By Kimberly Gatto
Portraits by Kristie Scholten
Dressage rider Katie Jackson has been passionate about horses for as long as she can remember. It was not just about the riding—it was the bond that developed when caring for horses that truly made Katie whole. That bond would later become a lifeline for Katie as she battled a life-threatening bout with cancer that resulted in the loss of her right leg. Driven by the healing power of equines and the strength of her own spirit, Katie not only returned to the saddle, but has continued to succeed and inspire others—both in and out of the show ring.
Katie caught the “horse bug” while still a very young child. “I was always asking my mom and grandfather if I could stop and see the neighbor’s ponies,” she said. “They finally gave in.”
For her 6th birthday, Katie was gifted with riding lessons at a local stable. Soon she became the proud owner of a small white Welsh pony named Arrow, with whom she competed in 4-H shows and trail rode through the Oregon hills. “As I grew taller, I could actually wrap my legs around his belly,” she said. “At that point, I taught him to drive. I also taught him how to do a Spanish walk and things like that.”
Katie’s next mount was a large chestnut pony named Cinnamon. “She was a real ‘chestnut mare,’” Katie said. “And she could be quite naughty. She really gave me a run for my money.” In an effort to better train the pony, a family friend introduced Katie to the elements of dressage. “My friend really came to my rescue with Cinnamon,” she said. “It helped with her behavior, and I became captivated by the beauty and elegance of dressage.” By the time she was 8 years old, Katie was competing in local dressage shows.
The Original Path
As she got older, Katie continued working through the levels. While in high school, she became the owner of a young Dutch Warmblood gelding, Loukas; the pair competed through Second Level and eventually took part in the California Junior Championships. As college approached, however, Loukas had to be sold to help pay for tuition expenses.
An excellent student, Katie enrolled at the University of San Diego, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then headed off to UCLA for dental school. “While I did not have a horse of my own at this time, I always found a way to keep horses in my life,” she said. “I worked as a waitress in the summer months and rode horses during the day for my trainer. As it turned out, the mom of one of my classmates was a dressage rider, so I would often go to her barn on weekends to ride. I just took any opportunity that I could to ride and be around horses.”
After graduating from dental school, Katie relocated to San Antonio, Texas, to complete her post-graduate residency. “The plan was for me to spend the year in Texas and return home after I completed my residency,” she said. “But I met my husband, Yancy, while in Texas, so I decided to take a detour of sorts and stay there.” The couple was married in 2009 and settled in Austin, where Katie returned to riding at a local dressage barn. After picking up rides on horses whose owners didn’t have time to exercise them consistently, Katie met another owner who offered her the opportunity to lease Bardo, a lovely bay Holsteiner. Katie clicked with the gelding, and when Bardo’s owner later moved out of state, Katie ended up taking ownership of the horse. “He was the first horse that I had owned in a long time,” Katie said. Together, she and the gelding—who is still living happily at the age of 26—competed through Third Level.
“Bardo had a couple of injuries and had to retire early,” Katie said. “But I was lucky to find other horses to ride. At that time, I was focused on developing my private dental practice, which opened in 2012, and I rode whenever I could.” With a thriving career, a loving husband and horses in her life, Katie was eagerly looking forward to the future.
Cancerous Change in Plans
In 2014, Katie—who was also an active runner and had competed in several duathlons—began noticing a nagging pain in her right leg. “I was getting a lot of cramps while running and my knee was creaky,” she said. “A friend and I were in the middle of a 10-mile race and I had to keep stopping because my leg was so sore. But it wasn’t completely out of the ordinary to have some discomfort while running, so I didn’t think much of it at that time.”
By the end of that year, Katie became increasingly concerned as the pain in her leg would not subside, and she began to feel a hard lump under the skin. “I had broken my other ankle and was rehabbing from that, but my right knee was still really bothering me,” she said. “Nothing was helping the pain—even ibuprofen.” In January 2015, she brought her concerns to an orthopedic doctor. “He examined it and was pretty casual about it,” she said. “He joked that I was getting older and said it likely was a harmless cyst. He didn’t seem worried about it, but said that we could do some imaging if it continued to bother me.”
In the weeks that followed, the pain got worse instead of better. “It was to the point that I had begun limping and I couldn’t exercise as much,” Katie said. “Part of me was worried that it was something bigger and that I may not want to know what it was. On the other hand, I would have to find out because the pain was just getting stronger.”
