At 91, She’s Still Barrel Racing—But Sundays May Be the REAL Secret to Her Longevity

Helen Hilgeman is riding alone in a pasture in Virginia Beach when it happens. The sun is out, her horse, Sampson, is steady beneath her, and the ground starts to look—in her words—like a beautiful, vast ocean rising up to meet the beauty of the sky pouring down. This warmth spreads over her and through her, filling her with peace.

“It feels like the glory of God is raining down,” Helen says, glowing. This isn’t a one-time occurrence either. Riding has always been Helen’s happy place and, even though she’s 91, she still goes trail riding by herself several times a week.

She also barrel races. Yes, at nearly a century, she still runs barrels, the same thing she’s been doing since she was a teenager. And people often mistake her for someone half her age. So, how does she do it?

Longevity in something deeper than workouts

When I ask Helen what’s kept her strong enough to swing a leg over a horse in her 90s, she doesn’t credit her gym routine. Though, she does have an exercise regimen that would make some people a quarter of her age seem like couch potatoes (she spends three to four days a week at the Princess Anne Family YMCA, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, lifting weights and running circuits). She also doesn’t credit healthy eating, family, or hobbies—although she certainly has all those as well.

So if it’s not due to the most common, conventional pieces of longevity advice…then what is it? She gives all the credit to her deep Christian faith. She’s at Trinity Church every Sunday, and she teaches Bible study at her horse barn twice a month for adults and every other Saturday for kids, in addition to her daily devotions.

It’s not just a matter of faith. Research shows that people who are actively involved in a faith practice tend to live longer by a lot. (Although that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be religious, more on that in a minute.)

A 2024 Oxford review, which evaluated more than 1,000 high-quality studies, found that frequent religious attendance was linked to roughly a 34% lower risk of death. That echoes an earlier, oft-cited 1999 study, published in Demography, that found people who did not attend religious services were at nearly twice the risk of dying in the study’s follow-up period than people who attended weekly services.

This gap translates to roughly seven years of extra life expectancy for church-goers. A separate study published in Research on Aging also discovered the association runs at least as strong among Black Americans specifically, the population Helen belongs to.

However, none of this makes church attendance a magic pill, and researchers are careful to say so. What seems to matter most isn’t necessarily the theology—it’s that regular religious involvement tends to provide a sense of purpose and belonging, a standing weekly commitment, a tight web of people to check in on you, and an opportunity to serve others. All of these have been linked with a longer life and joining a church is a great way to check all the boxes and meet like-minded people.

After all, isolation is a known killer, equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day in how much it reduces lifespan.

A look at Helen’s three P’s

Helen is defined by her deep faith, but you don’t necessarily have to believe to get the benefits the researchers are describing. The active ingredients in her longevity-giving faith are the three P’s: practice, people, and purpose.

“I love my life, I love helping people, I love to see people smile and be happy. I want them to have what I have,” she told me.

Practice

Practice means bringing your ideas and values into the real world, consistently. It’s not that different than a religious practice. Here’s how to do it if spirituality isn’t your thing:

1. Pick an activity that feeds your soul. Volunteer, visit a loved one, start a meditation class, or hike outdoors. Make it non-negotiable. Treat it like self-care instead of another item on your to-do list.
2. Repeat. Repetition is part of the magic, so give it at least a couple months before judging whether it’s working. Growth can make us uncomfortable, but you can’t give up at the first sign of discomfort.

People

Connection keeps us healthy. Being part of a congregation is an automatic connection builder, but here are other aspects you can borrow to recreate the experience.

1. See the same people. Choose something you do with the same faces each time, not a rotating cast. Familiarity, not just activity, appears to be part of what helps.
2. Be there. Go in person when you can. There is something fundamentally healing about being physically with other people.
3. Support others in your group. And let them support you, too! Many of us are afraid of being a burden, but being part of a supportive community—whether giving or receiving—builds bonds. It doesn’t take them away.
4. Invest in those relationships. People with long-standing social connections have longer lives. Plus, knowing that people expect you to be there and miss you when you’re gone provides belonging and accountability.

Purpose

Purpose is believing in something bigger. For Helen, that’s God. For you it might be the universe, the goodness of humanity, a social cause, or another deity. Follow these tips to hone your purpose and live it.

• Find where you’re useful. Purpose is best used to help somebody else. People who volunteer, teach, or mentor tend to have longer, happier lives.
• Journal your values. Reflect and create activities that support those values, rather than just coasting by and hoping you live your truth someday.

Faith practices can provide the three P’s if you invest in them. And that’s the last key: commitment over time. This isn’t a longevity hack that you can do in a day; it takes a lifetime. But it also has the power to change your life. Your version doesn’t have to look like Helen’s—it just needs to speak to your heart.

From barrel racing to breaking barriers

The horses may also play a big part of Helen’s healthy and happy life—a small study even suggests horseback riding could help increase older people’s ability to both concentrate and relax.

Helen’s mother bought her first horse, April, when Helen was 13. Growing up the youngest of eight kids in Cleves, Ohio, she was quick in more ways than one. She broke records in track and field as a teenager, running the mile and out-throwing boys twice her size. But horses had her heart.

When she started barrel racing, Helen was often the only Black woman at the events, and she says the competition didn’t want her there. She recalled how people rigged the timer against her and found other ways to cheat. She kept showing up anyway. Eventually the wins piled up, and so did the trophies.

Helen also became the first Black woman to drive a Metro bus in Cincinnati, spending 10 years behind the wheel of Queen City Metro bus before retiring in 1983. She married at 37, raised three daughters, and now has eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Today, she still breaks and trains her own horses—a physically and mentally grueling task. Her current horse, Sampson, was “mean and hateful” when she got him, she says, until she got him settled enough to run barrels.

Between the barn, the gym, and the church, Helen also fits in a bike ride three times a week and keeps her plate mostly free of fried foods. On her table, you’ll find scrambled eggs with boiled—not fried—ham, salads loaded with tomatoes and cucumbers, and fruit-packed cereal most mornings.

“My life doesn’t change,” she says. “It seems like the older I get, the more power I get.”

While all of these things contribute to her health, Helen doesn’t spend much time thinking about that or waiting for a peer-reviewed answer. She’s got places to be and things to do; whether it’s at church every Sunday, the barn three or four mornings a week, her sessions at the Y lifting what most people half her age wouldn’t attempt, or spending time with her family. Or, riding alone in a beautiful field.

“When I ride, I wish you could be in my skin and feel it,” she says. “The glory of God comes down, my horse goes quiet and still, and it’s like the earth comes up and the heaven comes down. It’s the most beautiful feeling a person can ever have.”

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