As a helicopter flight nurse tasked with taking care of critically ill patients mid-air, Jill Ekis knows about the necessity of unwinding after a long day at work. But as a dressage-crazy mother of two, Ekis’ so-called “free time” looks a little different.

When she’s on the ground, Ekis’ life is dominated by horses. Whether she’s at the barn with her 25-year-old Arabian gelding MS Fires Comet, studying to become a dressage technical delegate, or driving her daughter to vaulting practice, hooves are never hard to find. But when she’s in the air, the Pittsburgh-based nurse puts everything else out of mind.

It’s what she would have wanted from medical personnel, if she hadn’t been alone with her stepfather when personal tragedy struck her family in 2002.

“I had a stepfather who passed away. I wasn’t a medical person at the time. My mom was, but she was at work that day. He had a massive heart attack, and I remember just feeling helpless, like I didn’t know what to do,” said Ekis, who was 25 at the time. “Now I know that no matter what I would have known then, or whatever equipment I had, or medicine I had, he was going to die. And now I feel like, if that happened again, or [happened to] someone close to me, I know I’m capable of doing everything I can, and if they still pass, then that’s what was always going to happen.”

Motivated by her experience, Ekis started in the trauma surgical intensive care unit before she got into a helicopter. 

“When I went into trauma medicine, I was like, ‘Who do they call when everything goes wrong?’ That’s who I want to be,” she said.

Some flights are much less intense than others. The Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania-owned STAT MedEvac helicopter crew transports all kinds of patients, from those experiencing routine health issues to life-threatening medical emergencies.

“Everyone’s like, ‘That’s so stressful!’ But I don’t feel like it is,” Ekis said. “To you it might be stressful, but for me … I like to know what’s going on. I guess that’s why becoming a technical delegate fits too, because you know what’s going on with everybody.”

Ekis started on the path to become a TD more than three years ago, when she found herself wanting more education than she could find online and listening to podcasts. 

“I wanted to get more involved,” she said. “I enjoyed dressage so much, and I wanted to get deeper into the education portion of it. Soaking up everything, reading everything, and listening to all the podcasts—it was still not enough. Becoming a TD was a way for me to have a bigger purpose in the sport, even if I couldn’t ride anymore, or couldn’t afford it.”

Not one to shy away from opportunities out of the saddle, Ekis also serves on the USDF Adult Programs Committee and was recently re-elected from Region 1 as a participating member delegate to the 2025 USDF Convention in December.  

Though she hasn’t been down the centerline in a couple of years, Ekis still gets to the barn regularly to ride “Comet.” The 14.1-hand Arabian (TA Prince Sharif—Galant MS Fire) joined the family eight years ago, after a career as an endurance and games pony, initially as a Pony Club and eventing mount for Ekis’ son Kai Ekis, now 15. Watching her son made Jill, who grew up dancing rather than riding horses, a little envious. 

“I didn’t think adults did this,” she said. “I knew about the Olympics, but I thought, like with dance, if you don’t become a professional by a certain age, there’s really nothing for you. I didn’t know about this whole adult amateur world out there. My son was riding, and I was with another adult and I said, ‘I wish I could ride.’ She was like, ‘Well, I ride.’ I thought it was just for the kids, but it’s not.” 

So, when her son lost interest in horses, Jill happily took over the ride on Comet. Though she followed in Kai’s eventing footsteps briefly, she soon decided both for her personal risk tolerance and her detail-oriented nature that dressage was a better fit.

“I said, ‘I don’t really care what anyone’s going to say about my old man to me. We’re going to do this,’ ” she said. “We got some pushback. There were people who said, ‘I can’t believe you’re going to recognized shows with him.’ But I was like, ‘I don’t really care if I go and get a 50. I just want to go see what it’s like.’ That’s the only way I was going to learn to just jump in.” 

The pair competed through third level together, earning four of the six scores for Jill’s U.S. Dressage Federation bronze medal. 

In his semi-retirement, the gray gelding has confidently stepped into the role of babysitter at Dark Horse Farm in Baden, Pennsylvania, expertly teaching younger horses how to munch grass quietly in turnout. 

While Comet’s life has begun to slow down, Jill cannot say the same of her own. One fateful trip to Dressage at Devon (Pennsylvania) with her daughter Imogen, now 8, four years ago resulted in one more horsewoman in the family. 

“I almost didn’t take her with me that year, because I thought she was too young to pay attention at that show,” Jill said. “But I took her, and they had a vaulting demonstration. She looked at me and she said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ She wouldn’t stop bothering me until we found the girls and she got to practice on their barrel. We found a team near us, and she’s been vaulting ever since.” 

Looking ahead, Jill plans to spend more time focused on horses. After spending years helping others through emergencies like the one she herself experienced with her stepfather, she is ready to prioritize other aspects of her life. Recently, she’s switched to working part-time. 

“That demon I used to carry around is quiet, so I’m going to just slowly start to back myself away and do things that are more fun,” she said. 

Among the more fun things: finishing her TD program, attending the 2025 USDF convention, and maybe even returning to the competition arena with Comet. 

“I’ve thought about pulling him out for a first level freestyle, for a reprise,” she said. “I have all these grand ideas that I want to do for a freestyle. We’ll see.”