‘Horses are my soul healers,’ Paralympian says
Let’s start with the nickname: Crash. Her dad started calling her that in jest when Ashley Gowanlock was a young girl because of all the cuts, scrapes and bruises she suffered while keeping up with the little boys her mom babysat.
“I’d always come in from the backyard with a skinned elbow or road rash somewhere because I’d be playing football with the boys or cops and robbers or trying to climb the tree with them,” the 28-year-old Surrey native said.
“So my dad would say, ‘Hey Crash, what mountain were we climbing today?’ and mom would go get the Band-Aids.”
Ashley was born, two months premature, with cerebral palsy.
“You’re disabled, you’re growing, you’re uncoordinated, all of those things, ended up in me hitting the ground quite often.”
Today, she’s a two-time Paralympian hoping to make it three at the Rio 2016 Games, as well as a Sunday school teacher and motivational speaker. Her journey, to wherever horseshoes take her, as she puts it, began when she rebelled against traditional physiotherapy at the age of two.
So her therapist suggested horseback riding, reasoning that, to her spine, a horse’s movements would mimic the exercises he was trying to get her to do — stretching, balance, coordination.
“And at 28, I’m still playing with horses,” she said. “Horses are my soul healers.”
Others might not have dreamt one day she would represent Canada at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, but Ashley said she knew by the age of six that horseback riding was something she’d compete in while sporting the Maple Leaf.
“I remember standing in our backyard wearing a tracksuit my grandparents had bought me. I found the highest point in the backyard and I was screaming the Canadian national anthem at the top of my lungs. My mom came into the backyard and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said ‘I’m practising. I’m going to be a Paralympian one day and I need to know the Canadian national anthem.’ ”
Almost as thrilling as riding a horse, she discovered, is giving motivational talks.
“I realized my story — the way I live my life, the way I go through life — impacted people. Sharing your story is a good way of letting people know they’re not alone. Everybody struggles. Laugh at yourself. Have a little bit of faith.
“I love sharing my successes, and sorrows, and seeing people’s lights come on: ‘Oh, if she can do that, what am I wanting to do that I should be chasing after?’ ” Does self-pity ever creep in? “There’s always days like, ‘This shouldn’t be so hard.’ This morning it took me 10 minutes just to put on one shoe. Of course, I’d like to be able to put my shoes on in 30 seconds, but that’s not in the cards for me.
“I can choose to feel sorry for myself. Or I can choose to say, ‘You know what? I’m going to laugh at the fact that it took me 10 minutes to put one shoe on because the rest of my day is going to be a beautiful day.
“That’s choosing joy instead of misery.”
Her book, My Opportunities Just Dress Up As Obstacles, will be available soon through her website (ashleygowanlock.com) and Facebook page (Para Equestrian Athlete Ashley Gowanlock).