When award-winning para-equestrian Lauren Reischer was born 24 years ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 1 in 550 children born in the U.S. was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP). Estimated. CP, the most common movement disorder of childhood, comprises a range of disorders that affect the ability to move, maintain balance and posture. Of the four main her types, spastic CP affects approximately 80% of diagnosed patients. Spastic CP manifests as muscle stiffness and tightness, primarily in the legs and buttocks, across the sides of the body, or in the most severe cases, the limbs, trunk, and face.
As an infant, Lauren was diagnosed with spastic diplegia/hemiplegia. She could not crawl and had difficulty standing upright. Her torso and upper body were very stiff and she had difficulty swallowing. Doctors were concerned that she would not be able to speak because she lacked the muscle strength in her core needed to make sounds.
She describes her legs as tightly twisted like “a mermaid’s tail”. But this is no fairy tale. This is the true story of a mermaid who captained Brown University’s equestrian team (and kept her varsity status). Long Island’s famous Hamptons is a Grand He Champion of the Classics, an advocate of therapy riding and a biracial para-equestrian who has refused to be a stat in equestrian competition. her handicapped hand.
better call sol
“I’m exactly 10 percent. Lauren is the other 90 percent,” says father Sol Reischer of his role in the life of the girl he and Mary Kong brought into the world. “When Lauren was diagnosed with a baby, our doctors hypothesized that not only would her life be difficult, but it would get worse with her age.
“We provided excellent nanny and car service for her doctor’s appointment,” he says. “hated.”
He quit his job at the American Stock Exchange to invest in his daughter’s weekly career, language and physical therapy schedule.
Sol says that at the age of two, Lauren’s muscles were so tense that they were pulling the femur away from the hip joint. She underwent major hip surgery that included amputation of her femur and removal of the socket before locking everything in her place.
From there, she spent 3 months in a V-shaped body cast at Rusk Rehabilitation (ranked as one of the top 10 rehabilitation programs in the nation by US News & World Report) with manual leg opening bars. Equipped and faced. She retrains her brain so that she “sees” her legs as two separate limbs.
“They were looking at results,” says Lauren. She used a walker, but her rehabilitation team, led by Rusk’s cerebral palsy and pediatric rehabilitation specialist Joan T. Gold, M.D., wanted more walkers. . “They recommended therapeutic horseback riding, where the movement of taking your feet off and moving with the horse was training my legs to work.”
horse help
For little Lauren, the New York City-based therapeutic horse riding program known as GallopNYC had a horse for the job, a one-ton Clydesdale called Voltan.
“My legs were still on my lap and still hadn’t left on their own, so my father pulled the handler. [two off-duty New York City mounted police officers] “Listen. I might have to get her on her knees and hold her there.” They told him, “Relax. We have this. Just wait and see.” Please give me.
“When they picked me up, my legs separated for the first time,” says Lauren. “I don’t know if it was because I made the connection that this was supposed to happen, but it worked. I got on that horse. Upright. Feet apart.”
Voltan’s careful procedure allowed Lauren to regain herself. “Those moves became my muscle memory,” she says.
Sol agrees. “It was terrifying for a concerned parent, but it proved to be the best, most rewarding, most therapeutic experience we have ever encountered,” he said. “That’s how my daughter and I became involved with GallopNYC. The rewards she got for attending GallopNYC were miraculous.”
In fact, Sol is now its chairman, and Lauren has trained nearly a dozen therapy horses while supporting new riders in the program. GallopNYC is New York City’s first and only equestrian center offering weekly lessons focused on the therapeutic needs of veterans, adults, seniors and children.
“Lauren is always trying to pass on what she’s learned in 20 years to help others,” Sol says. “99% of what people thought her parents were doing was what she was doing for us. She makes us better, not the other way around. ”
captain of her destiny
“I’m not a squeamish person, but during rehab Lauren saw things every day that no one should see, like a kid who was there because his own father set him on fire,” Sol said. “It has made her more empathetic to others. Rather than complaining about her own problems, she’s more willing to help.”
