“Incredibly Grateful”: 26-Year-Old Olympic Equestrian Achieves Special Feat With Her Horse Despite Injury Setbacks

Since she was a child, Lillie Keenan has been proving that she does not know the meaning of defeat. From her childhood, Keenan has been an accomplished showjumper. Born in 1996, the 26-year-old became a champion in the pony division when she was just 10 years old. However, this constant winner did have to go through some hardships to get where she is right now.

When she was 19, she won the bronze at the National Cup Final in Barcelona. By the time Keenan was 22, this equestrian had many accolades to her name. However, Keenan’s stride was broken when her beloved horse was injured and had to be out of the running for a while. But together, they overcame all hurdles.

How Lillie Keenan and her horse persevered

Keenan met her beloved horse Fasther when he was 9 years old. According to Horse Network, she brought the Dutch Warmblood gelding to Spruce Meadows for Summer Series. Fasther was her first choice when it came to competing, and was a top-notch candidate. However, despite the horse being a top runner, things did not go as planned. Since the horse was untrained, Lillie Keenan had to rush this training so that she could compete with him as her mount.

The 26-year-old said, “I unfortunately had to rush him a bit to a high level, and I learned pretty quickly that I tried to go a little too fast up the ranks and he would not jump the bicycle jump last time I was here.” To fix this problem, she brought the fence that the horse was reluctant to jump from, back to her home so that they could practice on it. After a while, Fasther did not hesitate in taking that particular leap. But the real adversity was yet to come. In 2021, while warming up for an event in Germany, Keenan’s equine friend got injured.

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The injury was significant enough that Fasther had to take a two-year hiatus. After being in recovery for the past 2 years, the horse finally returned to the show ring in 2023. Luckily, with the help of her fantastic team that was responsible for Fasther’s rehab, Keenan was able to get back her mount. Atop Fasther, she won the biggest Grand Prix of her career, the $700,000 CSI5* RBC Grand Prix of Canada. Lillie Keenan said, “I don’t really have words. I’m really proud of my horse and just incredibly grateful.” Her horse’s injury is not the only obstacle that she had to overcome in her career.

Keenan and her lack of confidence

When she was just 13, Lillie won the Washington International Horse Show Equitation Finals on top of a horse she had only been riding for two weeks. When she was 14, Keenan beat professional equestrian athletes to win two golds at the USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship. With a track record like hers, what she revealed about herself when she was 22 is a fact that is hard to believe.

According to Lillie Keenan, “I went to McLain when I was about 22, and to be honest, I had absolutely no self-confidence. I had a little bit of a rocky few years and I had experience at a high level, but I really didn’t believe in myself.” However, her new coach rekindled the confidence that she had lost. For her, it was like climbing a mountain, but McLain held her hand through it. The result was that she grew to new heights. Currently, she is ranked 28th in the worldwide FEI rider rankings, on her way to likely being ranked 25th.

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