The Ottesen Family

Long-time Participant Family

Jennifer Ottesen started riding at Little Bit in the spring of 1986, when she was just five-and-a-half years old. Her Physical Therapist at the time suggested moving on from swimming, which Jennifer did not enjoy, to try either skiing or horseback riding. “Every time I went to swim therapy, I was drinking the pool water,” explains Jennifer. At the time, Jennifer was using a walker and her parents couldn’t image putting her on skis and sending her down a ski slope, so they decided to try horseback riding. Over her time at Little Bit, Jennifer progressed from using a walker to walking with a single tip cane.

When Jennifer started at Little Bit, the hippotherapy program wasn’t yet formalized, and there were no therapists on staff. Jennifer progressed from riding with a leader and two sidewalkers to being an independent walk/trot rider. Due to weight limits, Jennifer was eventually no longer able to ride a horse, which would have meant the end of their time at Little Bit, as there was no unmounted programming at that time. Instructor Joan offered an opportunity for Jennifer to continue at Little Bit while working with horses on the ground.

“If it wasn’t for Joan and [Joan’s horse] Sherman, I wouldn’t still be here at Little Bit,” says Jennifer. Jennifer loves every horse she’s worked with at Little Bit but calls Sherman her number one.

“All her doctors had been telling us that Jennifer would never walk,” says Dad Chris. “We credit Little Bit and hippotherapy with Jennifer walking with her cane. She walks without the cane at home.”

“I proved them wrong,” says Jennifer.

Jennifer’s family encourages Jennifer and others not to look at themselves as disabled, but as differently abled. “If you ask me if I’m disabled, says Jennifer, “my response will be ‘yes, I walk with a cane, but I’m not disabled’.”

“The Little Bit program was initially for Jennifer,” says Vicki, “but it’s become our community as well.” They refer to the “Tuesday Group”, a group of five girls around the same age who started together in 1990, and formed lifelong friendships, and who all still keep in touch and get together, including their volunteers. “It’s become our community, our family support group,” says Vicki. “The bonding that we’ve created… hopefully other parents coming through here, sitting in the parent room watching their riders in the arena, they get to experience that as well.” Vicki encourages other parents to talk to one another – share, learn from each other, and find that support network.   

Little Bit has not only been a community for Jennifer, but for their whole family. Their son Jeff built custom cabinets and shelves for the tack barn at the Woodinville facility and a lighted covered sign for the entryway as his high school senior project. Chris would volunteer to tack Jennifer’s horse, sidewalk, pick the arena, and occasionally mow the lawn or assist with office work. 

“It’s meant everything,” says Chris.

“When we first came [to Little Bit], it was like the medical field had given up on Jennifer.” Jennifer’s neurologist had told her parents she would never walk. “Little Bit never gave up on us – never gave up on Jennifer.”

Today, Jennifer continues her Horsemanship through unmounted work with Instructor Zoe and [Little Bit horse] Princess. Outside of Little Bit, Jennifer works in a pediatrician’s office.

Jennifer is known for her creative costumes at the annual Pat Flynn Memorial Horse Show. Vicki says the costume class is Jennifer’s moment to shine. Jennifer corrects Vicki that it’s her moment to shine as well, as her mom creates her costumes. Jennifer participated in the first ever Pat Flynn horse show that was held at Gold Creek Stables in 1987 and has been in every show since. In the costume contest, Jennifer has been a pile of manure, a No Bake Cookie, a fire truck, a first-place ribbon, and the Little Bit barn, among many other creative costumes that include her horse and volunteer.   

“There were several periods where it was questionable whether Little Bit was going to be here a year from now,” says Chris. “There’s a lot of programs that have come and gone. . . The fact that it’s still here shows a lot about what has been done right.” While they haven’t agreed with every decision made over their 40 years of involvement, as Little Bit has grown and changed, they choose to focus on the good that’s come from Little Bit, and the people that have become their community.

“It’s Jennifer’s network,” explains Vicki. “She looks forward to coming every week. It’s her moment to shine.”

Find more 50th anniversary stories HERE.