About Sydney

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Recent Events:

January 2012

January was an exciting month. I participated in my first CPEDI3* international show, the Wellington Classic Sunshine Challenge. This show was held in conjunction with the World Dressage Masters, at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center, in Wellington, Florida. This was an amazing experience and very challenging. The challenge came because due the cost, I could not take my horse Chip. Therefore, I had to catch ride a horse I had never ridden before.

By the time all the arrangements came together, I had only 5 hours of training on my horse. Considing this, my trainer in Florida, Laura Rique, and I had to work very hard to bring everything together. All in all it was a wonderful show and a great learning experience. I am looking forward to my next CPEDI3* in California, in March.

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Upcoming Events:

Currently, my team and I are busy working on fundraising opportunities. Fund raising is a very important part of a para-equestrian's job. In the US there is no funding availalbe through government sources like there is in other countries. Our major competitors have support from their governments. So all para-equestrian must raise all the monies necessary for training, equipment, travel, and other expenses. This is a big job. So if you would like to help please click on the donate link. Any amout is greatly appreicate.

About Sydney

Current Bio:

Sydney Collier is currently a 14 -year-old honor student in 9th grade at Skyline High School in Ann Arbor Michigan. She became seriously interested in becoming a Para Equestrian after she suffered a stroke in the summer of 2009. While she has always competed and trained with able-bodied riders, she realized that her physical disabilities uniquely qualified her for the Para-Equestrian world of dressage. Since then, she trains even harder to hopefully share her knowledge with other disabled individuals in Michigan and other states. Syd wants to introduce other unique athletes to the wonderful opportunities offered by Para Equestrian competition.

Syd currently trains at German Magic Farms in Dundee Michigan. She plans to continue competing in dressage and jumping on the able-bodied and Para-Equestrian Dressage circuits. She also hopes to be part of the Para-Equestrian Show Jumping development in the United States as well

Medical History:

At the age of seven, a routine vision screening changed Sydney’s life forever. A slight vision difference between her right and left eyes led to a diagnosis of an extremely rare congenital birth defect known as Wyburn –Mason Syndrome. Wyburn- Mason Syndrome affects less than 0.14 % of the entire world’s population and can cause brain hemorrhaging, stroke, paralysis or death if untreated.

Wyburn Mason Syndrome is characterized by arteriovenous malformations, or AVM’s that occur along one side of the brain in the central nervous system and retina. These AVM’s are vascular tumors formed before an embryo is seven (7) weeks old. Capillaries fail to develop between high flow arteries and low pressure veins creating the AVM. Without the capillaries to deal with the pressure of the blood flow, the incorrectly connected vessels turn into very weak and complex bundles often referred to as “bags of worms”. These blood vessels are prone to hemorrhaging, and take blood away from healthy parts of the brain in a process known as Vascular Steal Syndrome. AVM’s can cause health and development problems if they are in a bad location.

Sydney’s AVM’s were very deep within the center of her right brain, and along her right optic nerve. Sydney’s doctors in Michigan diagnosed her AVM’s as untreatable. However, her mother began an exhaustive search for a treatment and found a wonderful group of doctor’s at Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto California. They were willing to attempt experimental treatments that offered a potential cure, or at least a reduction of Syd’s health risks.

In June 2007, at the age of 8, Sydney began many medical treatments and hospitalizations. These included multiple staged CyberKnife radiation treatments to her brain and eye; a series of three unplanned brain surgeries; and a second untested course of Cyberknife radiation treatments to remove her AVM’s in her brain. As a result, Sydney completely lost the vision in her right eye and suffered a stroke that caused the loss of the use of her left side of her body. Additionally, she endured countless hours of physical and occupational therapy to relearn to walk and use the left side of her body. Despite her physical difficulties, she continued to ride and train with her horses since her diagnosis at age 7.

Sydney's current medical status changes each and every day. While she attends school, rides and trains with her horses, and sees her friends on a daily basis, the effects of Cyberknife radiation occur slowly over a period of three years. These effects can have positive and negative consequences for Syd's physical abilities. To compensate for these changes, as well as continue to improve the condition of her left side, Sydney attends physical and occupational therapy two to three times a week. At home she continues her therapy with exercises modified to aid in her daily living.

	Rebel Chip is my wonderful horse. He is a Tobiano, American Paint Horse gelding. Chip is 15.3 hands tall. Chip and I have been working together since September 2010. We are learning each others personalities, and I can see great things for us. I love Chip.
	Spirit, a.k.a., Mr. Cellophane. Spirit and I have been a team since 2008. He has taken me through many competitions and together we have won many ribbons. Spirit is a 14.3 hands Halflinger, Paint, Quarter Horse pony. His is a great guy. I love him bunches.