crazy Kid

Though Gigi wasn’t born into an equestrian family, she was born wanting to ride. “I was one of those kids who chased the dog with a saddle!” she said. “I asked for a pony every Christmas and on every birthday. When I broke my arm, my father begged me to stop crying and promised me anything I wanted. My very next Christmas present was a lovely little Welsh pony.”

Just 7 years old, Gigi began taking riding lessons with the local riding instructor, a retired army captain named Elwood Geissler. Elwood was an avid foxhunter, one of the earliest dressage judges in the U.S. and very enthusiastic about the up-and-coming sport of eventing. “Our lessons with him included a lot of cross-country riding,” Gigi recalled. “Before too long, my brother and I were galloping around playing cowboys and Indians with Elwood’s daughter, Betsy.”

After her early lessons with Elwood and a summer course at Potomac Horse Center, Gigi had little riding instruction before 1968 when she went to Stoneleigh Burnham School in Greenfield, Massachusetts. “The school not only had horses, they hosted one of the earliest combined training competitions in New England,” she said. “After working really hard all winter, I rode in my first event at age 14!”

Stoneleigh gave Gigi not only her first eventing experience, but paved the way to her first job in the equestrian world. “Luckily for me, Denny Emmerson’s parents were headmaster and headmistress at Stoneleigh,” Gigi explained. “When May and Denny left the riding program to start Tamarac Hill Farm in Stratford, Vermont, I went with them and became their first working student, grooming, mucking, haying and riding every summer through high school and college. In that time, I rode through the Intermediate Level, including the long-format three-day event that would later become Bromont.”

Gigi and Rio working with Missy Ransehousen

Crossing Paths

Denny Emmerson and Bromont weren’t the only pieces of equestrian history that Gigi came in contact with as she pursued her dreams. Her first “real” job after college was with Gunnar Ostergaard, who had recently arrived from Denmark to train Ellin Dixon. “Working at Erdenheim, the Dixons’ farm, provided a unique opportunity,” Gigi said. “Mr. Dixon sponsored Michael Matz, a very successful show jumper who employed one of the best grooms of all time, Karen Golding. I learned everything I could about horse care and management from Karen, an invaluable opportunity!”

In 1979, Gunnar introduced Gigi to George and Inge Theodorescu, who gave her a working student position at their farm in West Germany. “I found myself living at Gestute Lindenhof riding three or four horses a day and grooming for George and his daughter Monica at all the big European shows,” Gigi recalled. “Reiner Klimke and Hubert Rehbein were still competing at that time and Jan Brink was a working student with me.”

Gigi rode under George and Inge’s supervision for three years before she met her husband, Brian, and moved back to the United States. Riding took a side position to family life for a short time — Gigi’s daughter, Charlotte, was born in 1985, and her son, Cam, in 1987. “I kept my horse in Green Hills, Pennsylvania, with Jane Beck,” Gigi said. “Jane took lessons regularly with Bruce Davidson and hosted his clinics at her farm. Cam was two months old when I first asked Bruce for help.”

It was while riding with Bruce that Gigi began to excel. She rode in her first 3* event in 1997, moving right up to 4* the next year with her sights set on some of the world’s largest events. But everything changed with one jump at Morven Park in 1999, when her horse took off too soon and his back legs caught over a ramp jump. The horse fell on his shoulder, and Gigi hit her chin.

 

Gigi competing Rio at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in London

Road to Recovery and Beyond

 

Gigi’s fall resulted in a cracked C6 vertebra, an incomplete spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegia. She overcame the risk of blood clots and other life-threatening complications, making miraculous progress during her six weeks in the hospital and nine months outpatient care. “I was devastated,” said Gigi’s husband, Brian, “but the kids took it in stride.”

Charlotte and Cam were in 9th and 6th grade at the time of the accident. “Brian had always been very involved in their daily lives and I had often been away with the horses, so that aspect was not unusual,” Gigi said. “They have been a great help through the years … wonderfully proud and supportive!”

Despite her optimism and determination, even Gigi had dark moments. “You know that feeling when you wake up, feeling great about the new day, then reality strikes?” she admitted. “Having spent the previous 10 years setting short- and long-term equestrian goals every waking moment, I faced a black despair right after my accident.”

