Two-time ApHC World Champion Ashley Leister is no stranger to the show ring or to life’s challenges outside the pen. Like many industry families, the 31 year-old Pennsylvania native and her parents, John and Shelia Sprenkle enjoy showing together. Ashley competes in all-around competition with her AQHA gelding, Aint He Hot and her parents and husband serve as both support and pit-crew.
“We each have our own little roles at horse shows,” Leister says. “My dad takes great pride in hauling and helping me get set up. He is also the ‘cool pop man’. He runs from tent to tent handing out cool pops to kids of all ages. Dad is the most generous person I know. He will give you the shirt off his back if it makes your life easier. My mom is the horse show chef, and she keeps all of the extra stuff in order so when we are done showing we can eat and relax. My husband, Ryan, is a huge help with grooming, cleaning stalls, going over patterns with me, longing—all of the glamorous work.”
However, the family shares a battle outside the show ring that has brought them closer together and taught them the importance of strength and hope.
According to Leister her family’s health issues began in 1985 when her father was diagnosed with colon cancer that metastasized to his liver. Colorectal cancer is very common with her father’s side of the family. In 1996, he was again diagnosed with colon cancer. In both cases he was treated with surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) in New York City followed by chemotherapy.
Despite her father’s health battle, the family continued to show together. After getting started in horses with a pony that her grandfather bought at auction, Leister’s parents purchased her first horse. At around eight years-old, Leister and Sirs Margo began showing on the ApHC circuit.
Margo and Leister won the Youth World in Walk-Trot Hunt Seat Equitation in 1992 and 1993, and then a Reserve Championship in Novice Youth Showmanship in 1994. They expanded the family in 1996 with the purchase of Marshalls Frosty. Frosty, Margo and Leister went on to win many youth all-around titles on the ApHC circuit as well as their share of 4-H State Championships.
As many in the industry do, Leister took a break from showing to attend college. She married her husband, Ryan Leister and settled into adulthood.
However, in 2011, life again took an unexpected turn. “I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which was completely random,” Leister shares. “I received chemotherapy and radiation treatment at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Despite her health trials Leister continued her life with horses. In 2012, Leister showed Dynamic Lexus with her ApHC family, and then in 2013 she decided to test the AQHA waters. She rode Blazability, owned by John Anstine in 2013 and also purchased her own horse, Aint He Hot (Archie), that same year.
In spite of the personal difficulties she has faced, Leister has done the majority of the work with her horses on her own. Ashley credits Archie with helping her through some of her toughest times.
“For me personally, when I’m riding I don’t think about anything else. I completely shut everything else out. It’s just Archie and me. Riding has been a great stress reliever,” Ashley reveals.
Though currently Leister’s cancer is in remission, the health trials for her family have not ended. She says, “As if everything else wasn’t enough”–in February of 2014 her mother was diagnosed with rectal cancer which metastasized to her lungs and then her father followed with a non-metastatic rectal cancer diagnosis in June of 2014.
The next several months turned into a whirlwind of doctor stays and hospital visits for the entire family. “Throughout 2014 both parents underwent chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery,” Leister says. “The surgeries were again performed at MSK, where we spent 21 days over Christmas and New Years. Mom has since had two additional lung surgeries. Currently we are wrapping up treatment and procedures; however, appointments and testing will forever be a part of our routines. These battles have basically consumed our lives for the last few years. To have one person battling cancer is hard enough but two people at the same times is quite a daunting task.”
Now, only months after surgeries and treatments Leister and her family are back on the show circuit. Ashley has been showing mostly at PQHA and KQHA shows offered at the Centre County Equine Park. In 2015 Archie received his ROM in showmanship and hunter under saddle as well as several year-end awards in 2014 from PQHA and KQHA.
Ashley adds, “The competition at the PQHA and KQHA shows hosted at Centre Hall is in my opinion the toughest around. I am thrilled to even place at these shows. Coming home nearly every weekend with 10 points or so is an accomplishment for me, especially considering Archie is still green in most events and I am doing the work at home myself.”
After years spent on the circuit, Leister notes that many of her horse show friends have become family. “Our horse show family has been extremely supportive this year, particularly our PQHA friends. They have done everything from barn work, to delivering meals, to sending cards; the list goes on and on. We will be forever grateful for the support.”
Despite the battles they’ve faced Leister and her family show enormous strength in their ability to face cancer head on and keep showing up to the fight.
“These battles have basically consumed our lives, especially for the last few years. It is extremely sad and depressing and we would often times feel like giving up. But at the end of the day you have to do what you have to do to keep living–make the appointments, get the treatments, and feel absolutely horrible in the process, because in the end you are alive. What’s the other option? Not one that I want to take. I think we have most certainly grown closer throughout this whole ordeal, and not just my immediate family, but also our extended family and the horse show friends we consider family.”
While showing horses may seem like a trivial matter in the face of cancer, for Leister’s family it has been a way to share hope and to step away, at least for a weekend, from life’s toughest battle.
Leister agrees, saying, “Our family has never really vacationed. Horse shows have always been our vacation time together. I think being able to go to a horse show for the weekend has helped us all get our minds off of reality now and again.”
