SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

JACQUIE CHEIKHA &

QUINARITA

1.30 M JR JUMPERS

• Winner, Med Jr/Am, Del Mar Seaside Tour 1, January 2023

• Champion, Med Jr/Am, Temecula Valley National, October 2022

• Champion, Med Jr/Am Jumper, International Jumping Fest September 2022

• Winner, $2,000 Dover Saddlery NAL Jr/Am Classic, Blenheim Fall Tournament, September 2022

• Winner, $1,000 Biozyme Jr/ Am Power/Speed, Split Rock Paso Robles, September 2022

• Champion, Jr/Am Jumpers, Blenheim, August 2022

• Winner, $2,000 Dover Saddlery NAL Jr/Am Classic, Blenheim Summer Festival, July 2022 to keep my leg down and from swinging,” says Cheikha. “But ultimately, forcing the position to angles that didn’t feel natural caused me too much pain.” With a generous application of sticky spray, she kept showing in the 2’3” green rider hunters and equitation, learning her craft.

As Cheikha grew she was constantly trying to train her legs to grow correctly. “I couldn’t run or do anything with a lot of walking, and there was always muscle stretching and the pain that came with that.”

However, watching her brothers moving into the jumpers looked like too much fun to resist. Small for her age, it was hard to keep a pony well schooled enough to avoid taking advantage of her left leg. A horse seemed too strong and daunting to the adults around her. They were moving slowly and methodically to find the correct next mount when Jacquie fell in love with a new partner. He was a 6-year-old off-track Thoroughbred.

“We were in between horses and he was very quiet and just green, so David put me on him for a lesson,” says Cheikha. “He didn’t know how to pick up the right lead and didn’t know a lot, but he tried so hard, even from that first lesson.” She spent the next few lessons begging for him. Soon they were showing in the 0.70 m jumpers and struggling to slow down after jump-off rounds, especially on the left lead.

From this experience, Cheikha learned a lot about what she could ride. “Lazy horses are never an option for me because I can’t get one off my left leg very well by myself. Not being able to turn my foot out, it is always a big training test to get them to listen and keep them listening on course.” Using inside spurs and carrying her stick in her left hand, Cheikha needs horses very attuned to her hands and her reins to turn. She also learned to not be shy about grabbing mane or a martingale strap or anything she needed to hold herself up around the turns or rebalance after a jump.

A New Challenge

Everything changed for Cheikha when she was 13. After the horse she was riding bucked in a left turn, Cheikha fell hard. She landed on her ankle, which buckled, rolled, and fractured her fibula. Through many doctors and tests, they found she had broken her growth plate and tore her tendon. This triggered excruciating nerve pain. It took a while to get the diagnosis, and in the meantime, she was aggravating her nerve pain, making every step she took feel like she was breaking her foot all over again.

But it didn’t keep her off a horse. Cheikha continued to ride without a stirrup, tack walking in her cast. Spending time completely away from horses simply was not an option. During the process of obtaining a diagnosis, her pain would move around, so finally a doctor injected novocaine to start blocking individual nerves, not unlike diagnosing a horse. Finally, after many attempts, one nerve was injected and it turned out to be the right one. The nerve stopped firing and she was able to run for the first time in her life. This freedom was temporary, as the novacaine wore off, but knowing the exact nerve helped assist with treatments, optimal orthotics, and future options for relief.

During this time, Cheikha became more aware of her differences from other riders. With knees that point straight ahead and feet that turn in, Cheikha’s hips sit unevenly, causing back pain. At horse shows, she was unable to traverse the uneven footing, walk in the schooling ring, or walk or her course in the show ring. Cheikha knew that she had to come to terms with having a lifelong disability, and figuring out how she would adapt.

But it was impossible to ignore feeling different at the horse shows. “People would tell me that people felt bad for me and I wasn’t actually a good rider. That’s all I have ever wanted to be, so it really hurt,” says Cheikha. She was battling depression and anxiety inside, alongside all the struggles she faced on the outside. People started to make comments to her parents and trainer as if they were doing something wrong.

But everyone on Cheikha’s team rallied to make adaptations. Bustillos was the first to tell her to stop walking her courses. Mimicking a horse’s longer stride on course walks was causing much of the pain, so they decided to save her strength for the show ring. Bustillos walked the courses instead, and explained every step to her back in the golf cart. He drove her around the ring to visualize any tricky spots. Everything became about saving Jacquie’s leg for the show ring.

When Bustillos couldn’t make it to the ring in time, Cheikha’s brother Jaden would walk the course and give her his notes. Sometimes he carried her piggyback around the coursewalk and around all the tight turns so she could visualize herself riding it. She kept improving, often warming up without her left stirrup, and always needing to be carried off her horse after a ride. Stewards would ask if something was wrong or needed to be reported.

The Winning Mindset

Jacquie started going to biofeedback therapy and learning to compartmentalize her pain. Her riding soared and she started moving up through the ranks quickly. She realized her mental game in managing nerves and pain was crucial to achieving her goals.

“I’ve ridden many of Jacquie’s horses and they are challenging for anyone to ride. It is very impressive the way she has adapted to ride very fast and strong horses,” says Grand Prix rider Kaitlin Campbell.

While she’s persevering through so much already, Cheikha has set a high bar for the future—she wants to go to the Olympics. She wants to compete with the best of the best of all riders. She believes in her grit and ability to fight her way to the top of the sport, no matter what she has to face or how much pain is required to reach that goal. She wants to be a role model for all riders and help people conquer their roadblocks. She wants people to know how much their words can hurt or help a situation. She wants to be the future of our sport.

“People will ask me if I magically woke up without CP or the limp or pain, how I would feel? And I think I would be disappointed because it’s so much a part of me,” says Cheikha. “I’m proud of who I am and proud of what I have put in to accomplish.”

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT JACQUIE

DAVID BUSTILLOS, JACQUIE’S TRAINER: I watch horses for months or even years to select them for Jacquie—they have to be so specific and it is a lot of responsibility for them. They have to be willing and love to jump and strongly take her to the jump. She does everything she can and I need them to be strong themselves; they can’t be horses who need leg or stick or encouragement to do their jobs.”

FADI CHEIKHA, JACQUIE’S FATHER: Jacquie’s courage is different. I grew up in Lebanon throughout the war and I’ve never seen anything like it. She has a love affair with those horses and her determination surpasses any pain. She has no fear of the horses, the jumps, or the pain that is coming. She rides because she loves it. Nothing else exists to her. With all my kids, I have tried to instill that dreaming big isn’t big enough. Jacquie dreams bigger than big.”