2001 Seasons Greetings!
Wow, what a year of changes! I turned 40 in February, and my mid life crisis consisted of wanting a baby. So I bought a baby HORSE - a 9-month-old Paint/Pinto stud colt, Danny, registered name DARE TO DREAMINCOLOR! After a horrendous weekend trip to pick him up in Colorado at the end of February, we arrived back home at 5:00 on a Monday morning to find a message on the answering machine that a perfect match pancreas was available for me if I called back within an hour. The message had been left only half an hour earlier! So that evening I underwent my long-awaited pancreas transplant and joined the ranks of non-diabetics!
Six months of complications pretty well sidelined me; but now I'm just like any other person without diabetes who has two pancreases and three kidneys; is blind; and rides, jumps, and shows horses - except for one little snag: a clotting disorder. My doctor outlawed me from riding while on blood thinners which, it turns out, will be THE REST OF MY LIFE! He asked, "How often do you fall off? Once a week? Once a month?" Upon learning the last time I did an unscheduled dismount was 15 years ago, he amended the ban to say I can ride if I understand the risk and try to minimize it.
So no more of this daredevil jumping stuff! I'm switching my focus to dressage, the most elegant, controlled, and disciplined form of riding. But I'm not just taking up dressage; I'm setting my sights high - to head to Greece as part of the 2004 International Paralympic Dressage Team! I'm excited and privileged to be training with the crew at Dynamite Dressage in Scottsdale and hope to show Zoe in dressage at the 2002 Pinto World Championships in Tulsa.
Zoe and I completed her Pinto Register of Merit in both Hunter Under Saddle and English Pleasure this year. We appeared in the 2/01 Practical Horseman, again in Paint Horse Journal, in our local Bridle & Bit and Arizona Horse Connection, twice on the website equisearch.com, and were taped for the TV show "Horses Today." I also got an inquiry from "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" who then rejected the story when they learned that this blind rider can dismount from a loping horse bareback, but NOT while standing on the horse's back!
I'm leaving the daring stuff up to Ralph. He was going to start showing Zoe over fences in October, but someone decided to steal our truck the night before, making hauling the trailer a little arduous; so Zoe's jumping debut was postponed. Not only does Ralph look good in boots and breeches, he's my coach and cheering section, my boot shine boy and maid (ironing my show clothes), my tack repairman and tailor (stitching up worn out tail bags), my braider and show groom, my farrier and chauffeur of our new (to us) 1999 3-horse gooseneck trailer, and Danny's trainer. He maintains my website, built my dressage arena, and designed and constructed Alphabet-Eyes, the remote-controlled electronic system to orient me to my whereabouts in the dressage arena. No wonder he's always glad to go to his day job - to get some rest!
Meanwhile, Danny is growing into a handsome and well-mannered young stallion. He was Reserve Champion in-hand trail in a class of 11 yearlings at his very first Paint show and earned points toward his Pinto Register of Merit in halter in his first A-rated Hunter Breeding class. Judges even comment how quiet, sweet, and gentlemanly Danny is. Yep, he'll be the perfect mount for a blind rider someday! We hope to show him at halter in Hunter Type Stallions at the 2002 Pinto World Championships and also register him as an American Warmblood like his sire. He's going to be a monster, already 16.1+ hands at 18 months old! People have expressed interest in breeding to him, and he's not even old enough to know what they're talking about!
On the morning of September 11, Ralph and I boarded a plane for New York to attend a clinic for blind riders (there were to be four of us) in conjunction with the Long Island Invitational Dressage Show. It seems some terrorists had other ideas about what Americans should be doing that day. Before we took off, all air traffic was grounded. We continue to live our lives, a little more cautiously and appreciatively, but still holding the same hopes and dreams we've had the freedom to enjoy for so long. God bless America, and God bless you and your loved ones this holiday season.
Warm holiday wishes,
Sam, Ralph, & our menagerie of critters