The horse continued to help Lauren find her stride. Ben Goldberg, an instructor at GallopNYC, told Sol that if he could drive Lauren to his barn in Goshen, N.Y. He said he would train her “like any other able-bodied rider.”
“That’s all she wanted,” Sol says.
As a teenager at Dalton School, Lauren embraced the high school motto, “Fear not, go.” She had earned respect and ribbons in the show’s flat and jump classes, including her Hampton Classic.
In 2016, Lauren rode a maroon pony named Opportunity Knox to 1st place in every class. Equestrian was named Grand Champion in the independent division of the Long Island Horse Show Series for Riders with Disabilities (LIHSSRD) Finals.
“If it wasn’t for my mom’s severe allergies, she would have been around horses more,” grins Lauren. “But it also had its upside. If something went wrong, like when you needed a catch. [ride] Three days after the show, she’s on the show! And before I did it myself, she took care of my entries, etc. She can operate any racetrack website. ”
college bound
The year after she won the Hampton Classic title, it was time to choose college and, of course, the equestrian program. The decision came down to which agency would work best with her CP. Ivy, like her four-wheel-drive golf cart for personal use. Her league perks were great, but they don’t compare to the NCAA’s requirement that equestrians do physical training multiple times a week.
Only Brown University provided Lauren with a physical therapist to help her stay fit for college competition.
At the same time Lauren was training at Brown, she was riding and riding her own horses at Tom Andreozzi and Dawn Drance’s facility. She confesses that Andreozzi was skeptical when she first saw her crutches.
“I was like, ‘Really? I was.
“How [someone’s] Their bodies may function differently than mine, but that doesn’t mean they can’t reach their goals,’ he says. It doesn’t matter how good you are physically, Lauren has a heart. Her body isn’t 100%, but her mind makes up for it.”
serious blow
That heart size was put to the test in senior year when Lauren was named co-captain of Brown’s Hunt Seat team. Then, at the start of the pandemic, the university announced that it would include equestrian among the 11 sports it was reclassifying from national team to club status.
She was present at the webinar announcement, explaining that the cut wasn’t a budget issue and the team didn’t perceive it as “good enough” to maintain national team status. I heard
“This must have been a joke,” recalls Lauren. “Not good enough? Brown said he finished in the top three in 11 of the last 20 years and has qualified for more national championships than any other Ivy team in his league. If they cut the team, they [also] Cut 100% of athletes with disabilities: I. ”
Lauren is the first and only graduate to compete at the NCAA level in Gallup NYC’s nearly 20-year history.
“Brown was the only school I applied to that had an NCAA equestrian team,” she says. “Instead of shrinking me into a box labeled what I can’t do, Brown chose to pay attention to what I could do.
“Having Brown offer me the opportunity to run at the NCAA level meant the world to me. It is.”
fight for her passion
She went straight to Brown’s director of athletics, Jack Hayes, to defend her team and the sport. They continued to meet throughout the summer, culminating in a conference call with her two of the most powerful and persuasive voices in the horse business. Bob Cacchione, founder of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, and Tom O’Mara, president of the United States Equestrian Federation.
Much like her “tiger mom,” Lauren didn’t take no for an answer.
“I didn’t feel intimidated by his position. I told him to let me work with him on the road to reinstatement,” she says. Built. He answered my phone.”
She asked him if the president of the National Football League would have made time for a conference call like the two sports leaders did.
“It awakened him to the importance of riding and the inclusiveness it offers,” says Lauren. “Play with everyone. No one sits on the bench and wastes money from the physical education department. Within 3 months [in September 2020]returned to work.
“We all have things in life that incapacitate us,” concludes the former Little Mermaid.
Lauren competed in the 2022 Land Rover Kentucky 3-day event, participating in para dressage and para jumping demonstrations.
This article about overcoming obstacles, equestrian Lauren Reischer, appeared in the May 2022 issue. horse illustration magazine. Click here to subscribe!
