A horrific fall in a jump-off tragically put the brakes on professional rider Cassandra Kahle’s promising career last January. The following nine months have tested her, as she works to recover from a traumatic brain injury, focusing on therapy with the same determination she once applied to winning in competition.
Cass has never stopped pointing toward a comeback since she came out of a coma..
There was a moment while Cass was still in the hospital when her mother, Natasha Brash, tactfully asked, “What do you want to do, other than riding?”
Cass didn’t hesitate to respond.
“I don’t really know anything other than riding, I’ve done it my whole life,” she pointed out.
“I couldn’t come up with something else I felt as passionate about. I just knew I had to work at getting back to it.”
Cass and her physical therapist, Pete Marsicano, joined her mother on Zoom last night to fill in friends and relatives on how her recovery is going.
Cass can smile as she discusses her progress.
Pete, based at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in Flanders, N.J., originally was working with Cass five days a week.
The sessions have been cut to three days a week as Cass gets better. She is back to riding at Redfields in Tewksbury Township, N.J., where she works for Emil Spadone, but notes it’s a slow process.
“There wasn’t really a thought about not getting back on,” she mentioned, while at the same time admitting, “I was nervous about getting back on.”
That was only the beginning. It was a start, yet the challenges continue.
“I can’t see a distance to a rail anymore,” she said with a smile.
“Any chance of seeing my spot like I used to; it’s gone.”
But just being on top of a horse is huge step for Cass, who was in a coma after her accident. Since she doesn’t remember the accident, or even the week before it, “In one way, I’m really fortunate,” she said. “because I have no actual fear.”
Progress has been slow, yet steady.
At the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, where Cass underwent therapy after getting out of the hospital, she learned how to stand and walk again.
When she came back to New Jersey and started going to Kessler at the end of May, it “jump-started my progress,” Cass recalled.
Knowing his patient was set on riding again, Pete set up a bolster in therapy, to simulate something that would have a relationship to a horse’s back. That enabled her to practice regaining her balance before getting into the saddle again. Pete even figured out a way for her to use an overhead weight bar, making the move equivalent to holding the reins on a strong horse without getting pulled out of the saddle.
Cass’s physical therapist at Kessler, Pete Mariscano.
“I’d have to hold my balance with my feet off the floor, so it was really like riding a strong horse with no stirrups. That really resonated with the feeling of riding and being able to hold my core and my balance and not get pulled over the fence. That was a big confidence booster,” said Cass.
“An exercise being as close to the actual task is beneficial,” Pete observed.
Natasha showed Pete how to give Cass a leg up on the bolster, because “mounting seemed like the biggest question.”
Once that got answered, it eased one of Cass’s worries.
“I hadn’t been emotional at all this whole time,” said Cass, but “just that feeling I was getting a leg up and swinging my leg over–oh my gosh, I just about broke down into tears. That was the closest I felt to getting back on a horse. And I was like, oh my goodness, this is actually real. I guess it’s going to happen.”
As Pete noted, “She’s been game for all of it, and that makes the whole PT process that much more effective.”
It was his experience working with stroke patients when he was in school the made him realize it was his life’s calling. With Cass, he is learning about horses, and on occasion he has even been spotted neighing and cantering around the clinic. They both believe a sense of humor and few laughs are a good way to smooth the journey.
Meanwhile, actually riding is a form of therapy in itself, Pete observed.
Cass at Devon when she was competing. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
Cass has started to talk to a sports psychologist, who advised her to go from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
“That has helped me keep my positive attitude, because it’s easy to get hard on yourself and you’re learning to post all over again and you can’t keep your stirrups. It’s a rough road.”
Added Cass, “She has helped me see the other side of how hopefully I can learn from it and grow from it. Something that may have held me back before the accident, now is a good time to work on it and get down to the basics and overcome some of those issues.”
Sometimes, though, that’s easier said than done.
“It’s hard to keep a positive attitude at this stage. I’m ready to be right back to normal. I think I should be jumping and competing.”
Realistically, she added, “I’m a few months away from that. It’s time to dig in and push through and try to get back to feeling confident in my riding again. It’s a process.”
Her situation has helped her understand what her amateur students go through, “the issues and struggles they have,” and she hopes what she has gone through will help with the way she teaches them.
As she becomes fitter, things become easier. She is still working on posting trot with no stirrups.
“At first, it was half a lap each way and walk in between. Now I can trot for five minutes. That’s enough to keep you motivated and going the right way.”
Knowing that so many people care about her is crucial to her improvement, and looking ahead, she would like to find a way to help people in her position who don’t have that kind of support.
“It has made such a difference and given me comfort,” she explained.
“There could be dark times, you have to watch where you let your mind go. When I was in the hospital, coming in and seeing a new bouquet of flowers and a card really gave me the confidence that, `Okay, I can do this.’ There are no words how grateful I am for that support. It really made the difference.”
