Christina Glenn is back to training and riding thoroughbreds on a daily basis.
The 18-year-old was sidelined for a few years because of surgery required by a congenital heart condition.
She was born with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, meaning she had an extra electrical pathway between her heart’s upper chambers (atria) and lower chambers (ventricles), resulting in episodes of rapid heartbeats (tachycardia).
The rare condition affects about four out of every 100,000 people.
(Courtesy of Christina Glenn)
Now a freshman at Pasco-Hernando State College, Glenn began riding horses at about age 7, but had to stop to have a heart procedure.
“When I was little, I always liked horse movies…and being outdoors,” said Glenn, noting she has an affection for all animals.
“It’s all she wanted to do since she was a little girl,” her mother, Monique said. “She would always say, ‘I want to ride horses, I just want to ride horses.’”
Shortly after she began riding as an adolescent, Glenn’s cardiologist advised her to stop the activity until she had heart surgery. The surgery removed the extra electrical pathway through the use of a catheter-based procedure, otherwise known as ablation.
Heeding her physician’s recommendation, Glenn stopped riding for about five years before being receiving the OK to resume equestrian-related activities.
She hasn’t stopped riding since.
“I like the adrenaline and the thrill,” said Glenn, who trains horses at Showcase Farms in Lutz. “I’m actually the only one in my family that really likes (riding) horses; we’re actually all allergic to horses.”
Shortly after starting back up, Glenn “fell in love” with Longo, a 1,200-pound horse named after Tampa Bay Rays all-star third baseman Evan Longoria.
Formerly mistreated when it was younger, Longo came to Glenn as a very “scared and skittish” horse, making its training a lengthy work-in-progress.
“He was like the horse that no one wanted to ride in the barn,” said Glenn, a 2015 graduate of Sunlake High School. “When we went to our first (equestrian) show, we couldn’t even get a saddle on him. He was rearing up and bucking and would try to run you over.”
To contain the horse, Glenn would work with Longo four days to five days a week, training him as a show hunter and jumper over a period of about four years.
“There’s a lot of therapy with horses,” Monique said. “They worked together and created that bond and strengthened each other, and helped with each other’s weaknesses.
“They both healed each other,” Monique added. “I think she healed his heart and he healed hers, too.”
Glenn developed Longo—who’s show name is ‘Home Run Hitter’— to the point where he was able to surpass 5-foot jumps, and perform well in several equestrian circuits throughout the state, including the 2015 HITS (Horse Shows in the Sun) Horse Show in Ocala, where together they placed first in a class of 60 entries.
“They won a lot of competitions together—a lot of really good competitions together,” Glenn’s mother said.
With Longo aging—he’s approximately 20 years old — and Glenn’s desires to compete at an even higher level, she made the tough decision to sell the aging horse in December to Kaycie Smith, a fellow equestrian.
“This is kind of his retirement job because he’s jumping 2 (feet) to 3 feet now,” Smith said. “He’s not jumping as high now that he’s a little older.”
“It worked out the best way possible,” said Glenn, noting she’s often able visit Longo at the stables in Lutz. “He can still jump, but we don’t want to injure him.”
Glenn’s current project is a 1,400-pound, 5-year-old horse named Zen, whom she bought from an owner in Colorado a few months back.
Zen is still in the beginning stages of his training and development, Glenn said, adding she plans to start competing with the horse this summer.
“He’s very hard to train, and didn’t (initially) know what I was asking him, but these last few weeks, he’s already gotten 50 times better than he’s been,” Glenn explained. “We’ll probably do a few shows this year, get him off the property and get him used to the environment of showing.”
As she continues to work with Zen and to continue her equestrian career, Glenn hopes to one day become a full-time horse trainer.
“I’m thinking about…majoring in Family Counseling and Psychology, and working with children and horses in some kind of a therapeutic way,” she said. “That’d be my dream job.”
As for her heart condition, Glenn said she had a few episodes during her senior year of high school, where she would sometimes get dizzy and “pass out” during intense physical activity.
While noting she’s fine now, Glenn and her family continue to closely monitor her health.
“We’re just keeping an eye on it and (keeping) our fingers crossed,” her mother said.
Published May 4, 2016
