Thiessen’s long road to recovery

Coming back from an injury can be a long road and it is no different for those in the harness racing community.

Driver Daryl Thiessen was involved in an accident at Century Downs that occurred back in May of 2021. He suffered a fractured and dislocated femur and shattered collarbone. The unfortunate results of the incident led Thiessen to be potentially sidelined for some time.

But anyone that knows the Elk Creek, MB native should know that it would take a long list of injuries to keep him off the track. He made it his mission to get back into the sulky and back to doing what he loves. He made his initial 2021 return at Miami Fair in his home province and then eventually made it back to  Century Downs. Thiessen started his 2022 season racing on the American east coast until July when he found out his injuries had been reaggravated. Thiessen on how he found it out there was still some more work to do.

“I was racing in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania,” he said. “The premiere spots for racing and I was trying to tell myself everything was better than it probably was. I was having pain in my hip, and I came home to get it looked at, but it was my femur that was still broken. The pain was shooting up my leg and made it feel like it was hip. They also found that I needed to have surgery on my knee as well so that set me back six more months. It was my third surgery in the last year but this time I’m feeling good and youthful.”

Currently, Thiessen is racing in Sacramento at Cal Expo and he has been doing well back in the sulky. He has found himself in the winner’s circle a few times and he’s getting back into his groove. However, Thiessen knows he needs to take it slower this time even though he knows he is almost back to full health.

“Right now, I feel about 90% sound and there isn’t any pain,” he said. “I’m trying to stick to two days a week of racing. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and do seven days a week and end up back where I started. But everything is going great right now with my health.”

Often more than not, it’s the mental battle that is the hardest for athletes to overcome. They all possess a killer instinct that when it’s not being used can cause the strongest of individuals to find themselves in the lowest of places. This was no different for Thiessen as he had to overcome his demons. The young man cannot be in one place for a long time and having the unfortunate injuries causing him to slow down was not something he is ever used to. As Thiessen explains, the battle mental was exponentially worse than the physical.

“It’s been pretty intense,” he said. “The physical pain can never match the mental pain when you’re sitting at home watching other people driving your horses. I hated watching racing, but I also couldn’t stop watching it. It was a crazy addiction. It drove me crazy, I was getting fairly depression and my anxiety was growing. I talked to a sports therapist to try to sharpen myself mentally. It was tough only being 30 and having your dream career to living on your parent’s couch. It was just mental battle after mental battle. Every time something sent me back a step physically, it sent me back five steps mentally. I also had to accept that this was my life now.”

Thiessen found that he needed to return to his roots and connect with some old friends. He found after he hit his lowest moment, the only thing he could do was to try to move on by being with those closest to him and as he explains it was what he needed to rekindle the fire within him.

“There has been one silver lining this last year and that is being able to reconnect with my old rodeo buddies,” he said. “If I’m not driving horses, this is the life I love to live. It’s been pretty cool to connect with old friends and it helps keep me sharp mentally. Last winter after the meet at Marquis Downs, I drove home and I started to accept that it was all over. I was scared and had no idea what I was going to do. I ended up going to Vegas because I was voted to be a judge for the World Finals Bull Fight and that’s when I reconnected with all my old buddies.

“My good friend, Cody Webster, even invited me to come to live with him for the winter. I thought I may as well go and stay home for the winter. I helped him out on his ranch and did some farrier work. Cody is one of the best bullfighters in the world and watching him flourish made me change my mind. I started thinking that I’m not done yet.”

After his time in California is over, Thiessen says there is only one place he wants to go.

“I got to dip my toes into the top circuit, and it’s been great just being around drivers like Brian (Sears), Dexter (Dunn) and Yannick (Gingras),” he said. “It makes you a better driver and it needs to, or those guys will leave you behind. I plan on going back to New York and New Jersey because I have a very sour taste in my mouth about how things ended.”

Thiessen lastly wanted to add a thank you to one of his biggest fans and best friends, Keeland MacDonald. Thiessen states that he could not have done it without him, and he is grateful for everything he has done for him.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink