Our guest this week is Mexican show jumper Lorenza O’Farrill who played a pivotal role in helping Mexico win the Nations Cup in Coapexpan recently riding her 14 year old Oldenburg gelding Queen’s Darling. She did the double on her home turf by winning the Grand Prix on her 11 year old Oldenburg mare Calvira and proved that she is back on form after a challenging few years. Seven years ago the flamboyant rider suffered a serious injury when a horse kicked her in the back. Several surgeries and ten months later she was to return to the saddle but not without some frightening setbacks when at one point she was unable to walk.  Now she is ambitious as ever and reflects on when she rode in the 1998 Rome World Equestrian Games  where she finished 56th individually riding Tigger.  Twenty-one years later and she is ambitious as ever with her sights set on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with Calvira. In the meanwhile she is planning to spend the summer in Calgary for the Spruce Meadow Summer Circuit before she heads to Lima Peru as part of the Mexican team for the Pan American Games. As she explains this is a vital Olympic qualification although they have a second opportunity at the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona in September. Lorenza’s home life comprises riding six horses a day and managing her husband’s Sporthorse breeding operation, staying fit with daily yoga exercises to strengthen her back. And importantly she is the mother of 19 year old Enrique who will shortly be heading to college in Monterrey.  Being a mother she said, “ is one of the most important things she has ever done in life. He has challenged me to be the best person I can be.”  And he has taken her off social media so she has more time for reading!  Chris Stafford caught up with Lorenza as she was preparing to leave home for a few months and head north to her next competition in Langley, Canada.
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