At thirty-years-old, Amateur, Elizabeth Breene of Franklin, Pennsylvania has already overcome challenges that many people never have to face during their lifetime. Her horse trainer, Melissa Henry-Shetler describes her as, “vivacious, determined, and loyal.” Breene was born with a rare congenital heart defect (CHD). The type of heart defect she has is progressive, so it gets worse with age. Elizabeth has been through multiple open heart surgeries, and, unfortunately, she just found out that she has to go through another extensive operation this winter.
Breene tells us that she was born with a faulty tricuspid valve. Over time, it has been leaking. In February, they did a procedure called the cone procedure. “It’s not a common surgery. My surgeon, who invented the surgery in 1989 has only done a little over 200 of them in his career. What the surgery involved was a full chest crack, and then they shrunk the right side of my heart down and moved my tricuspid valve closer to where it should be, and reshaped my valve into a cone valve. Unfortunately, a few days after the initial surgery, it was still leaking, so they had to go in again to repair it further.”
Her trainer, Melissa Shetler explains that even with these challenges, her client and friend was determined to get back on a horse as soon as possible. “Elizabeth was on a horse five weeks after her surgery. She has done really well. She still has restrictions on what she can lift, but our barn members have been very helpful with tacking up her horse, longing, and carrying anything heavy. We make sure she isn’t doing anything she shouldn’t. It’s like she has a barn full of moms.”
Elizabeth adds, “I had to wear a lot of ‘gear’ to ride – like a body binder to keep my innards together,” she says with a laugh. “I still have to wear a smaller binder when I ride.”
Breene has been showing horses ever since she was a young girl, but she didn’t start showing at AQHA shows until three years ago. With the help of Shetler, she purchased, Notice Her Moves (April) and currently rides her in the western all around events. Breene and April have won multiple high points and was recently Top 3 in the Novice Amateur Showmanship at the very tough Madness show in Ohio. Breene would like to thank Judd Paul for donating her a golf cart at the show, so she didn’t have to walk everywhere.
“I’m glad I got into the AQHA show world,” Breene shares. “At times, it gets overwhelming, but your barn family is what makes it great. I’m just happy to be able to do something I love, whether I win or not. It’s the beauty of the sport and the people that you get to spend time with that sometimes outweigh the rest. Winning is great, but being alive and getting to be around people who truly love you is the best part.”
Her trainer, Melissa can’t say enough positive things about her client and friend. “Elizabeth is a great person, and she makes the horse shows fun. Her outlook on life is amazing. She doesn’t take anything for granted, and she’s the highlight of the barn at shows and makes sure we have a very good time.”
Breene, who owns a hair and tanning salon, told us that the barn even helped her with her vet bills. “During my surgery, I was off work for a bit, and I only get paid when I work, so the barn all got together and paid for my horse’s annual shots to help me out. Money is always tight after being off for a while, and they wanted to do something nice for me. Horses and my barn family gave me even more motivation to recover faster.”
Elizabeth says that she is grateful to be involved with such an amazing trainer and barn family. “I’ve never seen a barn family pull together as they do. They will just help me with everything, no questions asked. Missy always has my horse ready for me because obviously, I can’t saddle or anything yet. After a traumatic surgery like that, you get sad, depression even. I needed to ride and go to the barn for my mental health. I needed that horse, that barn, and those people more than ever.”
GoHorseShow wishes Elizabeth the best of luck and hopes she has a speedy recovery on her next and hopefully last heart surgery this winter. And of course, there is no doubt that her horse show friends will be there every step of the way.