Still, Gigi knew her life would be incomplete until horses were back in it. “Mindful of Brian’s trepidation at putting me back on a horse, I enlisted my physical therapists as accomplices in recommending hippotherapy as soon as possible,” she said. “Fortunately, my dear friend, Jane Cory, ran the therapeutic riding Cort Center at her Pleasant Hollow Farm with a string of lovely, very appropriate horses.”

With horses again part of her daily life, Gigi was well on her way to being herself again. “Jane struck a perfect balance between keeping my riding safe and interesting, without being patronizing,” she said. “My dear eventing friends provided two lovely retired Rolex horses for me to ride through my recovery years, Trans Am Aflirt and Idalgo. As I regained strength and developed a rapport with Idalgo, I expressed an interest in competing and Jane encouraged me to contact Missy Ransehousen, another event rider. More importantly, Missy was then the coach of the U.S. Para Equestrian Dressage Team. Early in 2011, when we decided to try out for the Paralympics in London in 2012, I felt like I was back to my true competitive nature.”

Gigi and her family celebrating her daughter Charlotte’s wedding to Colin Tarr at the Half Moon Resort in Jamaica.

Back on Top

Competing on a borrowed mount, Gigi missed making the 2012 Paralympic team by a hundredth of a percent. Soon after, Gigi began an intensive search for a dedicated para dressage horse, a departure from the usual retired event horses. In 2013, she saw a video of a mare named Rio Rio online and fell in love. Since Rio was in Washington state, a long way from Gigi and Missy in Pennsylvania, it took many videos, communications and even friends test-riding Rio before Gigi and Missy finally flew to Seattle to ride and, two months after discovering the initial video, purchase Rio.

Rio ended up being the perfect partner for Gigi at the time. The two were Reserve National Champion and Reserve Champion at the Para Selection Trials in 2014. One of four equestrian women, Gigi competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. She could have stopped there. “I sincerely considered retiring after the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro last year, but Para Equestrian Dressage in the United States has come to a very exciting new place!” she said. “The new president of US Equestrian, Murray Kessler, has devoted his entire stipend to Para Equestrian with a promise to promote it during his tenure. Early this spring, the USEF hired the best para coach in the world to advise the U.S. riders: Under Michel Assouline’s direction, Great Britain has topped the world for the past three Olympiads.”

Michel’s wife, Mette, was asked to help the American riders find competitive horses, so with her next goal being the 2018 World Championship, Gigi traveled to Denmark in May 2017 with Mette and Missy. There, Gigi found Heros, whom she rode for six weeks in the U.K. over the summer before returning to the U.S. to place second in the 2017 National Para Equestrian Dressage Championship in Tryon, North Carolina.

“Since then, I have been training assiduously in Pennsylvania with Missy and her mother, three-time Olympian Jessica Ransehousen,” Gigi said, and her training is already paying off. Gigi and Heros traveled to Wellington for further training with Michel and the first of the World Equestrian Games selection trials. In the first week’s Grade I CPEDI 3*, held January 8 as precursor to the 2018 Adequan Global Dressage Festival, Gigi and Heros scored in the high 70s for a decisive first place.

Not Alone

Gigi is the first to credit much of her success to the help of others, from her early experiences with Denny Emmerson and Gunnar Ostergaard to Bruce Davidson and beyond. “Once again, with Missy and Jessica Ransehousen and the Assoulines, I have had the serendipity of having coaches at the top of my chosen discipline just when I most needed them,” she said. “All of them have been generous with their time and their knowledge in helping to make my dreams come true. How lucky is that?”

Understanding how important horses are to her, even though he must have been nervous about Gigi getting back on a horse, her husband has never wavered in his love and support. Gigi’s children have been by her side for the entire journey — even when it got frustrating. “Their one overarching complaint has always been how slowly I walk. ‘Mom, going anywhere with you is like standing in a line!’ Now, my grandson loves walking with my canes … given a set of kid-sized golf clubs, he promptly up-ended them into pretend walking sticks.”

Just as others have inspired her, Gigi’s success is an inspiration to others. When asked what she would choose to tell every rider, whether able-bodied or para-equestrian, she responded, “Henry Ford said it: ‘If you think you can, or if you think you can’t, you are probably right.’ And, never, never, never give up.”

