Equestrian keeps winning (or not) in perspective

On Thursday night, Elizabeth “Beezie” Madden, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in equestrian events, and her horse named Simon knocked down the last rail in their FEI World Cup jumping preliminary run at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Had they not knocked down this last rail, John Madden, Beezie’s husband and a fine horseman himself, said his wife would have finished the round in fourth or fifth place. Beezie could have won her second World Cup from fourth or fifth after the opening round, her husband said.

Now they would have to claw their way back into contention against the world’s best show horses and riders from 15th place, a long way back.

But then John Madden said sometimes perspective and a broader frame of context is called for.

The reason we were chatting was a 17-year-old girl from Las Vegas named Katlyn Oaks. The Maddens had met Katlyn when she was 9, through Make-A-Wish America. Which is never the way you want to meet a 9-year-old.

So John Madden said his wife was going to have to claw her way back. Then we started talking again about Katlyn Oaks, who wanted so badly to attend the World Cup. Instead, she was back in the hospital with lots of tubes sticking out of her.

So there’s the broader frame of context.

Katlyn Oaks was born with a genetic disorder called mitochondrial disease, which saps body cells of energy. It is incurable. Some people may have a mild form of this malady and learn to live with it.

The Las Vegas teenager’s form is not so mild.

This is what it says on one medical website: Diseases of the mitochondria appear to cause the most damage to cells of the brain, heart, liver, skeletal muscles, kidneys and the endocrine and respiratory systems.

This is how Katlyn’s mom Ruth put it on Facebook when Katlyn went into crisis and checked back into the hospital:

Unfortunately her disease has made it very difficult for her to do many things that the average teen is able to do. Since her disease progression, she can no longer shower on her own or stand without assistance — walking even with the aid of a walker has become increasingly difficult for her, because of tremors in her hands, feet and legs.

She has permanent nystagmus (her eyes move up and down on their own) which causes her to be disoriented much of the time, and at times she experiences periods of confusion and mental slowness.

She will never drive a car, graduate high school or go to college — those are major things that have been taken from her …”

For the past six years, Katlyn Oaks has eaten every meal through a tube. That’s another major thing that has been taken from her.

This is why John Madden said that perspective sometimes is called for.

“Beezie and I don’t have kids,” he said. “We just jump over sticks.”

A couple of minutes later when I was chatting with his wife, this is what 51-year-old Beezie Madden said: “Exactly. It reminds me that what we do isn’t that important.”

But this is where Ruth Oaks might disagree. Her daughter has always loved horses; she even learned to ride her pony, Jack, with tubes protruding from a special vest the Maddens helped arranged for.

The Maddens and the Oaks — Katlyn’s dad James is a Metro Police sergeant — met at the Budweiser Invitational in Tampa, Fla., in 2007. Ruth Oaks said she didn’t know how much time Katlyn and Beezie would get to spend together after her daughter had Made-A-Wish.

Would it be 10 seconds? Ten minutes?

It would be eight years. So far.

Beezie gave Katlyn a ribbon on the night they met. She said if she won, Katlyn could trade that ribbon in for the blue one the next night. Katlyn got the blue ribbon. Beezie saw to that.

Their relationship has continued mostly through texts and social media, but sometimes with face-to-face meetings, such as last year at one of the big jumping meets in Los Angeles when Katlyn was feeling much better.

“To have it turn into something so amazing …” Ruth Oaks was saying now.

She did not complete the sentence.

When you watch your only child go through what Katlyn has, one tends not to finish sentences.

Katlyn Oaks doesn’t ride her pony anymore. She doesn’t have the energy. Jack the pony was sold, and that was a sad day. Another sad day.

As for Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, N.Y., she did claw her way back into contention after she and Simon knocked down that 15th fence post on Thursday night. They did not win, however. Maybe that was just too much to ask. They finished fourth.

First place went to 2012 Olympic gold medalist Steve Guerdat of Switzerland and a 12-year-old mare named Albfuehren’s Paille.

Guerdat tucked his helmet under his arm before raising his fists skyward. He mouthed the words to the Swiss national anthem. Steffi Graf gave him a real nice watch. He lapped the arena and waved to spectators — it’s a big deal to be crowned 37th World Cup champion.

That was one way to look at it.

Another way to look at it was that Guerdat and his horse were just jumping over sticks.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.