Hospitals and horses are just what this doctor ordered

The future pediatrician started gaining an appreciation for horses when she was 2.
NEW WATERFORD -- The grueling hours of a medical residency hasn't stopped a Youngstown doctor from pursuing a lifelong dream to compete as an international equestrian.
When she's not practicing community medicine at Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital in Youngstown, Dr. Heather Strawbridge, 27, might be found practicing jumps.
"I've always had horses at my house, and I've been around them since I was a baby," she said.
Despite working more than 40 hours a week at the hospital, Strawbridge still finds time to keep her skills polished by riding any of 15 horses she has on her family's 40-acre New Waterford farm.
Strawbridge graduated in May from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in Rootstown. Her four-year pediatrics residency at Tod's began a few months later.
Many competitions
From March through November, she and some of her horses compete in several local, regional and international competitions. Her travels have taken her to events in Lexington, Ky., Genessee Valley, N.Y., Erie, Pa., Lexington, Va., Chagrin Valley, Ohio, Dayton and other sites in the Eastern part of the country.
"I've worked with horses all through medical school," she explained. "When I took a break, I would be with my horses; it was never an option to quit [riding]. When I'm done at a decent hour, I ride until it's dark."
Strawbridge said she plans to specialize in pediatrics and advance as far as possible with her riding and her medical career. She praised her mother, Willa, a nurse at Beeghly Oaks, for providing emotional support.
"I ride every day when competing," Strawbridge said. "I spend a lot of time at it, so I don't really take it lightly."
Strawbridge rides eight months of the year, but said another of her goals is to compete during the winter, adding that she is training three more horses for competition.
In August, Strawbridge won her division at the South Farm Horse Trails event in Middlefield, Ohio, near Cleveland.
She recently returned from a three-day Midsouth international amateur competition in Lexington, Ky., where she took her horse Rosarian Moment to perform steeplechase, cross country and other events. Steeplechase is a series of fast-paced, timed jumps the rider performs along a circular path or track.
At an early age
Strawbridge said she got her first pony at the age of 2 and wanted to compete shortly afterward, she recalled. Six years later, her parents bought her first horse. She started taking jumping and other lessons.
Her interest in riding was reinforced by her brother, Ed Miller, and her father, Paul Strawbridge. Her brother, who's a doctor, plays polo, and her father, manager of a graphic arts business in Chicago, played for about 45 years, she said.
At 9, Strawbridge joined the Western Reserve Pony Club, where she became familiar with various technical aspects of riding. Six years later, she started participating in several events, many of which were judged on style, Strawbridge explained.
Many trials and competitions she takes part in include dressage, cross country and show jumping. Dressage is performing patterns similar to those figure skaters use and are judged on movement; cross-country events are timed sets of jumps performed within an optimal time; and show jumping is performing a certain number of jumps over a set of rails. If the horse strikes a rail and it falls, a penalty is assessed that adds to the rider's score, she noted.
Scores for all three events are compiled for one overall score based on a penalty system, Strawbridge said. The rider with the lowest number wins, she said.
Strawbridge graduated from Youngstown State University with a bachelor's degree in combined sciences before attending where she earned her bachelor's in science/medical degree in May.
A few months later, she began a four-year medical residency at Tod's in its pediatrics program.
About once a month, Strawbridge said, she works a different rotation at Tod's and elsewhere under a doctor's supervision. So far, her experience has included working in the hospital's emergency room, as well as in the community.