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78 FA L L 2 014 U N TAC K E D she was neurologi- cally impaired, but she's fine—she was just starving to death. "All of my chil- dren were full of giar- dia," she continued. "e orphanages are such a drain on the vil- lages, and the villages are resentful, and the children get the low- est of everything." As Jennifer shifts her focus to tackling these issues via Ury- adi's Village, Mike will continue bringing along horses, selling them and teaching. Jennifer's selling some of her younger horses, though she'll still ride in some bigger classes, and she'll be doing a lot of fundraising in addition to traveling to Ethiopia. She recently took a Permaculture Design Course in international development and social entrepre- neurship to get certification for her new job. "Mike was like, 'OK, you go save the world,' " Jennifer said. "He's very supportive, and he's working on fundraising for us, but he's going to keep doing the horse thing, because one of us has to keep making money!" And he's not alone. Gail Greenough, who rode for Canada as a top show jumper and won the 1986 World Show Jumping Championships, is a close friend of the Crooks family, and she's coming on as a member of the board of direc- tors. Macken, who is Mahlia's godfather, is help- ing too, as is Canadian show jumping legend Ian Millar. "We tended to travel to the same events, and because of that you gravitate toward people you like," Greenough said. "I love how Mike and Jen- nifer work together as a team, and they incorpo- rate their family in everything. So many people get caught up in going from one show to another, and we forget about the personal sides of their lives." Greenough is organizing some upcoming live and silent auctions for Uryadi's Village, and Jennifer is scheduling benefit clinics with riders. Will Simpson kicked off that series on Aug. 18 at underbird Show Park in British Columbia. During the initial trip to Ethiopia in Octo- ber, Jennifer and other team members will meet with three orphanages. e organization's ulti- mate goal is to create "self-sustainable educational and medical facilities by creating an orphanage which is an income-producing school, offering primary and agricultural vocational education, in an environment which offers clean water, good nutrition and medical services to its orphans and some paying students to offset operational cost." "Our vision is to make fundamental change at the source," the group's operational plan states, "by switching the current paradigm of a strug- gling third world orphanage, which can be a drain on the village, into a community resource and provider of needed products and services for the community." Jennifer and Mike haven't ruled out adding to their own large family yet again, though Jen- nifer believes they're done adopting. Now they're applying their energy, experience and talents toward an even loftier goal. "I've said that they think outside of the box, but really there is no box," said Fall. "ey're not afraid of any situation. All trainers and riders have a sort of innate sense that they want to fix things. It's just with Mike and Jennifer, it didn't stop with the horses. ere's so much more out there in the world, and they recognize that." LEARN MORE To find out more about Uryadi's Village or contribute to the cause, visit Facebook.com/UryadisVillage. PROFILE Sophie and Hunter help- ing their sister Jade, who just began riding les- sons this year. COURTESY OF THE CROOKS FAMILY