Katie was examined by another doctor, who performed a series of imaging tests and immediately sent her to an orthopedic oncologist. The news was not good: Katie had a rare and highly aggressive form of cancer called clear cell sarcoma. “My doctor’s appointment was at lunchtime and I had to go back and finish my work day after receiving the diagnosis,” Katie said. “I have no idea how I did that. I guess that’s just what you do. Your mind just goes numb. But I knew I had to keep going.”
Due to the aggressive nature of the tumor, the doctors wanted to operate right away. “It was a lot to wrap my brain around and get to a place where I was comfortable,” Katie said. “But my doctor was wonderful. He told me to get other opinions. He added that if anyone were to recommend anything other than amputation, they should have their license revoked. It was that serious. It was one of those decisions you cannot even contemplate having to make. But there was no other option.”
On August 5, 2015—a mere three weeks after her diagnosis—Katie underwent surgery that involved amputating her right leg four inches above the knee. In addition to taking part in a grueling physical therapy program, Katie had to be extra careful while the incision healed to avoid infection. She soldiered on, first using a scooter for mobility and later learning to walk again. Within weeks, she was back at the barn. “Horses have always been my happy place,” she said. “So the barn was the best place for my mental state and my heart and soul. Horses became my lifeline of how to get through this—having them as a focus and goal helped me to heal.”
When doubt and sadness inevitably crept in, Katie lifted her own spirits by focusing not on what she could no longer do, but rather on what she could still accomplish. “At the time of my diagnosis, I had begun grasping for anything that would hold me together. For me, it was, ‘How will I continue to have horses in my life?’ So I watched videos of amputee riders at the top of the sport and I made a goal to one day make a bid for the Paralympics,” she said. “It was a huge motivation for me. I held on tightly to that goal when I was adjusting to life with the amputation.”
Back in the Saddle
By November 2015—just months after her surgery—Katie returned to riding with the assistance of Horse Empowered Learning Programs (H.E.L.P.) of Austin, a local therapeutic riding program. While Katie didn’t fit the typical “mold” of a therapeutic riding student, it was important to her to safely get back into the saddle—and soon. “The H.E.L.P. program welcomed me with open arms,” she said. “Two of my friends came along as my side walkers. I started out on a very sweet Quarter Horse named Regal. At first, I had a lot of questions about how my balance would be, how it would feel, and things like that. When I became comfortable, I decided to take my prosthesis off for riding.”
Soon Katie began to regain her confidence in the saddle. “From there, I started learning more about para-dressage as a sport,” she said. “I went with a friend to watch a show in Florida and found it to be a very welcoming community. They even answered my millions of questions!”
Katie notes that it took a long period of trial and error to become adjusted to riding without one leg. “If I need to, or especially when getting to know a new horse, I carry a whip and lay it on the side where my leg would go; I found that it really helps. As we learn our new language of aids, I use the whip less and less where my heel or leg would be, as the horses know the differences in my body and balance. Because I was a rider before I lost my leg, I try to imagine that the leg is still there, so my body adjusts accordingly. Amazingly, the horses understand it.”
As Katie’s confidence returned, she began training with Kai Handt, the chef d’equipe of the U.S. para-dressage team; by 2016, she was back in the show ring aboard Wembley, a bay Westphalian gelding. In addition to competing at the 2016 national championships for para-dressage, Katie qualified for regionals at both Second and Third Levels against able-bodied riders. “It was just huge for me to be back doing what I love: riding and competing,” Katie said. Tragically, in 2017, Wembley became severely ill and passed away.
While coping with the sudden loss of her equine partner, Katie was paired with another of Kai’s horses, a black Westphalian gelding named Royal Dancer. “It was difficult, but we picked up where Wembley and I had left off,” Katie said. They were invited to travel to Omaha, Nebraska, to perform a para-dressage demonstration at the World Cup. “It was an incredible experience for me to be there,” Katie said. “I was stabled alongside many international riders that I admired. I remember stopping one day to watch Edward Gal ride. I was definitely starstruck!”
Katie and Royal competed through the beginning of 2018. After that, she was able to compete on Rowan O’Riley’s black warmblood Diesel (by DeNiro) and the pair ended up being named first alternates for the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina. At this time, Katie also began training with Catherine Haddad Staller. “It was just an awesome experience to travel with the team and to be that close to going down centerline! What an honor!” Katie said.