Photos courtesy of Gigi McIntosh, unless otherwise noted

 

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Annette Longenecker wasn’t just born into horses Annette Longenecker wasn’t just born into horses—in a way, she was born into her career. She grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where her parents ran a farm. Her mother taught, and her father had a jump business and then created one of the first horse show software programs: Ryegate Show Services, Inc.

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When she’s not busy at a show, Annette lives in Annville, Pennsylvania, with her “fur-baby,” Maggie Mae, and enjoys spending time with her many godchildren. Though she doesn’t currently own any horses, Annette rides when she can at Rolling Acres Farm with Patty Foster, Ashley Foster-Worthington and Mary Lisa Leffler.

Read this month unbridled with Annette Longenecker by clicking the link in our bio. Never miss a story by subscribing to Sidelines Magazine! 🦄
📸Photo by Sheryl Sutherby

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A column from Liz Halliday-Sharp herself The spor A column from Liz Halliday-Sharp herself 
The sport of eventing is a demanding and mentally challenging discipline that requires a combination of physical and mental fortitude from both the rider and horse. While having a coach can be incredibly beneficial, self-coaching can also play a crucial role in a rider’s success.

I think that given the opportunity, most riders would like to be coached every day. The reality of life in the horse world, however, is that the majority of us need to absorb as much from the lessons we have on a limited basis and then practice those skills at home to improve.

When I am riding, I try to have a plan for the horses each day and focus on what I’m looking to achieve. It’s important to be aware of the steady improvements rather than trying to solve everything all at once. This is especially important when teaching horses new movements or exercises that they might struggle with, and we need to give them time to learn and understand what we are asking for.

I have a couple of quotes that I use regularly when I’m teaching, and these are mottos that I hold myself to in my daily work as well.

The first is, “If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten.” This is a quote that was said to me many years ago when I was still motor racing and I keep it in the back of my mind each day. It’s easy to get stuck doing the same thing every day with your horse and bad habits are hard to break, from both riders and horses!

This leads me to my next quote, which is, “If what you are doing isn’t working, try something else.” It really is as simple as that! Many riders I see keep asking a horse to do something the same way over and over with an ongoing negative response and they wonder why things don’t get better. In these circumstances, I recommend that the rider change something, even if it’s wrong.

Read the full article by clicking the link in our bio! Don’t forget to keep your eye out for our April subscription!
📸Photo by Alex Banks Photography
The✨April issue✨ of Sidelines Magazine is here The✨April issue✨ of Sidelines Magazine is here and we are so excited to feature three-day eventer Liz Halliday on the cover! Big thanks to photographer Melissa Fuller for the beautiful photo of Liz and Cooley Nutcracker- Liz Halliday-Sharp - HS Eventing. Liz and her horses have taken the eventing world by storm - and find out how Liz is at the top of the sport as a female eventer! As the horse world gears up for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event 2023, it's the perfect time to enjoy our eventing issue!! We also feature eventer and woman entrepreneur Frankie Thieriot Stutes, who is not only an eventer, but also runs Athletux and FRANKIE CAMERON handbags and accessories. And don't miss our eventing story on Robert "Bobby" Costello, who will be leading the US Eventing team to the 2024 Paris Olympics- and US Equestrian has named Bobby the eventing technical advisor/chef d'equipe!! Liz, Frankie and Bobby all have GREAT stories - don't miss any of them and don't forget to get your tickets for the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day event! We are also excited to introduce you to hunter-jumper rider Casey Lorusso Smith, who is not only a talented rider but also a psychotherapist and incorporates horses into her career. If you are up for adventure, then read the story on dressage rider Priscilla Baldwin who certainly doesn't let any grass grow under her feet! We also head to the west coast to catch up with hunter-jumper trainer Jim Hagman of Elvenstar Farm, we feature beautiful art by equestrian artist Tammy Tappan, and we get to know Miranda Jones and her family. Miranda is not only an attorney who spends a lot of time in the courthouse, but she's a rider and spends lots of time riding, and is joined by her daughters also! We are excited to feature Stephanie Lightner in our Unbridled column, and don't miss our columnists George Williams, Robert R.L. Jacobs and Margie Sugarman! It's a great issue - and you can read it online, but don't forget to go to the website and order a subscription and get every issue delivered to your mailbox!! Enjoy this issue and enjoy the ride: Link in bio!!
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