One brother killed in a car wreck…another dead from a rare form of childhood cancer. Then a husband shot down in Vietnam and the loss of a father. Cathy Caspole needed therapy, and she found it—the equine variety. An Anglo-Arab horse named “Therapy” helped Caspole get through some tough times thirty years ago, and she’s been riding with a passion ever since.
It was 1966 and the Vietnam War was heating up. Caspole was a schoolteacher at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, VA, married to Captain Ralph Caspole, a Marine Corps pilot who had piloted both Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. In June of that year, Captain Caspole’s A4-B Skyhawk was shot down by hostile ground fire, and he died in the crash.
“The irony was he was flying jets at that time, and I thought he would be okay because it was the helicopter pilots that were getting it,” said Mrs. Caspole, now 72 and a resident of southwest Roanoke County. “But he wasn’t a POW …you count your blessings.”
Back then, with so many family tragedies weighing on her, Caspole’s older brother told her she needed a hobby. Her thoughts turned to something she had always loved – horses. She had been around them since childhood, as the family had a horse when she was a little girl. “His name was ‘Lightning,’ because he would go off like the speed of light,” said Caspole. She decided it was time to take up riding again. Caspole, who was seeing a therapist at the time, recounts the turning point. “When I told her what I was thinking, she said ‘You’re on your way to recovery, ‘” said Caspole. “I’ve never forgotten that.”
“At Quantico they had a stable. The man that was in charge of the stable was a retired marine. He could have been an Olympic rider, but the Marine Corps sent him to Korea instead,” said Caspole. “He took me under his wing and found “Therapy” for me.” The irony of that horse’s name was never lost on her.
Riding Therapy did wonders for her mental and spiritual health. “I just loved riding,” Caspole said. “It was a boost to pick me up and love something.” Caspole competed with Therapy in dressage competitions for several years until old age necessitated that he be put down. Caspole donated his body to the veterinary school operated by Virginia Tech in Leesburg, VA.
Her next equine love, “Fritz,” was an Oldenburg, a German warm blood breed known for their excellent gaits and jumping ability. It was with Fritz that Caspole achieved her greatest success in the dressage ring. She and Fritz won a major competition in northern Virginia in which Fritz competed in the second (intermediate) level of competition. In nearly 30 years of competition, Caspole estimates she won about 200 ribbons.
In 1999, she retired and moved to Roanoke to help her brother, a Roanoke rheumatologist, care for their ailing mother, who has since passed. During that time her riding had to take a back seat to family.
When Fritz died about seven years ago, Caspole bought a new horse, Dasan, a thoroughbred-Hanoverian cross. She found it difficult to find the time to compete because of family obligations and then her own subsequent bout with cancer, which is thankfully now in remission. Today she feels energetic enough to give competition another try, and she has a new goal — to compete when the combined age of rider and horse totals 100.
“I would love to do it with Dasan, but he’s 17 and I’m 72,” laughs Caspole. “I’ve seen pictures of these old people, and I mean they are old … there was a lady sitting on her horse and she had her cane in her hand. If I can find a horse that would be of the age—of course, it wouldn’t be real peppy—it would be fun to do it.” The twinkle in her eye has returned – and the peace she sought all those years ago is evident in her smile.
By Dave Perry [email protected]