Little Echo, KB, Shadow, Brigadoon and The Dragon are some of the horses Jennifer McKenzie remembers from her childhood and youth as a young equestrian in Maple Ridge.
Life was a "bowl of cherries" for Jennifer for her first 17 years. Jennifer moved to Maple Ridge when she was four years old. She attended Fairview Elementary and then went on to Westview Secondary until Grade 12.
She had been riding and swimming with the Haney Neptunes from a young age, but when she was 10, her parents sat her down and said she would have to choose the sport she wanted to focus on—she chose her pony.
Jennifer trained at the Maple Ridge Equisport Centre which was around the corner from her home, under the direction of coach Zoltan Sztehlo.
By 16, she was the youngest rider in the North American Continental Competition, which was held in Maple Ridge in 1982.
In 1983, her life came to a screeching halt when she fell off her horse causing a hemorrhage in her brain stem from which she was not expected to survive.
Jennifer spent a year at Vancouver General Hospital and GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre.
Jennifer was paralyzed on the right side of her body, had double vision and had lost her speech in the accident. Over the years, she has regained a lot of her mobility and speech.
Jennifer started swimming after her extensive rehabilitation to regain muscle strength and improve her flexibility, but Tilly Muller of the Maple Ridge Pacific Riding for the Disabled—now the North Fraser Therapeutic Riding Association—kept taking her out to competitions and meets to convince her to get back in the saddle.
In the late 1990s, she started riding again and in 2000 was back in competitions. In 2003, she travelled to Belgium and was part of a four-member team competing in the World Dressage Championships for Riders with a Disability.
That same year, she was named Athlete of the Year by the Horse Council BC. She was also named Pacific Sport Athlete of the Year for the Fraser Valley for 2007/08.
In 2004, she qualified for the Athens Paralympics, but as her father Robert had recently passed away, she stayed home with her mother Vi who has been her staunch supporter in her athletic pursuits.
But 2008 was Jennifer's year—she qualified again and attended the equestrian portion of the Paralympics which took place in Hong Kong. Jennifer had the only Canadian-bred horse at the Paralympics and Valentine and Jennifer helped the Canadian team come seventh overall.
"I was proud to represent my country and community," Jennifer said.
With the 2008 Paralympics behind her, Jennifer is aiming next for the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.