"I am more comfortable on horseback than on my own two feet”, says John Finegan, a 30-year-old para-equestrian with Cerebral Palsy. Growing up with Cerebral Palsy, John started riding at 4 years old thanks to his parents. Due to his disability, his parents sought every treatment or therapy option available to assist in his physical development. This led them to Fieldstone Farm, a PATH Intl accredited therapeutic riding center that was not too far from his childhood home along the shores of Lake Erie. Despite his father’s best efforts to pass on a nautical background and sailing, horses became John’s chosen niche from a very young age.
In his early years at Fieldstone, John participated in weekly English lessons. He rode at Fieldstone until high school when he switched to a local barn instead. When John started attending his local barn, he said he was one of the instructors first para-equestrian students. "She treated me the same as her abled riders and from there I just caught the horse bug.” John spent many summers going to the barn to help with lessons and with the horses. “The bulk of my volunteer hours came from helping at that barn,” he says.
Upon graduating high school, John set his sights on furthering his education and his riding skills. "Like most young adults, I did not know what I wanted to do when I grew up, so I tried very hard not to grow up." While attending the University of Cincinnati, he joined the university’s equestrian team and rode with them for several years. During this time, John decided to branch out into other disciplines. He started taking western pleasure lessons and became a multi-discipline rider. As a member of the equestrian team, John competed within the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association at horse shows throughout Kentucky and southern Ohio.
After college, John found himself a position with US Equestrian, the national governing body of equestrian sports in the United States. There, he is currently a lead software developer and is responsible for the website and software tools that are used by the organization and its membership. He says, “As I am an equestrian with a technical skill set, I was beyond ecstatic to find a way to utilize my technical training and contribute to a community that I enjoy being a part of.”
Like many others, life with cerebral palsy is not easy for John. Cerebral Palsy can affect people in different ways, but John finds it difficult to effectively use his muscles, particularly those on the left side of his body. In simplest terms, Cerebral Palsy is brain damage. Often the damage occurs during some of the most vulnerable periods of development such as before, during, after birth, or in early childhood. Since the brain is responsible for everything, people with Cerebral Palsy can be affected in a multitude of ways.
Photo by John Finegan
Living with cerebral palsy forces John to spend more time and effort in everything he does. He has to weigh more carefully the things that are worth and not worth doing with the cost of his time and energy. "Walking is awkward for me and is usually the most visible part of my disability. Additionally, my balance is questionable, so I am prone to falls even without outside input. Most of the time I can catch myself but I still hit the ground from time to time", John says. Nonetheless, he always tries to find solutions that work for him. While recovering from a relatively minor surgery, John found himself needing to enter the riding ring for his lesson. Unable to easily climb the fence or walk to the gate, he found a different way in. "To the surprise of my friends, I went under the fence to get into the ring. There are always alternatives if you are willing to consider them," he says.
In addition to Cerebral Palsy, John also has severe hearing loss and wears behind-the-ear hearing aids for both ears. Since he can communicate well verbally, John often has to remind his instructors that he is deaf. He also has to take extra consideration with helmets as not all models are comfortable when wearing hearing aids. Since both his balance and endurance are impaired, John does admit to avoiding certain equestrian activities. "I do not get horses from pastures anymore as I have been in situations where I have been nearly trampled after slipping and falling in a muddy field." John relies on others to assist him with this, however he is more than capable of caring for and tacking a horse by himself he says.
Despite his challenges, the breadth of John’s experience is considerable as he has ridden many different horses and disciplines throughout his life. He has ridden off-the-track thoroughbreds, barrel horses, gypsy vanners, and even mules. He has cantered and loped, done dressage tests and reining patterns, ridden without stirrups and even bareback! He has also done competitions in both english and western disciplines. During his years at Fieldstone, he participated in classes specifically for the para-equestrians of the riding center. One such competition even resulted in John being featured in a local newspaper article titled "Finegan Jumps for Joy!" As a part of his college equestrian team, John did western walk/jog classes.
John does prefer trails and recreational rides over competing. "Last summer, I was cantering a mare named Gwen on the beaches of Scotland, and this summer I can look forward to exploring Wyoming from the saddle.” Currently, he is working towards participating in Cowboy Mounted Shooting. He is well aware of the danger of adding firearms to equestrian sports, so he wants to be sure he can rely on his horsemanship abilities before taking the leap. His goal isn’t to become the best at the sport, he simply wants to do it as he’s always eager to learn something new. "I seek to be a good horseman. I'm a veritable jack of all trades, master of none. I have ridden for so long and done so many different things that I can adapt, and this is what I take pride in."
John has yet to own a horse but hopes that may change in the near future. Through his lessons, he has had the opportunity to ride a number of different horses. Sugar, a 29 year old thoroughbred from Ireland, has been teaching John jumping. Rut Ro, a western pleasure mule, teaches him to be lighter on the reins. Dunnie, a 21 year old quarter horse, is helping with his posture. Harley, a 24 year old palomino, is teaching him how to run mounted shooting patterns. “Every horse has something to teach me, and if it's something I already know, then it never hurts to have a refresher,” he says.
Like many other para-equestrians, John finds his freedom around horses. "Horses give me the mobility that I otherwise lack; and in the saddle, I find my freedom and I find myself," he says. "I'm far from the only disabled equestrian out there. Jenn Crawford, Amberley Snyder, and Bea de Lavalette all have inspirational stories in their own right. What's different between me and someone like Amberley is that she had 18 years of normalcy with her legs. I might have had 18 minutes. I've known no other life than one with my disabilities" he says. John has been riding for more than 25 years and he has no intention of stopping anytime soon. “Like everyone else, I have three choices: I can give up, give in, or give it my all. And I made my decision a long time ago.”
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