Finding Hope
After Diesel’s retirement, Katie was without a horse for nearly a year. “Finding a good match for para-dressage is not easy,” she said. “Horses have to have the perfect combination of athletic ability and a super-kind and -willing mind.” Eventually, Katie was connected with a Hanoverian FEI schoolmaster Scrabble (by Sandro Hit) through trainer Chrissa Hoffmann. “I had met Scrabble the winter before and he really caught my eye,” Katie said. “But he was outside of my budget. The following fall, I made an inquiry and I tried him. I immediately fell in love, and we just made it work to buy him.
“He’s a very intelligent and kind horse. We nicknamed him ‘The Professor,’ because he is just the perfect schoolmaster. He is kind enough to try something 10 times, but if you don’t do it right, he won’t do it,” Katie continued. With Scrabble, Katie opted to step away from para-dressage for a while and compete in FEI tests alongside able-bodied riders. “I thought I should take advantage of it while I have a horse like him,” Katie said. In October 2021, the duo competed in Prix St. Georges at WEC, which Katie described as “an amazing experience.” In December, they won the Intermediate I Open class with a score of 67%.
“Scrabble has been such a gift to me in so many ways,” Katie said. “The biggest gift is that he keeps me pushing forward. When I go back to the para-dressage classes, I will be a better rider and a stronger competitor because of him. It has been such a blast to challenge myself and my body physically and mentally to ride at that level.”
Besides Scrabble, Katie considers herself blessed to be partnered with another special horse, a lovely 17.3-plus-hand, dark bay warmblood named Atlas, whom she co-owns with Mary Beth Henderson. After struggling for years with a nagging body discomfort in Atlas, Katie had resigned herself to the fact that her “heart horse” would likely never be able to compete. “He was just telling me that he was not comfortable. My vets and I tried everything, but we could just not resolve the problem,” she said.
That changed when Katie’s good friend Shannon Strank offered to work with the gelding under the tutelage of her trainer, Tara Stegen, in Wellington. The pair worked on healing some residual tightness and scar tissue in the gelding’s body, slowly bringing him along, with incredibly positive results thus far. Atlas is now sound and thriving in his work.
“It has been an amazing turn of events,” Katie said. “Shannon and I have been friends for such a long time. She was there with me before my cancer diagnosis and was one of my side walkers when I first started riding after my surgery. Shannon has always been there for me. And now she and Tara have brought Atlas to a point where he is not only comfortable, but flourishing. She has given me an incredible gift—I now have my Atlas back!
“Atlas and I have a special connection,” Katie said. “I have never had a horse that communicates with me like he does. I am so excited to continue our partnership and see how far we can go. I am hoping that we can do some of the FEI para tests together—that would be a dream come true.”
In addition to riding, Katie continues to work in the dental field, managing her practice in Austin while also working remotely when she’s in Florida. “It worked out very well,” she said. “I have two doctors that do the clinical care and I manage the business, so I’m not standing all day. I really have the best of both worlds.” Katie and her husband are also in the process of constructing a new home and barn in Texas. “It will be our dream property,” she said.
Katie stresses the importance of tending to one’s mental health when things become tough. “Going through something so difficult can send you to a dark place,” she said. “I choose to push forward versus not, and to have the grace to accept that it’s OK to have a bad day and ask for help. It’s a continuous process for all of us. You can get to a place where there are many storm clouds and a lot of anxiety, but you can find perspective and gratitude.”
In addition to the support of her husband, family and friends, Katie is forever grateful to the horses in her life for giving her strength. “Horses are the best therapists,” she said. “They kept me mentally strong throughout my surgery and recovery. When life turned me on my head, there was nothing better for me than to be at the barn. Horses are the most incredible partners to have.”
Katie continues to look toward the future and excitedly looks forward to one day competing in the Grand Prix ring. “If we could ever pull together a Grand Prix test, it would be the most amazing thing. It’s all about listening to your horse; they all have something to teach you and something to give you,” she said. “I would never have known that this would be my path or my life’s plan, but I truly could not be happier.”
For more information, visit katiejacksonequestrian.com
Photos by Kristie Scholten, www.moonfyrephotography.com, unless noted otherwise
