VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Helen Hilgeman fell in love with riding horses early on.
“When I was around 13 years old, my mom bought me my first horse,” she recalls.
Throughout the years, that passion grew.
“After that, I started getting into show business. I’d run barrels and poles, dash for cash, and all this wild stuff. I love the wild stuff,” she continues.
Those wild competitions earned her dozens of awards and trophies, and 77 years later, she’s still riding.
She and her horse, Sampson, ride and train four days a week at the Whispering Miracles Equestrian Center in Virginia Beach.
Mary, one of Helen’s three daughters, wrote to us about her mom when they celebrated her 90th birthday recently.
“I wanted other people to understand how wonderful it is to have a 90-year-old mother who is fit, loves her community, and enjoys the gym she attends,” Mary said.
The YMCA gym is where I caught up with this busy Beach resident. And when I say "catch up," I mean it. I could barely keep up.
“You know, I don’t feel old. I have so much energy. I scare myself,” she emphasizes.
“I’ve always prayed and said, ‘Lord, please keep me young and healthy... Let me be able to do things beyond reason,'" she explained while lifting weights. The YMCA’s cable machine she was using had the weight set to 195 pounds: the machine’s highest capacity. That’s beyond reason at any age.
“Well done! High five on that!” she exclaims.
She showed me the hour-and-15-minute circuit she completes three times a week.
“When I get up in the morning and I say, ‘Well, I want to go to the gym.' Boom! I’m going. Nothing’s going to stop me,” she states.
“She does have something magical,” says her daughter Mary. “She can go into Harris Teeter or Walmart and people will walk up to her and say, ‘I see the light on your face; you’re so happy."
Living to be Helen's age is one thing, but leading a happy, healthy, and fulfilled life at 90 years old? That’s rare.
Here are some tips she shared to stay young and healthy: “Don’t look at your age. Whatever you want to do, you can do it if you just don’t hover over your age,” she advises.
“The more you come here, the more muscle you get; the more strength you get in your arms, the more your brain works,” she continues.
“And I’ll tell you something else: Don’t wear old people’s clothes. I don’t wear my age clothes. Never have,” she insists.
And she never eats fried food. It's mainly fruits and veggies for her.
Lastly, she does what makes her happy.
“When I get to the stall and to the barn and my horse peeks his head out of the stall, it’s just like, ‘Ahhhh.’ How much more can heaven be than what you see down here?” she reflects.
Helen Hilgeman is a happiness magnet and a role model for living your best life, and she is positively impacting Hampton Roads.
“I always say, ‘Lord, let’s you and I have a wonderful time today,’ and I do!” she concludes.
