They have overcome – PJ and Zayna Rizvi return to the show ring
When PJ Rizvi and Vanilla Ice took the arena for Friday Night Stars last week and Zayna Rizvi rode Exquise du Pachis in Saturday Night Lights it was not just a Grand Prix for either of them. It was the return to competition after a traumatising year when riding and showing for amateur dressage rider PJ and her showjumper daughter Zayna, had to be put on hold. Zayna fell sick in February last year, starting a 12-month journey back to health against the odds – and fuelled by a determination to get back in the saddle.
“This time last year I was in the Mayo Clinic with my daughter,” PJ said. “The diagnosis was very bad.” Zayna faced a series of diagnoses firstly of leukemia, then Primary myelofibrosis and then the discovery that it was a rare Autoimmune myelofibrosis, or AIMF caused by Lupus, which was also a sudden diagnosis – the bottom line was that she was not producing white or red blood cells anymore. “I thought she was only going to have a year or two to live,” said PJ.
All evidence to the contrary was on show at Wellington International when Zayna, just recently back showing at the Winter Equestrian Festival [WEF], jumped her way round the CSI4* course.
“It was great to have her back in the ring and doing what she loves to do,” said PJ. “I just have so much admiration for her because she’s such a fighter and always so poised and kind and elegant – everything I want to be. And she’s nailed it at 20.”
In February 2025 PJ and her Lusitano stallion Vanilla Ice debuted their new Grand Prix Freestyle to the American rapper’s music at the Global Dressage Festival, before their plans were changed abruptly.
“I fell out of the scene really quickly,” said PJ. “And we were out of here and out in Minnesota with Zayna trying to figure out what was wrong with her. There’s nothing worse than seeing your child suffer.” Once diagnosed, treatment began, and finally when progress was made Zayna was cleared to ride – but there was more drama to come.
“When she was sick, she had very bad bone marrow fibrosis and bone density,” said PJ. “She was off of riding for a few months. They cleared her to ride and she fell – not at a jump, just like a little fall. But because her bone density was so poor, she wound up breaking her neck and back on top of being sick. So it was just a really difficult year.”
The road to recovery proved an uphill challenge. “I have pictures of her on the treadmill weeks after the fall with a full neck to back brace, trying to walk and keep in shape and keep herself going,” said PJ. Zayna fought back hard and in December, a bone marrow biopsy came back clean. “That was fantastic news,” PJ said. “She started riding again in October and building up slow – lower shows, like a meter 20 and then a meter 30. And then last Saturday night was her first big competition since last year.”
Horses provided the nurturing and incentive to get through the tough times – for PJ as much as for Zayna. “Horses are emotional therapy,” PJ said. “Going to the barn and seeing my horse, even if I couldn’t ride – he’s just always there for me.”
Vanilla Ice was a horse found for PJ by six-time dressage Olympian Robert Dover – after she came back from injury sustained from a rare ‘cow’ kick from a horse on the ground. Robert saw Ice and called Ashley Holzer, PJ’s trainer, right away. “He said: ‘I rode this horse. I think it’s the one for PJ. You don’t even need to ride it, this is the one.’” PJ recalled. “So after coming back from my accident, it was the perfect horse for me.”
Vanilla Ice and PJ returned in week 10 of GDF to ride their Freestyle for the second time. She is in celebrated company when she competes at GDF. As an amateur rider last Friday she was competing against – among others – Olympic gold medalist, Germany’s Frederic Wandres, who won the class with Verrenberg and USA’s Kevin Kohmann who finished second to qualify for the FEI World Cup Final in Texas.
For PJ it is as much about taking part as it is about results. As a crowd pleaser, for PJ and Ice the spectators are a blessing and a curse. “The crowd really gets into him,” she said. “It’s like a catch-22 because I love that they’re into him, but it does get him a little lit up. Like, he’s like, ‘oh, I don’t want to go towards the bleachers today’. Sure, it would be ideal to have no spooking and nail the movement and get a higher score… but the truth of the matter is, I wouldn’t trade a higher score for the support of the fans and all the people who love watching him.”
PJ’s rapport with ‘Ice’ is matched by Zayna’s partnership with her horse ‘Patchy.’ “She has got her Patchy as I have Ice,” said PJ. “Her horse tries for her and they’ve got a great relationship. And Ice is the same way, he’s a trier.”
PJ has only showed once this season – she missed some opportunities early in the year as her old injury flared up. “I missed the beginning of the season – between my daughter and the stress of the whole year I wound up tearing my L5 twice this year,” she said. “I always have a little bit of imbalance in my posture from my accident.”
But there is still time left and with both mother and daughter back in action, PJ plans to make the most of it. Before heading off, possibly to Ocala and definitely to Europe with Ice – and her daughter who is based in the Netherlands this summer – she has another appearance planned for Wellington. “I missed the beginning of the season, so I’m going to show this week just because he feels good,” she said. “It was definitely emotional for me just to be back doing something I love. But I can only love it because my daughter’s okay.”