Sailing 15 feet in the air off her 1,200-pound horse, Lisa Vignerot’s confidence finally shattered after a lifetime of equestrian riding — as well as her collar bone and ribs.
“You’re laying there and they’re strapping you to the board and you’re grasping for breath. … That’s the one you think about,” the 44-year-old said. “The biggest fear was jumping again.”
It took Vignerot nine months to recover from that October 2007 fall at the Coventry Farm Show in Richmond, the equestrian competition that yielded a shattered collar bone and five broken and four cracked ribs.
Until that moment of ejection, when not even her helmet remained intact, the Stafford resident had never faltered from the competitive spirit her father bred in her while they lived in northern New Jersey.
At age 3, she became fascinated with the horses her father rode during his competitions showcasing hunting dogs.
“It’s in your blood. It’s an addiction,” she said of her move into horseback riding.
Vignerot has placed in nine equestrian competitions since, making her days of showing dogs with her now deceased father an “easy translation” into equestrian sports. Those awards include her first place as a senior rider at the All American Quarter Horse Congress — the world’s biggest single-breed horse show, held in Columbus, Ohio. At 5-foot-9 and 135 pounds, the “adrenaline junkie” said she had always felt more than capable of the sport’s tough schedule of 12-hour days, seven days a week.
The crippling blows of riding never deterred her from the sport. Even battling lupus, an autoimmune disorder, became more of an incentive to saddle up and “fight it.”
“It’s just a different place. It’s a place you go in your mind. They remove all that stress. … They are just simple animals.”
When her doctor refused to prescribe her anti-inflammatory medication in an effort to make her quit competing professionally 20 years ago, Vignerot satisfied her addiction for action elsewhere.
She rides as an amateur, skis, plays darts competitively, races sailboats and fights in hand-to-hand Israeli combat called Krav Maga.
“It was hard, it was depressing. You lose your way of living. … You need to get on with your life,” she said of her transition away from being a professional athlete.
Vignerot runs a 16-acre farm in Stafford with her husband. There she raises and sells champion horses, Appendix QH hunters.
She also competes as an amateur in her favorite brand of competition, Equitation, in which she is judged on her control of the horse.
Vignerot’s extensive schedule helps her afford her passion, since the days of cleaning the stalls to help her parents with riding expenses are over.
After her semi-retirement, Vignerot studied for her graduate degree at the University of Maryland and became a self-employed computer consultant.
Even so, she must be selective with the competitions she chooses to ride with her horse, Prize Patrol.
Spending sometimes $1,000 per out-of-town show through the costs of horse stall, entry and hotel, she said “people just don’t have the disposable income to go to these horse shows.
“I will quit riding when I can no longer ride safely. I figure when I get in my 70s, my body will say, ‘Enough.’”
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Time out with …
Lisa Vignerot
Do you eat anything special either the night before or the morning of a competition?
Preservatives don’t do well with me. I try to hydrate. A snack during the day packed to keep my potassium. I kind of self-regulate. I just eat according to what I need.
What is your favorite way to get motivated before a competition?
Probably put on my iPod. I listen to a lot of country music. It’s kind of upbeat. It gets me waking up. All of my competitions are in the early morning.
How do you deal with horses that don’t follow your lead?
Sometimes you have to cowboy up and manhandle them a little bit to get them what you want them to do.
What are your future goals or competitions?
I want to get Prize Patrol jumping. I want to do equitation [at the American Quarter Horse Congress] with him.
Tips for people who want to try equestrian?
Your horses are completely dependent on you. It’s a really good hobby, but I would be careful of making it your livelihood. It’s not a life I would recommend. If someone wants to do it, hey, great, but you have to do it with both eyes open.
– Lindsay Perna
