Hard work pays off for Lillie Keenan
Four weeks into the Winter Equestrian Festival [WEF] and USA’s Lillie Keenan is enjoying life in the winner’s circle.
“I’m in an incredibly lucky position to have multiple horses that can jump to this level,” Lillie said after adding a win in Saturday Night Lights $215,00 CSI4* Grand Prix with Fasther, to other notable victories including a CSI3* 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic with Chagrin d’Amour and a debut Grand Prix win with Highway TN. “But that didn’t happen by chance,” said the 30-year old, referring to the current depth of horses in her barn. “I’ve planned and really worked towards building a string of horses. I have some older, very experienced ones, and then some young horses just stepping up. So you build that over years, and I wanted to really make the most of this moment.”
Winning under the lights with Fasther, owned by Chansonette Farm LLC, triggered special emotions for Lillie. She has partnered with the 16-year old Dutch Warmblood gelding for eight years on a less than smooth journey. “He was the first horse that McLain Ward selected for me,” she said. “So he really is representative of that mentorship and how important McLain has been for me, because when I first got him, we struggled a lot.”
Lillie refers to Fasther as her ‘heart’ horse and a combination of perseverance, flat work and tenacity have paid off over the years. “I jumped in pretty big classes really quickly,” said Lillie who recalls falling off after a rollback and ‘pancaking’ the stand in the first big class they entered.
“Lord, I thought about how far I went in,” she said of the collision. “But that just shows a testament to having grown with the horse. I trust him so much, and he tries so hard for me. There’s moments where I can go to offense and think, wow, I should have done that better, and he just turns himself inside out. He does that for me. I don’t think he would do that just for anyone. We really have this bond now, and you can’t replace time, so experience really proves to be a huge advantage.”
Lillie, as a rider, has considerable equestrian experience under her belt – and much of it has been at Wellington International and some of it in the International ring. “I showed here for the first time when I was seven years old and now I’m 29, so I’m kind of a veteran,” she said. “I never got to do the lead line. I didn’t start riding that early, but I jumped the Junior Jumpers in this ring. I even jumped at the WCHR week on Pony Hunter’s in this arena. So, yeah, in some ways it feels like home.”
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