Maren Manuello had to relearn what once came easy to her.

Maren Manuello and WR Smooth Shine in the reining prelims at the 2009 Bayer Select World. (photo by K.C. Montgomery)

She had to learn to ride again.

In April 2008, the 69-year-old contracted a staph infection in her right eye. Being the wife of a rancher, she continued to help out on the farm riding horses and working cattle.

The staph infection then turned into a fungal infection that ate at her cornea.

In July of 2008, Maren had a cornea transplant, and after that she went through many more procedures and 11 weeks of intravenous treatment. On December 30, the lens of her right eye was removed. Since then, her eye has been fungus-free, but she lost her sight in that eye.

Maren said that it meant more than she could even say for her to be at the 2009 Bayer Select World Championship Show. She did it with the help of her trainer, Gabe Garrison of Loveland, Colorado.

“Last February, I called (Gabe), and I said I want to go to the Select World,” Maren said.

After that they began to chase points to qualify for the show. Gabe first took WR Smooth Shine, aka “Smoothie,” and got her going again. He then had to retrain Maren so she was able to do what once came easy to her. She had to relearn how to ride, from getting on to keeping her balance and finding the center of the pen.

Riding and being around horses comes naturally to Maren. She said she had been on a horse since she was only 3 months old, but reining is relatively new for her. She’s been doing it for two years, but the problems with her eye caused her to miss a year in between.

Although she didn’t make it back to the reining finals, Maren was pleased with her prelims go.

“I’m pretty pumped,” she said. “I’m after this reining thing pretty hard now; I think I can get it whipped.”

She plans to return to the Bayer Select World, and has even made her hotel reservations for 2010.

Even though Maren loves reining, the loss of sight and depth perception make it much more difficult than it was before her eye trouble.

“When I did my left circles, I missed my center, and that docked me a point and a half. So other than that, I probably would’ve been in the finals. So, I feel really, really good,” Maren said.

She’s extremely appreciative of all the people who have helped her out this year.

“I really think there’s just two things (you need) if you want to do this at the Select World: You’ve gotta have a good horse, and you’ve gotta have good people.”

This challenge has been quite an experience for Maren, and she wants others to learn from it.

She also wants people to know that they have to be careful to protect their eyes – particularly those who wear contacts. They need to always wash their hands after working with horses and keep their hands away from their eyes.

The fungus she had to deal with is found in elements that are no strangers to horse people: dirt, manure and compost. Maren said it’s a very common fungus, and it’s also very dangerous.

Julie Preble
Journal Intern

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Check out photos from the fifth day of the 2009 Bayer Select World Championship Show. Click on the photos to see the captions.